Latest California Healthline Stories
Some Employers Test Arrangement To Give Workers Allowance for Coverage
Employers are showing interest in a type of health reimbursement account that gives workers a contribution to choose and buy their own plans, rather than participating in group plans.
The Medicare Advantage Influence Machine
New court filings and lobbying reports reveal an industry drive to tamp down critics — and retain billions of dollars in overcharges.
In Chronic Pain, This Teenager ‘Could Barely Do Anything.’ Insurer Wouldn’t Cover Surgery.
An Alabama teen was told he needed surgery for debilitating hip pain. But his family’s insurer denied coverage for the procedure, which lacked a medical billing code. Expected to pay more than $7,000, his father charged it to credit cards.
Vance Rewrites History About Trump and Obamacare
During the Trump administration, enrollment in Affordable Care Act health plans fell by more than 2 million people and the number of uninsured Americans rose.
These Alabama Workers Were Swamped by Medical Debt. Then Their Employer Stepped In.
A decades-old manufacturing company opened a clinic and made primary care and prescriptions free for employees and their families.
Ballot Measure on New Medi-Cal Spending Has Broad Support, But Opponents Flag Pitfalls
Proposition 35, which would use revenue from a tax on managed-care plans to raise the pay of health care providers who serve Medi-Cal patients, has united a broad swath of California’s health care, business, and political establishments. But a newly formed, smaller group of opponents says it will do more harm than good.
California May Regulate and Restrict Pharmaceutical Brokers
California lawmakers are moving to rein in the pharmaceutical middlemen they say drive up costs and limit consumers’ choices. The bill sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom would require pharmacy benefit managers to be licensed in California and would ban some business practices. Newsom vetoed a previous effort three years ago.
The First Year of Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Is Mired in Red Tape
Georgia must decide soon whether to try to extend a limited Medicaid expansion that requires participants to work. Enrollment fell far short of goals in the first year, and the state isn’t yet able to verify participants are working.
‘What Happens Three Months From Now?’ Mental Health After Georgia High School Shooting
The recent shooting at Apalachee High School outside of Atlanta caused more than physical wounds. Medical experts worry a lack of mental health resources in the community — and in Georgia as a whole — means few options for those trying to cope with trauma from the shooting.
Tossed Medicine, Delayed Housing: How Homeless Sweeps Are Thwarting Medicaid’s Goals
As California cities crack down on homeless encampments in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling authorizing fines and arrests, front-line workers say such sweeps are undercutting billions in state and federal Medicaid spending meant to stabilize people’s health and get them off the streets.