Latest California Healthline Stories
Appropriations Committee OKs Oral Chemo Bill
The Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday approved AB 1000 by Henry Perea (D-Fresno), which requires insurers to cover oral chemotherapy medication.
“It’s a big day for cancer patients in California,” Assembly member Perea said. “We’ve been working on this since the beginning of last year, and it’s been a hard fight, the insurance companies have come out firing at it.”
Overall, it was a busy day for the Appropriations committee and the Legislature, which returned from summer recess yesterday. The current session only lasts for the next few weeks, before going on final recess — so the legislative docket will be full this month. The Legislature has until Aug. 31 to pass all bills for the year.
Insurers Must Pay Rebates, Cover Women’s Services
Nearly two million California consumers and small business owners will get money back on their health insurance premiums this month because of new federal and state statutes requiring insurers to use at least 80% of their premium dollars for patient care. For employers with more than 51 covered employers, the threshold is 85%. Insurers will return almost $74 million in California.
Another Affordable Care Act requirement goes into effect today ensuring women receive eight types of preventive and diagnostic care in their health coverage, including breastfeeding support services.
The California rebate average of about $65 per person might not be much individually, but it could mean quite a bit to small-business employers, according to Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California.
Breaking Down the Three Health Reforms Taking Effect Today
Defenders of the Affordable Care Act can point to a pair of reforms taking effect today that offer immediate benefits. Meanwhile, Oregon moves forward with its own transformative health care pilot.
No-Cost Clinic Faces Hard Times, Uncertain Future
Al Shifa Free Clinic near San Bernardino — one of two no-cost clinics in Riverside and San Bernardino counties providing care for uninsured residents — is scraping to make ends meet and exploring ways to survive under health care reform.
Committee Moves Stop-Loss Bill Forward
Stop-loss health insurance is a way for small-business employers to offer a form of health care insurance to employees while limiting risk. The trouble with that, according to Senate member Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles), is that the low risk incurred by stop-loss insurers could mean higher rates for the rest of California.
“Here’s the problem,” De León said this week before the Assembly Committee on Health. “Any increase in stop-loss coverage insurance … could lead to a significant exodus of small employers … especially employers with young employees, leaving behind a smaller-group insurance pool subject to skyrocketing premiums.”
Basically, stop-loss coverage allows insurers to cherry-pick or adversely select the youngest and healthiest consumers with low rates, which makes rates rise for everyone else, De León said.
ACA Upheld: Why Were So Many Predictions So Wrong?
We mocked their guarantees, but the scholars who were sure that the Supreme Court would affirm the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality were proved right in the end. Here are five reasons why more prominent pundits led us astray.
After the ObamaCare Verdict: Who Gets the Blame?
It may not be fair to focus on winners and losers, to prioritize assigning blame rather than assigning patients to ACOs. But for the foreseeable future — and for decades to come — this week’s events will be interpreted through a simple lens: who underprepared and who overreached in the battle over the Affordable Care Act.
CO-OP Program Moves Forward in Senate
California took a small step toward instituting a new type of health insurance plan in the state — a not-for-profit, member-governed plan dubbed the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan, or CO-OP.
The new bill was introduced to the Senate in last week’s Senate Committee on Health hearing. AB 1846 by Assembly member Rich Gordon (D-Menlo Park) would pave the way for California to apply for some of the $3.8 billion the federal government is planning to loan to states to start CO-OPs. So far, 12 states have started the process.
“It’s a new type of health insurance, intended to offer affordable, consumer- friendly coverage … in the individual and small group market,” Gordon said. “This bill streamlines the licensure process, and allows California to take part in this program, and tap federal dollars.”
Rate Hikes for Military Health Plan Would Be Felt in San Diego
As part of President Obama’s budget, the Department of Defense proposed rate increases in the health care program for active military members, retirees and their families. TRICARE rate hikes would be widely felt in San Diego, where almost half of California’s military families live.
Harold Miller of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement Discusses Innovation
Harold Miller, president and CEO of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement, spoke with California Healthline about the importance of pursuing innovative health care improvement strategies that are tailored to local needs.