Latest California Healthline Stories
$9 Million Grant for Consumer Outreach
The state’s consumer outreach effort got a boost last week with the announcement of more than $9 million in grant money to help Californians navigate new health insurance options.
Exchange Accelerating Toward Deadline
From securing a lease for a Fresno call center to submitting its bridge proposal to HHS, it’s a busy time for Covered California as the new health benefit exchange closes in on an Oct. 1 opening date.
Obamacare Obstacle: Consumers’ Confusion When Picking a Plan
Recent surveys show that many U.S. residents are confused about health insurance terms, which could make things tricky when purchasing coverage through the insurance exchanges. Several efforts are underway to clarify the process and direct individuals to policies that fit their medical — and financial — needs.
Many Middle-Aged Residents Lost Health Coverage During Recession
More middle-aged Californians lost health insurance coverage between 2007 and 2009 than any other group, according to a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Aetna and United Are Out of California. Who’s Moving In?
Two of the nation’s biggest health insurers are leaving California’s individual market. Find out why that might be a good thing and meet the plans that are moving in to take their place.
Insurance Commissioner Worried About United’s Departure From Individual Market
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issued some words of warning about United Healthcare’s decision to withdraw from the individual market in California.
First MCO Tax, Next Comes Rate-Setting
State officials reached an agreement on reinstating the managed care organization tax in part by addressing several of the desires of the institutions being taxed.
Could This Little-Watched Court Case Sink Obamacare?
A pair of lawsuits allege that a major part of the Affordable Care Act is technically illegal. Are these suits a real threat to the ACA, or the last gasps of conservative resistance before the law’s provisions go online? Depends whom you ask.
Assembly Takes Up Health Care ‘Loophole’
The Assembly this week is expected to debate a bill that would penalize large employers who reduce workers’ hours or wages in an attempt to move those employees off company-sponsored health care and into Medi-Cal coverage.
“We want to close that loophole that allows some of the largest and most profitable businesses in California to skirt their responsibility under the Affordable Care Act,” said Assembly member Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), author of AB 880.
Some large employers, he said, want to lower wages or hours of employees so those workers would earn a low-enough wage to become eligible for Medi-Cal, “dumping them onto the backs of the taxpayers,” Gomez said.
Agricultural Giant Takes Lead in Keeping Workers Healthy
Paramount Agribusinesses, a large fruit and nut grower in the Central Valley, offers no-cost primary health care to its employees and their families in an effort to increase productivity and improve the health of workers.