Insurance

Latest California Healthline Stories

Bill Aimed at Kaiser Hits Home Stretch

A bill seeking more transparency in premium pricing from large California health insurers — specifically Kaiser Permanente — heads into the legislative home stretch this week.

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.

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.