Latest California Healthline Stories
New Bill, Research Push Changes to Health Insurance Market
A bill proposed by Assembly member Dave Jones would direct California regulators to classify health insurance plans into five categories in an effort to help consumers understand coverage and expenses. A recent study found wide variation in California health insurance policies.
Health Reform Survey Shows Public Ready To Make Tradeoffs
Almost seven in 10 people agree the country’s health care system does not work well for most Americans, but they don’t agree on the best way to fix the problems, according to a new national survey on health reform options.
CalPERS Rolls Out New Initiative in Hopes of Controlling Health Care Costs More Effectively
Juan Davila of Blue Shield of California, Greg Franklin of CalPERS and David Lansky of the Pacific Business Group on Health discuss the new CalPERS program with California Healthline.
Health Reform Déjà Vu: Will Federal Efforts Follow State’s Path?
The similarities between California’s health care reform efforts in 2007-2008 and the current push for national health reform are undeniable, but will the outcome be the same? Health policy experts say transparency and bipartisanship are the keys to success.
Budget Cuts in California Take Away From Expected Benefits of Federal Stimulus Money
Marty Lynch of the Lifelong Medical Care clinic, Chris Patterson of the California Primary Care Association, Sara Rosenbaum of George Washington University and Anthony Wright of Health Access California discuss the situation.
California Lawmakers Clear the Way for Stimulus Money
Rapid action on bills dealing with Medi-Cal and COBRA funding set the stage for part of the federal stimulus money to begin flowing into California. The third and perhaps biggest flow of health care-related funds — for health information technology — will take longer and could be thornier.
Most Adolescents Not Getting Preventive Care, UCSF Study Shows
Almost two-thirds of adolescents in the United States don’t get the minimum recommended level of preventive health care services, according to researchers at UC-San Francisco. The authors of the study hope it will boost support for addressing preventive care in health care reform efforts in Washington, D.C., and California.
Primary Care Drives Jump in Patients for Planned Parenthood Clinics
Like most community clinics in California, Planned Parenthood clinics are seeing more patients during these economic hard times. And the handful of Planned Parenthood clinics offering primary care services are seeing more new patients seeking care for more than reproductive health issues.
Republican Sen. Aanestad Puts Forward Market-Based Plan To Rework Health Care in California
Linda Halderman, senior policy adviser for Sen. Sam Aanestad, John Graham of the Pacific Research Institute, Assembly member Dave Jones and Anthony Wright of Health Access discussed the legislation with California Healthline.
Advocates Lobby Against Eliminating Adult Denti-Cal Coverage
Adult dental coverage will be one of nine benefits that Medi-Cal will eliminate if the state does not receive at least $10 billion in federal stimulus money for budget relief over the next 16 months. Advocates say that cut would have long-term consequences for the oral health of Californians of all ages.