Insurance

Latest California Healthline Stories

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.

US Uninsured Rate Was Stable in 2023, Even as States’ Medicaid Purge Began

About 8% of Americans lacked health insurance in 2023, the Census Bureau announced. But its report doesn’t capture the effect of states winnowing their Medicaid rolls by millions of people since the pandemic emergency ended.

ACA Enrollment Platforms Suspended Over Alleged Foreign Access to Consumer Data

Federal regulators provided more specifics about why they suspended two private sector Affordable Care Act enrollment sites, including concerns about potential overseas accessing of consumer data and suspicions of involvement in Obamacare enrollment and switching schemes. The companies reject the assertions.

Longtime Head of L.A. Care To Retire After Navigating Major Medi-Cal Changes

John Baackes, who steered Medi-Cal’s largest health plan following the Affordable Care Act expansion, and later prepared it for a state overhaul of Medi-Cal, will retire after this year. Baackes believes low payments to doctors and other providers, along with an acute labor shortage, hamper Medi-Cal’s success.

An Arm and a Leg: Don’t Get ‘Bullied’ Into Paying What You Don’t Owe

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Caitlyn Mai, a woman in Oklahoma who received a six-figure bill for a surgery her insurance promised to cover. This episode is an extended version of the “Bill of the Month” series, produced in partnership with NPR.