Latest California Healthline Stories
Health Care Cuts Deeper Than They Appear in California
California’s Health and Human Services funding was cut by nearly $4 billion in a prolonged budget process that still may not be complete. If losses in federal matching funds are considered, the overall monetary impact could be twice that, according to some estimates.
California Group Seeks Tighter Rules for Public Benefits, Citizenship
A wide array of organizations, ranging from the California Medical Association to the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, is lining up in opposition to a campaign to get an initiative on the ballot that would end public benefits for undocumented immigrants, deny welfare payments for their children and establish new rules for birth certificates.
Health Care Stimulus Funding Process Picking Up Speed
California already has received $3.3 billion and expects to receive a total of $11 billion by the end of 2010 under a federal stimulus package provision that increases federal matching payments to state Medicaid programs. Meanwhile, the stimulus package’s health IT provisions are beginning to take shape.
California Offers Examples of Public Plans in House Hearings
Officials for two different types of Medi-Cal managed care plans appeared before a House committee last week in support of including a public plan in health care reform legislation, while a representative of the Pacific Business Group on Health raised businesses’ concerns about such a plan.
State’s Public Health Programs Excel at Cost Control, Study Shows
Health premiums for plans purchased by private California employers increased by 138% over the past decade, almost four times more than premium increases for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families coverage from the same insurance companies, according to new research.
Health Care Clinics Worry About Implications of Scheduled Elimination of Medi-Cal Benefits
Elia Gallardo of the California Primary Care Association, Roberto Juarez of Clinicas del Camino Real in Ventura County and Nadereh Pourat of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research discussed the cuts with California Healthline.
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.
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.
Effort Pushes for New Yardstick To Measure Poverty in California
Almost half of California’s seniors struggle to pay for medical costs, housing, food, transportation and other basic needs, according to a new report. It was released in conjunction with a push for a new way to measure poverty — and determine eligibility for publicly funded programs — in California.
Financial Times May Get Harder for California Providers
California’s hospitals, nursing homes and clinics are reeling from a powerful one-two punch of the nation’s economic recession and the state’s difficulties in passing a budget.