Latest California Healthline Stories
Despite Losing Federal Money, State Is Still Testing Uninsured Residents for Covid — For Now
Federal funding that paid for covid testing, treatment, and vaccines for uninsured people has run out. While some states struggle to make up the difference, California is relying on other state and local programs to continue free testing.
Battle Lines Are Drawn Over California Deal With Kaiser Permanente
A controversial proposal to grant HMO giant Kaiser Permanente a no-bid statewide Medi-Cal contract is headed for its first legislative hearing amid vocal opposition from a coalition of counties, competing health plans, community clinics, and a national health care labor union.
Readers and Tweeters Sound Alarm Over Nurse’s Homicide Trial
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: News You Might Have Missed
Congress is in recess, so the slower-than-average news week gives us a chance to catch up on underreported topics, like Medicare’s coverage decision for the controversial Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm and ominous new statistics on drug overdose deaths and sexually transmitted diseases. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Who Doesn’t Text in 2022? Most State Medicaid Programs
As states prepare for the end of the covid public health emergency, they are making plans to reevaluate each Medicaid enrollee’s eligibility. They will rely primarily on mail and email because not many states can text enrollees.
California Handed Its Medicaid Drug Program to One Company. Then Came a Corporate Takeover.
The company awarded the state’s Medi-Cal Rx contract was taken over by another company, Centene. That left the state with a contractor it didn’t pick — one that has been accused of overbilling nine other state Medicaid programs and is now under investigation by California.
The End of the Covid Emergency Could Mean a Huge Loss of Health Insurance
It is a perilous time to throw low- and middle-income Americans off the insurance cliff: A new omicron subvariant is spreading, and a program that provided coronavirus testing and covid-19 treatment at no cost to the uninsured has expired.
ACA Sign-Ups for Low-Income People Roll Out Amid Brokers’ Concerns About Losing Their Cut
The Biden administration unveiled a new special enrollment option aimed at signing up low-income Americans for Affordable Care Act coverage — even if it is outside of the usual annual open enrollment period. But insurers are cutting broker commissions at the same time.
Patients’ Perilous Months-Long Waiting for Medicaid Coverage Is a Sign of What’s to Come
The pandemic crisis has overwhelmed understaffed state Medicaid agencies, already delaying access to the insurance program in Missouri. As the public health emergency ends, low-income people nationwide could find it even harder to have coverage.
Journalists Discuss How Legislation Affects Mental Health Care and Abortion Training
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.