Medicare

Latest California Healthline Stories

Many Health Plans Must Now Cover Full Cost of Expensive HIV Prevention Drugs

Most private insurance will be required to cover drugs, like Truvada, that offer protection against HIV infection, without making plan members share the cost. California also mandates that some other services be covered without members picking up any of the tab, but only for people with certain types of insurance.

Seniors Face Crushing Drug Costs as Congress Stalls on Capping Medicare Out-Of-Pockets

While many private insurers cap what members pay in health costs, Medicare does not. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have proposed annual limits ranging from $2,000 to $3,100. But there’s disagreement about how to pay for that cost cap.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: 2020 in Review — It Wasn’t All COVID

The coronavirus pandemic colored just about everything in 2020. But there was other health policy news that you either never heard or might have forgotten about: the Affordable Care Act going before the Supreme Court with its survival on the line; ditto for Medicaid work requirements. And a surprise ending to the “surprise bill” saga. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.

Justices Bound to See ACA as ‘Indispensable,’ Says Californian Leading Defense

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in a case that could overturn the Affordable Care Act. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is defending the law with the backing of more than 20 other states, told California Healthline that he predicts the justices will uphold it.