Latest California Healthline Stories
How March Madness Can Help Explain Health Reform
The constitutional battle over health reform shares unusual parallels with the nation’s college basketball tournament. Here’s a scouting report as the legal fight moves to the next round of courts.
Overlooked but Not Forgotten: Three Lesser-Known Reforms
The first anniversary of the federal health care law is drawing attention to its major changes. Here are three under-the-radar reforms that also will shape health care practice.
California’s Hospital Systems Try To Be Accountable
Three major California health systems are embarking on transformative changes ahead of the federal health law’s major payment reforms. Sutter Health, Sharp HealthCare and Scripps Health all are eyeing a range of new opportunities — and challenges — that lie ahead.
Do Health Insurers Deserve the Latest Public Hit?
As California health insurers announce a slew of rate hikes, a new report criticizes insurers’ profits and suggests that the federal health reform law remains imperative to tamping down rising premiums.
President’s First Major Reform to Reform Law May Be DOA
President Obama now backs an effort to let states opt out of significant elements of the health reform law sooner than currently allowed. However, the president’s decision to concede an aspect of his overhaul may not be much of a concession, as the legislation is unlikely to pass.
Altered States: Paths to Reform Increasingly Diverge
Governors in Wisconsin, Alaska and Massachusetts are forging unique paths to custom fit health reform around their budget pressures and existing overhauls. The three states may serve as templates — or outliers — as the rubber starts to hit the road to reform.
What Does Obama’s Budget Hold for Health Reform?
President Obama’s proposed budget would ramp up federal spending on the health reform law in an effort to help carry out its provisions. The proposal has renewed GOP criticism that the White House is overextending the government’s role in health care and is pushing off hard choices on health costs.
One Small Judicial Step, One Giant Leap for Mandate?
Concerns about the health reform law’s legality have coalesced around the controversial individual mandate. A Florida judge’s decision to void the entire law based on the mandate may accelerate plans to find a replacement provision.
When Health Repeal Was ‘Catastrophic’
Talk of rolling back the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is dominating the news, but this isn’t the first time that Congress has weighed suddenly overturning a major health law. Does the battle over the 1988 Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act — and its repeal 17 months later — hold any lessons for today?
And the State of Our Health Reform Is …
Did the State of the Union hold any surprises for health reform? The health care law was more than a bit player in President Obama’s address, but what unfolded on Tuesday night’s national stage paled next to what’s transpiring in Congress this week.