Latest California Healthline Stories
The Premium Conundrum: Do Smokers Get a Fair Break Under Obamacare?
Would you quit smoking if you were charged $4,000 more per year for the habit? Some analysts say that a new measure under the Affordable Care Act is overly punitive for tobacco users, while others suggest it’s an overdue approach to take toward smokers.
Report Shows Central Valley Behind in ACA Preparation
A study examined in a public forum last week finds that health reform implementation in the Fresno region is hindered by poverty, physician shortages, lack of collaboration and bureaucratic barriers.
Covered California Lands $674 Million Federal Grant
Peter Lee could hardly contain himself yesterday.
“In 2010, California was the first state in the nation to say we want a state-based exchange. Then, earlier this month, the federal government approved our blueprint for the exchange,” said Lee, the executive director of the state’s health insurance exchange, Covered California.
“And now,” Lee said, “the feds have given us the resources we need to launch Covered California. This is an historic moment.”
How Will Covered California Service Centers Work?
Service centers — the places where California consumers will be directed through an 800 phone number and a web portal to get answers to their exchange and eligibility questions — are on the agenda at today’s meeting of the Health Benefit Exchange board.
Betsy Imholz, director of the West Coast office of Consumers Union, hopes her questions about service centers will be answered at today’s meeting.
Consumers Union is one of 13 advocacy groups that signed onto a recent letter to the exchange board, asking for assurance that the board hasn’t yet adopted a particular type of protocol model for the service centers, a protocol that Imholz said could discourage people from participating in the exchange.
Inside Three ACOs: Why California Providers are Opting for the Model
Nine organizations named among the latest round of participants in the Medicare Shared Savings Program will serve patients in the Golden State. Administrators of several new ACOs explain why they joined the program.
New Year’s Resolutions: Tasks for California’s Exchange in 2013
California health insurance exchange officials have several significant tasks to accomplish in 2013, including implementing a marketing and outreach program and negotiating with insurers. Will the state be ready to launch the marketplace in 2014?
Setting Priorities in Health Care Special Session and Beyond
We asked lawmakers and stakeholders to use post-election perspective to define priorities for both the state Legislature’s special session on health care next month and the legislative session that follows.
Five Things To Watch in Health Care in 2013
If 2012 was a high-wire political act, and 2014 will bring a rush of implementation, will next year be an intermission or sprint for health care? Here are five indicators to watch in the coming months.
Northern California Addresses Safety-Net Challenges
Anticipating an influx of newly insured residents in 2014 when the Affordable Care Act fully takes effect, Northern California clinics are recruiting new primary care physicians and considering how to best use mid-level providers.
Report Urges Exchanges To Help Consumers Make Right Choices
When Covered California opens for business in 2014, one of the first and most important tasks will be to get people to sign up for the right coverage — a simple but crucial step in making the health benefit exchange a success, according to a new report released this week.