Latest California Healthline Stories
Health-Related Bills Pass Legislature, Healthy Families in Limbo
The window to save the Healthy Families program is narrowing to a small slit, with just a single day left to pass bills.
Meanwhile, a number of other health-related bills did pass the Legislature yesterday, and are on their way to the governor’s desk.
Today — until midnight tonight — is the last day for legislation to be passed this year. The governor has until the end of September to veto or approve bills.
Should California Follow Mass. Cost-Control Example?
We asked experts and stakeholders if California should be considering something similar to Massachusetts’ new law designed to allow health care costs to grow no faster than the state’s economy.
Essential Benefits, Medical Review Change Passed
The countdown has begun. Only three more voting days till the end of California’s legislative year. The Legislature’s 2012 session ends on Friday, making this a busy week.
A number of health-related bills are among the hundreds of laws passed so far and headed to the governor’s desk (some of them are pending technical concurrence in the house of origin):
Our Sidneys: Five Policy Studies That Warrant a Close Read
For the second straight summer, “Road to Reform” spotlights five of the most influential — and interesting — studies that were released in recent months. Here’s a look at what the wonks are reading.
Why Basic Health Plan Failed and Why COOPs May Succeed
The legislative demise of the Basic Health Program and the legislative progress of Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans are clear signals of support for California’s Health Benefit Exchange, consolidating the new entity’s power and reach.
A few ideas for a new name — ranging from the expected, traditional options to the less expected, non-traditional — were floated at yesterday’s Health Benefit Exchange board meeting.
The board’s executive director, Peter Lee, also announced yesterday that the federal government just approved the exchange’s Level 1.2 grant request for $196 million. The exchange staff has already started working on the next grant request, a Level 1.3 establishment grant, which will be submitted to federal officials in November, Lee said.
The board had a full slate of issues to handle at yesterday’s meeting — from working out the details for how agents would be paid in SHOP exchanges to decisions about premium aggregation. But the buzz in the room circulated around what name the exchange will have in 2014.
One Stage Down, Many More to Come
Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley summed up the state of health care in California pretty succinctly at Tuesday’s health task force forum:
“With the economy down in California, there are more people needing services,” Dooley said, “and less money to provide it.”
That conundrum is at the heart of the creation of the Let’s Get Healthy California task force, which finished its first stage of discussions Tuesday.
Inpatient v. Observation: A Medicare Change That Actually Matters
Presidential proposals sometimes lead to transformative Medicare changes — but more often lead to changes that die on the vine. Meanwhile, the government’s ongoing effort to tamp down Medicare fraud has indirectly led providers to pass more costs on to patients.
Most Californians Support Reform, Poll Shows
A Field Poll released today shows that only 17% of Californians are aware of the state’s nascent Health Benefit Exchange but a a high percentage of Californians like the basic tenets of health care reform and the exchange, according to Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll.
“It’s definitely low, and that is somewhat to be expected, given that they haven’t done any outreach or marketing yet,” DiCamillo said. “What will really be interesting is how much we see that change over time, whether there is greater awareness among certain subgroups later, as the exchange gets closer to actual operation.”
In general, DiCamillo said, opinions about the exchange and reform mirror political affiliation. Favorable opinions about health care reform tend to run higher in California.
Basic Health Plan Not Among Slew of Approved Bills
The demise of the Basic Health Program in California came quietly.
When SB 703 by Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) came before the Assembly Committee on Appropriations and committee yesterday, chair Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) had seven words for it: “That bill goes to the holding committee.”
Those seven words effectively ended BHP for this legislative session, though it may come back again in 2013.