Latest California Healthline Stories
Forum Examines Specifics of Bending the Cost Curve
A forum organized by a Massachusetts health policy research institute explored ways California policymakers and health care providers can combat the spiraling costs of health care ranging from adhering to prescription drug regimens to avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations.
The Exchange by Any Other Name
Now there are four.
At yesterday’s meeting of the state’s Health Benefit Exchange board, Chris Kelly, the exchange’s senior advisor for marketing and outreach, presented the four finalists in the project to pick a new name for the exchange — the name that will be used to market the exchange’s choices and services.
“We brought forward about 13 names last time [at the Aug. 23 board meeting],” Kelly said, “including Wellquest and, of course, Avocado — that is still a crowd favorite.”
Kelly prefaced his presentation by reiterating that each proposed name includes a marketing package with a unique logo and tagline — “a voice of its own,” as Kelly put it.
California Could Lose $61B in Medicare Pay. Does it Matter?
A new analysis projects the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts on California: at least $61 billion over a decade. It’s a striking figure — but the effect on patients and providers is still unclear.
The Calif. Pilot That Could Prove ACOs Work
After several years of anticipation, early-stage accountable care organizations are beginning to report initial results. Leaders of a Sacramento-based pilot say they have demonstrated clear savings — and the model is replicable.
$4.6 Million Grant for Consumer Assistance
The Department of Managed Health Care recently received a $4.6 million federal grant to fund its consumer assistance program to help answer questions from California consumers about health coverage.
“This will enable us to reach and assist more Californians who are struggling with health coverage questions,” said Marta Green, deputy director for communications and planning at DMHC.
“The focus of the grant is on consumer assistance for Californians,” Green said, “and in particular to help seniors and people with disabilities, who have more specific needs.”
To get an idea of why health care reform is so important, said Pam Kehaly, president of Anthem Blue Cross, you have to understand how much it costs.
“The issue today is how to restrain the rising cost of health care while delivering high-quality care,” Kehaly said at a policy roundtable discussion in Sacramento yesterday. “Last year, that was a $2.7 trillion expenditure. We throw these numbers around, but it’s hard to understand the magnitude of what we’re talking about. But if you sat at your dining room table tomorrow morning and turned over dollar bills, one after the other, it would take you 92 years to reach $2.7 trillion.”
Or put another way, Kehaly said, the cost of health care is about $8,400 for every American every year. “That means, for a family of four, it’s pretty much like buying a new car every year,” Kehaly said. “The amount of the economy of France — that is, how much France and the French people spend on everything — that’s how much we spend on health care.”
Too Much Focus on Medicare — and not Enough on Medicaid?
The continued focus on how Barack Obama or Mitt Romney would shape the Medicare program has become a major focus of the presidential campaign. It also means that the candidates’ deep, actual differences on Medicaid policy are being overlooked.
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):