Latest California Healthline Stories
The Simple Reason — Maybe? — Why Health Costs Have Slowed Down
Health costs are growing at their slowest level in 50 years. Some say it’s because of new cost-control efforts; others chalk it up to implementation of the Affordable Care Act. But there’s probably an easier explanation: the recession.
Exchange Looks at Outreach, Focus Groups, By-Laws
The Supreme Court decision on the fate of the national health care reform law, expected this week or next, could have a significant impact on the work and purpose of the California Health Benefit Exchange.
But that isn’t slowing the project one bit.
Today, the exchange board meets to discuss some big agenda items: outreach, marketing, insurance coverage assisters and agents, the second phase of its establishment grant and yet another look at its bylaws.
Study Estimates High Enrollment for Exchange
As many as 2.1 million Californians will get subsidized health insurance coverage through the state’s new Health Benefit Exchange by 2019, according to a study released yesterday by the UC-Berkeley Labor Center and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Another 1.1 million from the unsubsidized individual health insurance market are expected to join the exchange as well, said UCLA researcher Dylan Roby. That would bring the estimated total to about 3.2 million.
CMMI: ‘Pork Project’ or Manhattan Project?
Some herald the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation as a transformative reform. Others say it’s a $10 billion slush fund. On the eve of another round of funding awards, here’s a look at both sides.
Health Care Task Force Starts Up
This is not your usual task force, according to Diana Dooley, secretary of the state Health and Human Services department. This one, she said, is less interested in the ideal and more focused on producing real-world results. The idea is to figure out which programs across the state improve health care and keep costs down and then encourage and support them.
Dooley was in Los Angeles yesterday to co-chair the first meeting of the health care task force created last month by Gov. Jerry Brown (D). Dooley said the first gathering could not have gone much better.
“I thought it was energized, and energizing,” she said. “It went a long way toward really substantively addressing a meaningful plan, to see what it would look like for California to be healthier in 10 years than it is today. And how do we make some real changes to improve health, lower cost and reform the delivery system. I thought it was a great start.”
Why the ObamaCare ‘Dirty Deals’ Don’t Tarnish the Law
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act are now trumpeting secret White House emails as their latest evidence that the reform law is broken. One author of the law begs to differ.
Pre-Existing Condition Reform Passes
When state Sen. Ed Hernandez introduced his bill SB 961 to the Senate floor yesterday, the West Covina Democrat’s speech was laden with the historic nature of the legislation.
“As we all know, on March 23rd of 2010, the president of the United States of America signed into law the comprehensive health care reform bill known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” Hernandez said.
“I feel tremendous responsibility to ensure that California continues to lead the nation in implementing federal reform,” he said, “and that we serve as a model for the rest of this country.”
ACA Grants Enable Inland Empire Clinics To Expand
The Affordable Care Act is funneling approximately $9 million into the Inland Empire to improve and expand community health centers in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
If ACA Stands, What California Stands To Gain (or Lose)
The Supreme Court’s ruling on ObamaCare is imminent, and most analysts have focused on what happens if the law gets struck down. Here’s a reminder of what comes next if the law is allowed to stand.
Does Health Care’s Profit Motive Hurt More Than it Helps?
The federal health care law has created a whole new set of financial incentives, and some less-appealing implications — like several marketers pitching hospice care as a “cost-cutter” for hospitals — are now coming to light.