Latest California Healthline Stories
Berwick Takes Reins at CMS, But Reign Might Be Short
Donald Berwick’s selection to run CMS is among President Obama’s most influential policy decisions. However, the White House’s move to install Berwick via recess appointment has been criticized and may complicate his role in the reform law’s implementation.
Medical Professionals Make Their Mark on Reform
It was Kim Belshé, the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, who recently made an appeal for “not the politics of reform, but the policy of reform.”
What she meant is that working on the implementation of health care reform in California should be a grassroots affair — that politicians shouldn’t lead reform, but rather, health professionals should take the reins to revamp our health care system.
That’s the idea behind the town hall meeting, “Putting the Care in Obamacare,” that’s being held today (Monday) in Los Angeles, according to Leif Wellington Haase, director of the California program at New America Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan group that’s putting on the conference.
UC-Irvine Center Shines Spotlight on Elder Abuse
The pioneering Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse and Neglect at UC-Irvine is helping to propel a once-invisible population into view, an effort aided by the inclusion of the Elder Justice Act in the federal health care reform law.
California Put Center-Stage in National Debate
How much appetite do Californians have for ongoing talk about national health care reform? We are about to find out.
Two California members of Congress have recently proposed limiting or completely reversing the national health care reform law — which provoked an equal and opposite reaction among many state lawmakers. And it has become an issue in the race for a U.S. Senate seat in California, as well.
“I believe we should repeal the new health care law and replace it with real patient-centered reforms that reduce costs and improve access to quality care,” said Rep. Wally Herger (R-Chico).
Fiscal Issues Could Put Medicaid Expansion in Jeopardy
The health care overhaul relies on a significant expansion of Medicaid to reduce the uninsured population. Budgetary pressures that have forced many states to implement cuts to Medicaid ahead of the expansion and uncertainty about federal funding have raised questions about the plan’s viability.
Hope Hits Streets to Get New Ideas
A new organization of health care leaders wants to talk through the problems of health care, but that doesn’t mean that’s all Hope Street Group wants to do.
“We are very much geared toward action,” Monique Nadeau said.
Nadeau, executive director of the new health-policy brainstorming organization, said Hope Street Group has tackled education issues in the past. The group now turns its attention to health care.
Medical Home Model Gains Traction on North Coast
The idea of a “medical home” to make primary care work better for patients, physicians and insurers is gaining a foothold on the North Coast, but many say California as a whole is behind the curve nationally.
High-Risk Pool Gets Fast Track Treatment
California has been running its own high-risk insurance pool for the past 18 years. So the people running the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) are extremely familiar with the pressing need for the program throughout the state.
When the federal government offered up funds to significantly expand the number of people who could have access to a high-risk insurance pool, California officials jumped at it.
“There are a lot of people in California who really need this,” MRMIB’s Deputy Director of Legislative and External Affairs Jeanie Esajian said. “And it is something MRMIB has strived to do for a long time — 18 years. This gives us the opportunity to provide services for so many more people.”
Single Payer Bill Back in the Mix
The normally sedate audience at an Assembly health committee hearing broke into spontaneous applause last week as Senate member Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) stepped to the microphone. Leno was introducing SB 810, which would establish a single-payer health care system in California.
The burst of applause came from a busload of supporters in the hearing room. It has been a long, hard fight for single-payer advocates. Twice the idea has been approved by the state legislature, and twice it has been vetoed by the governor.
The single-payer system would bypass health insurance companies in California, handing the authority and responsibility of health care administration to the state. With passage of a national health care reform law, some expected the single-payer idea to wither on the vine. But at last week’s Assembly Health Committee hearing, it was alive and well.
New Data From Mass. Revive Old Concerns
Massachusetts has served as the proverbial canary in the health reform coal mine, and new findings about rising health costs and access concerns in the Bay State underscore the risks of the nation’s health care overhaul.