Latest California Healthline Stories
Senate Aims To Raise the Bar for Not-for-Profit Status in Health Care
Not-for-profit BlueCross BlueShield plans, including Blue Shield of California, would have to meet new standards for spending on health benefits under the Senate’s health care reform bill. Another provision of the bill would limit what not-for-profit hospitals could charge some patients for emergency care or other medically necessary services.
County Leaders Look to Reform Bills To Help Strengthen California’s Local Health Services
Tangerine Brigham of Healthy San Francisco, Marty Fenstersheib of Santa Clara County’s health office and Tom Joseph of the California State Association of Counties spoke with California Healthline about public services.
Kaiser, Other Plans Win Concession in Senate Health Care Legislation
Kaiser Permanente and other integrated health care systems would benefit from a provision of the Senate health care reform bill that would apply a new tax on insurers to fees from third-party administration agreements for self-insured plans. Such plans are far less common in California than they are in other states.
Senate Bill Could Dilute Consumer Protections by Creating Interstate Market for Health Plans
Jerry Flanagan of Consumer Watchdog, Nadereh Pourat of UCLA, J.P. Wieske of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance and Mike Larsen, a spokesperson for Rep. Jackie Speier, spoke with California Healthline about the proposal.
Senate Plan for High-Risk Pools Has Pluses, Minuses for California
The Senate health care reform bill calls for creating high-risk pools nationwide to provide coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions before health insurance exchanges are up and running. Under the plan, subscribers to California’s existing high-risk plan could face more out-of-pocket costs but also could see benefit caps eliminated.
AARP Members in California ‘Strongly Support’ Reform
AARP has released surveys of its members’ attitudes on the House health care reform package as part of the group’s efforts to rally support for Democratic overhaul plans. The surveys show that compared with AARP members nationwide California AARP members feel like they’ve heard more about reform efforts and more strongly support reform.
Members of Congress Divided on House Bill’s Implications for California
A number of California Democrats trumpeted the approval of the House bill and immediately started listing what the bill would do for their constituents back home. Republican lawmakers saw things differently, warning that the bill would force California to change its medical malpractice laws.
Reform Could Shift Medicare Money Away From California
Realigning regional spending on Medicare could help pay for national health reform by saving $1.42 trillion over the next 15 years, but some parts of the country — including California — stand to pay a higher Medicare toll for reform than others.
Elements of House Health Care Reform Bill Echo California Efforts
The House’s health care reform legislation includes provisions reminiscent of legislation Gov. Schwarzenegger has vetoed, such as measures aimed at curbing rescissions and clamping down on insurers’ administrative costs. That said, language in the House bill aims to address concerns Schwarzenegger and other governors have raised about states’ share of the cost of proposals to expand Medicaid.
White House Talks Up Cost-Savings Plans To Bolster Reform
Officials in the Obama administration are firing back against questions that Democratic health care reform proposals do not adequately address rising health care costs. For instance, Anthem Blue Cross of California’s parent company put out a study this month projecting that the plans would result in higher premiums.