Health Care Reform
States worry about rate shock during shift to new health law
by Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times
Even states that back Obama’s healthcare law worry about a jump in some insurance premiums as it takes effect. Read More ›
Anthem Blue Cross rolls back rate increase
by Chad Terhune, Los Angeles Times
Health insurer Anthem Blue Cross agrees to reduce the average increase to 14% from 18% in response to regulators’ criticism.
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California health exchange rolls out coverage options
by Jeremy White, Sacramento Bee
Millions of uninsured Californians will soon be required to buy health insurance or face a penalty, and Wednesday morning they got a glimpse of what to expect. Read More ›
State lacks doctors to meet demand of national healthcare law
by Michael J. Mishak, Los Angeles Times
As the state moves to expand healthcare coverage to millions under President Obama’s healthcare law, it faces a major obstacle: There are not enough doctors to treat a crush of newly insured patients. Read More ›
Obamacare loophole threatens UC students
by Nanette Asimov and Victoria Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle
Health care limits like the one imposed by UC are already illegal under the sweeping federal health-care law – dubbed Obamacare – but the health care act does not apply to “self-funded” college plans like UC’s. Read More ›
State’s health insurance exchange gets $674-million federal grant
by Chad Terhune, Los Angeles Times
Covered California will use part of the money to market itself to the estimated 5 million Californians who will be eligible to use the health exchange. Read More ›
Anthem Blue Cross sued over new HIV/AIDS drug policy
by Kenny Goldbert, KPBS.org
A consumer group is suing Anthem Blue Cross over a new policy that requires HIV patients to get their medications by mail. A San Diego man who is HIV positive is the lead plaintiff. Read More ›
Gov. Jerry Brown commits to major Medi-Cal expansion
In order to help implement the Affordable Care Act overhaul in California, Gov. Brown proposed a major expansion of the public insurance program in the state budget. Read More ›
Anthem’s mail-order policy may have crossed a legal line
by David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times
The health insurer’s requirement that some customers get their prescription drugs from a single mail-order pharmacy has caught the eye of the California attorney general’s office. Read More ›
California can’t stop unreasonable insurance rate hike, says insurance commissioner
by Doug Heller, California Progress Report
Anthem Blue Cross plans to go ahead with a 10.6% annual avergage insurance rate hike on small business owners, despite the fact that an examination by the California Insurance Commissioner found it to be unreasonable and unsupportable. Read More ›
State: Anthem Blue Cross rates for small business ‘unreasonable’
by Chad Terhune, Los Angeles Times
CA insurance commissioner said an 11% increase for small businesses by Anthem Blue Cross is unreasonable because they overstated costs and improperly added fees related to the federal healthcare law. Read More ›
Feds approve California health care changes – with conditions
by Linda Leu, California Progress Report
In a major step forward for health reform implementation, last week the federal government gave the go-ahead for eight more states to start their insurance exchanges. Along with California, the states of Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Vermont and Utah received conditional approval to move forward with state based exchanges, while Arkansas received approval for a federal partnership exchange. Read More ›
Primary care doctors growing scarce
by Drew Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Roughly 4 million additional Californians are expected to obtain health insurance by 2014 through the federal health law, an expansion that will likely exacerbate the state’s doctor shortage and could squeeze primary care access in the Bay Area, experts say. Read More ›