John Baackes, who steered Medi-Cal’s largest health plan following the Affordable Care Act expansion, and later prepared it for a state overhaul of Medi-Cal, will retire after this year. Baackes believes low payments to doctors and other providers, along with an acute labor shortage, hamper Medi-Cal’s success.
Federal regulators face a growing challenge — how to prevent rogue health insurance agents from switching unknowing consumers’ Obamacare coverage without making the enrollment process so cumbersome that enrollment declines.
The legislature is considering taking the first steps to make Covered California plans available to immigrants without permanent legal status. The state has already extended Medi-Cal coverage to low-income immigrants.
California state lawmakers this year are continuing their progressive tilt on health policy, debating bills banning an ingredient in Froot Loops and offering free condoms for high schoolers.
California’s health insurance exchange will reduce how much some patients pay for care next year, including hospital deductibles, appointment copays, and prescription drugs. Lawmakers pressed Gov. Gavin Newsom to make good on a four-year-old pledge to use proceeds from a tax penalty on uninsured people to help people pay for treatment.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting pressure from his political allies to begin spending money on health care that the state raised by fining Californians who go without health insuance. But Newsom says the state can’t afford to.
California has enrolled into Medi-Cal more than 300,000 older immigrant adults lacking legal residency since May, but the state doesn’t know how many more might be eligible. Community workers are now searching for them.
Nearly half a million Californians without legal residency make too much to qualify for Medicaid yet they can’t afford to buy coverage. A state lawmaker is proposing to open up the state’s health insurance exchange as a first step to providing them affordable insurance.
If family coverage on an employer-sponsored plan is too expensive, a worker’s spouse and dependents may be eligible for Affordable Care Act subsidies under a new federal rule.
Many colleges require students to have health insurance coverage, and the college option can be costly. In addition, some schools mandate that students pay a fee to cover health services on campus.
