Demonstrators seeking more funding for health care coverage gathered recently at the state Capitol. Inside, the Senate voted to expand coverage to undocumented choldren. (Photo: Alvin Chen, Capitol Weekly)Hoping to fill a “billion-dollar hole,” lawmakers were poised to gather in a special session to figure out new sources of funding for the state’s complex health care programs – including Medi-Cal.
Close to 1.2 million adults in California live with serious mental illnesses. Each one of these cases is an individual—a parent or sibling or child—and no two people battling the same condition respond to the same treatment alike. Treating mental conditions—and in fact, treating all illnesses—has to be based on the fact that every person is unique and each patient requires therapies that suit him or her best.
On the outskirts of San Bernardino. (Photo: Steve Heap)A San Bernardino plan to exit bankruptcy follows the path of the Vallejo and Stockton exit plans, cutting bond debt and retiree health care but not pensions. Then it veers off in a new direction: contracting for fire, waste management and other services. The contract services are expected to reduce city pension costs. Other pension savings come from a sharp increase in employee payments toward pensions and from a payment of only 1 percent on a $50 million bond issued in 2005 to cover pensions costs.
Also known as the Health for All Act, the legislation aims to provide access to health care coverage to undocumented individuals who are not covered under the Affordable Care Act. SB 4 would expand Medi-Cal to low-income undocumented individuals and create a private insurance exchange option for those with higher incomes.
A physician flanked by the California flag. (Illustration: Niyazz, via Shutterstock).While our state and nation continue to implement the Affordable Care Act, it is especially important that patients have access to a team of health care professionals who work together to achieve the best outcomes for their patients. Unfortunately, that is not always the case here in the Golden State.
As more people enter the healthcare system and as baby boomers enter senior status there is increased demand for services, especially surgeries and outpatient procedures requiring anesthesia. Administering anesthesia has become even riskier and more difficult as patients with multiple medical problems have been able to live longer.
An elderly patient receiving health care at a hospital. (Photo: Photographee.eu, via Shutterstock)The LAO, noting that most of Brown’s plan bypasses the Legislature, says lawmakers should hold hearings on state worker retiree health care, going back to square one, 1961, when the benefit began. Times were different then. Workers were at risk of losing health coverage when they retired. Now state workers are eligible for federal Medicare at age 65.
A youngster on his visit to the dentist. (Photo: Wavebreakmedia, via Shutterstock)It is not often that dental professionals, health care providers, advocates, and legislators from both sides of the aisle all agree on an issue, but that is precisely what happened at a hearing this week on the state’s dental program for low-income children. Testimony and discussion honed in on the sobering results of a December 2014 state audit, which found that millions of children enrolled in Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) were not getting the dental care they need.
Two senior women exercising at a health club. (Photo: Karel Hoppe)A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January weakens the “vested rights” protection of retiree health care based on a labor contract, potentially making it easier for government employers to cut a growing cost. The high court overturned an influential federal appeals court ruling that said retiree health care authorized by a short-term labor contract is presumed to be a lifetime benefit, unless the contract has clear language to the contrary.
Prime Healthcare has decided not to buy six California health care facilities, a highly controversial transaction that was approved under unprecedented conditions by Attorney General Kamala Harris last month. Officials for the financially strained Daughters of Charity Health System chain say failure to complete the sale will force them to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.