Posts Tagged: Kaiser Health News

News

Medi-Cal shift could roil coverage for low-income Californians

A man receives a one-shot vaccination against COVID-19 in Covina. (Photo: Ringo Chiu, via Shutterstock)

Almost 2 million of California’s poorest and most medically fragile residents may have to switch health insurers as a result of a new strategy by the state to improve care in its Medicaid program. A first-ever statewide contracting competition to participate in the program, known as Medi-Cal, required commercial managed-care plans to rebid for their contracts and compete against others hoping to take those contracts away.

News

A cell phone tale: How COVID changed our movement

The impact of the pandemic is seen in San Diego's Mission Valley, normally crowded with traffic. ((Photo: Travelling Thilo, via Shutterstock)

For all of our grousing about COVID-19 fatigue, a few novel trends are clear one year into the pandemic. In the early weeks of 2021, Californians are staying home way more than we did in our pre-pandemic life. Even so, we’re heading out to shop, dine and work far more now than in March 2020, when state officials issued the first sweeping stay-at-home order, or the dark period that followed the winter holidays, when we hunkered down as coronavirus caseloads exploded.

News

The young health care workers killed by COVID-19

Siblings Jasmine and Josh Obra both tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day. Only one of them survived. (The Obra family)

Jasmine Obra believed that if it wasn’t for her brother Joshua, she wouldn’t exist. When 7-year-old Josh realized that his parents weren’t going to live forever, he asked for a sibling so he would never be alone. By spring 2020, at ages 29 and 21, Josh and Jasmine shared a condo in Anaheim, California, not far from Disneyland, which they both loved.

News

$5.5 billion stem cell bond called a ‘moral obligation’

A scientist examines cells in a biological laboratory. (Photo: anyalvanova, via Shutterstock)

The man expected to lead the drive for $5.5 billion more for California’s stem cell agency today said the Trump restrictions on fetal tissue research represent a dangerous precedent that threatens the health of all Americans. 

News

Obamacare: Five things left hanging, plus effect on California

U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, following the defeat of the failed effort mounted by him and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, to repeal Obamacare. (Image: CNN screen capture, via YouTube)

In California, people shopping for 2018 coverage in the state’s exchange, Covered California, will still have the full three months they’ve had in recent years, starting on Nov. 1 and ending Jan. 31. And the state Legislature last week passed a bill, currently awaiting the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown, that would ensure a three-month enrollment window for consumers seeking coverage in 2019 and beyond.

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