A photo illustration of the California flag presented as a medical mask. (Image: kovop58, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Health care is once again front and center in Congress. And once again Californians will play a critical role in the federal budget debate that could result in the biggest expansion of help to access, afford, and improve health coverage since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act.
Doctors and their patient in a California hospital. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock) OPINION: While Washington’s changes to the Affordable Care Act and calls for a radical upheaval of our health care system may have you confused about the state of health care in California, make no mistake — our state’s system is strong and getting stronger.
A photo illustration of drug costs, with prescription medication atop a dollar bill. (Image: Video_Creative)OPINION: The Golden Years for senior citizens across the Golden State are longer and more active than for the generations that preceded us. This is a real gift, but it does mean most of us are battling age-related medical conditions, often dealing with them for decades. Prescription drugs are a big part of our healthcare toolbox, and today, almost 40 percent of senior citizens use five or more medications.
A physician on the night shift examining a CT scan. (Photo: Beerkoff, via Shutterstock)It’s all about coming up with a plan to hang onto the $1.1 billion in matching funds the feds ship to California each year to help finance MediCal, the immense program that provides health care to about 12.5 million of California’s poorest patients. MediCal is larger than ever now because of the Affordable Care Act, which added more than four million Californians to the millions already receiving MediCal coverage
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.
Calpensions: Employer and employee groups are urging CalPERS to “undertake all efforts” to avoid the “Cadillac Tax,” a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans imposed in 2018 by President Obama’s health care law, a CalPERS staff report said this month. But it’s far from clear that one of those efforts will be Gov. Brown’s proposal to give state workers the option of a low-cost plan with a high deductible, even though the administration mentions the looming penalty tax as a reason for offering the plan.
Gov. Brown unveils his 2015-16 budget draft in the Capitol. (Photo: State of California)Gov. Brown wants state workers to begin paying half the cost of their future retiree health care — a big change for workers making no payments for coverage that can pay 100 percent of the premium for a retiree and 90 percent for their dependents. The governor also wants state workers to be given the option of a lower-cost health insurance plan with higher deductibles.
OPINION: Sadly as we witness the Affordable Care Act unfold, we’re seeing the exact opposite. We’re finding “mom and pop” small businesses – indeed, our leading job creators – not just marginalized, but much of the time left out of the discussion altogether.
California’s new online insurance marketplace signed up 31,000 customers in the first month it was open for business and another 18,000 in the first two weeks of November. That’s less than 1 percent of the number of people without insurance in the state, but California, through Nov. 2, still accounted for more than a third of those who signed up for insurance nationwide under the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature program to overhaul the health insurance industry.