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.
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.
The Mokulumne River. Photo: Mountain Counties Water Resources Association)A provision in California’s landmark 2014 Water Bond Act, Proposition 1, might lead California into overspending on water, something that has drawn concerns from the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal adviser.
A failure to ride herd over a major state computer project more than tripled the cost, led to numerous delays and allowed scores of warnings to slip by without being addressed, according to a sharply critical report from the state auditor.
On the campus of UC Berkeley, Sather Gate. (Photo: cdrin via Shutterstock)Forty years later, the parsimonious Brown is still butting heads with the UC system’s president over money. The issue is simple: The state wants to know in detail how UC spends its money, the first step if the state is to give the system more money in the 2015-2016 budget.
Photo of Dominga Sarabia by Lily Dayton, design by Cathy Krizik (HealthyCal.org)California Health Report: An estimated 2.6 million undocumented California residents are explicitly barred by law from the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The legislation has been a huge boon for many Californians: More than 3 million previously uninsured Californians gained health insurance since the start of the ACA’s first enrollment period. Almost 30 percent of the remaining uninsured, however, are undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for both Medi-Cal and assistance through Covered California.
For the new plan the state this fiscal year is paying $63.2 million (24.6 percent of pay) for the pensions of 1,407 judges (1,352 active). Judges Retirement System II is 95 percent funded with a debt or “unfunded liability” of $41.2 million.
The UC Board of Regents’ decision to increase tuition over the next five years brought a swift – and negative – reaction from Sacramento, signaling a fiscal showdown when the state budget is unveiled in January. “To UC students and their families, please know that the fight over this nearly 28% fee increase is not over,” said Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins.
OPINION: California is the largest market in the United States and is among the largest in the world. It is estimated that more than a million Californians are gaming online through overseas sites, which we know to be dangerous for gamers. These black market sites for Internet gaming offer no consumer protections.
Calpensions: A small but affluent Orange County city, with a current staff of only a half dozen employees, would have to pay about $3.6 million to leave CalPERS, the giant state pension system estimated two years ago. “I almost feel like just handing this to a reporter and saying, ‘Look at this.’