Posts Tagged: uninsured
Opinion
OPINION: Imagine paying the insurance premiums on your home for years, thinking you’re protecting yourself against disaster. Then, horribly, one day your house burns to the ground in a catastrophic fire. Only then do you find out the shocking news that your insurance policy will pay the cost to replace your home – but only up to the value of what the home was worth in 1967, back when Lyndon Johnson was President.
News
In California, we have seen steady increases in Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) enrollment since April 2020, with caseloads about 9% larger in January 2021 compared to January 2020. Expanded Medi-Cal coverage is responsible for much of the decline in the uninsured rate.
Opinion
As a physician in California, I am so grateful to see preserving people’s access to health care at the top of our state’s New Year’s resolution list. Although a federal judge in Texas has ruled the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional (in a state where five million people could be directly affected, no
Podcast
The high-stakes political battle over health care has gripped the Capitol and, ultimately, it is all but certain to play out in the state budget and in this year’s elections. A major figure in the debate is Anthony Wright, the executive director of Health Access California, which advocates for the expansion of reasonably priced, quality health care.
News
It’s been nearly two weeks since a crucial deadline passed to continue funding for community health centers, the nonprofit facilities that deliver care to the poor and uninsured in California and across the country. Congress is still squabbling over the details, advocates are still scrambling to get the funding renewed and the centers are starting to plan for the bottom line.
News
The results of a presidential election won by Republican Donald Trump has some in a panic. And with GOP majorities in both houses of Congress, Trump presumably can do just about anything. But California health advocates are not talking about abandoning the state’s healthcare system. They’re preparing for a fight.
News
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.
Opinion
OPINION: Just as patients don’t want to see a $15 charge for an aspirin on their hospital bill, hospitals don’t want to charge patients those prices. Hospital pricing has evolved because of decades of government regulations, cost shifts to private payers and unfunded government mandates (including expensive seismic retrofitting), inadequate Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, and the obligation for hospitals to treat all patients, regardless of ability to pay.
A Los Angeles police officer inspects the damage of a car crash. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)
