Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom officially unveiled his 2020-2021 State Budget, which includes major new investments in access to health coverage and to lower health care costs. The 2020-2021 $222 billion state budget ($153 billion general fund), includes first-in-the-nation investments towards universal coverage and cost containment. The budget also includes ambitious efforts to prevent inflated […] Read More
CA Governor Announces Major New Proposals to Prevent Inflated Health Care Prices
January 9, 2020California Governor Gavin Newsom today announced a series of major health care reforms to provide relief to millions of California consumers, employers, and taxpayers struggling with high health care costs. In his 2020-21 budget, the Governor is proposing policy changes to address the price of health plans, providers, and prescription drugs. Health care consumer advocates […] Read More
Health Consumer Champions Revealed in New Health Access 2019 Legislative Scorecard
January 8, 2020Looking back on a momentous year for California health care consumers, earlier this week Health Access California released its 2019 Legislative Scorecard highlighting key bills supported by health care consumer advocates in the 2019 legislative session. The report details how policymakers voted on key bills to protect patients, expand coverage, and increase oversight on insurers, the health […] Read More
A Dramatic Year – and Decade – in California Health Care
December 23, 2019California had a landmark 2019 in health reform, expanding access and affordability to coverage, not just by countering the administrative attacks from the federal government, but also expanding access and affordability, and placing additional oversight on the health industry to control costs and improve quality and equity. These wins on behalf of consumers are due to the […] Read More
Launch of Open Enrollment in Covered California with Additional Affordability Assistance Highlights the Landmark Year in CA Health Reform
October 15, 2019Today marks the beginning of Covered California’s open enrollment. With hundreds of millions of dollars in new financial assistance now available for Californians, it caps off a landmark year for health reform in California. Despite the best efforts of the Trump Administration to sabotage our health care, California has taken bold action not just to […] Read More
Governor Newsom Signs AB 824 to Lower Prescription Drug Costs in First Health Care Bill Signing Event
October 8, 2019California Governor Gavin Newsom today signed the biggest prescription drug price bill of the year, intended to lower prescription drug prices for California consumers by hundreds of millions of dollars a year. During the first-ever health care bill signing event under the new Administration, Newsom signed AB 824, authored by Assemblymember Wood and sponsored by Attorney General […] Read More
NEW REPORT: CA Compromise to Stop Surprise Medical Bills is Working and is the Best Solution for a Federal Fix
September 26, 2019A Health Access report released today highlights new data showing the success of California’s compromise solution to stop surprise medical bills. The report demonstrates how AB 72, signed into law three years ago, has been successful in protecting patients from surprise bills which occur when patients go to an in-network hospital or facility but then […] Read More
2018 Census Data Shows CA Uninsured Rate Holds Steady Despite National Increase
September 10, 2019After years of decline after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), new 2018 Census data released today shows the first national increase in the uninsured rate since 2013, with the rate going up from 7.9% to 8.5%, or by 1.9 million Americans to 27.5 million. By contrast, California’s uninsured rate has held steady at 7.2%, lower than […] Read More
Trump Launches New Attack on Our Care
August 13, 2019The Trump Administration’s Department of Homeland Security has released a final rule penalizing lawfully present immigrants and their families for seeking needed health care. This harmful rule, which will go into effect on October 15th barring any legal action, will have major impacts across our entire health care system. This cruel attack isn’t just on […] Read More
In a Win for Consumers, AG Becerra Announces $70 Million Pay-For-Delay Settlement
July 29, 2019California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra today announced four settlements totaling nearly $70 million in payments against pharmaceutical companies for participating in harmful “pay-for-delay” deals that keep lower-priced generic medications off the market for longer, reducing competition and arbitrarily keeping life-saving medications more expensive for consumers. According to the AG, this is the largest settlement of […] Read More