With the Governor’s final actions on bills last week, health consumer advocates applauded a major year in health reform, where California continued its leadership on health care access, affordability, and equity. Californians will see both short and long-term benefits from the bills and budget items adopted by Governor Newsom and the state legislature this year […]
Covered California 2023 Rates Announced–But Congressional Action Matters More
After three years of record-low premium rate increases of around one percent, Covered California, the state’s health care insurance marketplace, today announced 2023 rates, including a new health plan option, and an average increase of 6% for 2.3 million enrollees in the California individual insurance market, including the record-high 1.7 million in Covered California. While […]
New #CABudget Deal Extends Major Help to Afford Health Care to Millions of Californians
The Governor and Legislature announced a final deal on the California state budget late yesterday, including some major investments in a variety of health and human services. We greatly appreciate that this state budget deal includes crucial commitments to improve health care access and affordability for Californians, providing real relief to many immediately, with the […]
These Key CA Health Care Bills Passed the Floor This Week
The California State Senate and Assembly held their floor sessions this week, with the opportunity to vote on major health care legislation to increase accountability in our health care system and improve health access for consumers. AB 2080 by Assemblymember Wood strengthens oversight on for-profit hospital and health industry mergers to ensure they are in the […]
CA Governor & State Legislature Strike Budget Deal with Major Steps Towards a More Universal Health Care System
The state legislative leaders announced the outlines of a 2021-2022 budget agreement with Governor Newsom that includes funding for a more universal, equitable, and affordable, health care system. The final deal includes historic investments in our health system, including a first-in-the-nation end to the exclusion of income-eligible undocumented adults age 50 and over in Medi-Cal. #Health4All By opening up Medi-Cal […]
Major Effort to Contain Inflated Health Care Costs Passes CA Assembly – Office of Health Care Affordability
The California Assembly passed AB 1130 by Assemblymember Jim Wood, to implement a new statewide Office of Health Care Affordability, a bold effort to address the rising cost of health care. We’ve known for a long time that it’s the price of health care that’s the problem, not that people use more care. The inflated […]
CA Governor Newsom’s May Budget: Key Health Takeaways
On Friday, May 14th 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled the 2021-22 May Revision of the state budget, which includes some important investments to improve and expand our health care system, but also missed major opportunities for further expansion and improvement, especially given the size of the surplus. This budget recognizes that our health system is […]
CA Assembly Health Committee Passes AB 1130 to Contain Inflated Health Care Costs
On April 6th, the California Assembly Health Committee passed AB 1130 by Assemblymember Jim Wood on a 12-0 bipartisan vote. The bill will implement a statewide Office of Health Care Affordability, a new effort to address the rising cost of health care. As Californians face an affordability crisis on many fronts, the proposed Office is […]
Twenty Takeaways from 2020
Protecting Our Progress and Confronting the Challenges of COVID-19 Like most Californians, we had high hopes for progress in 2020. The year began in earnest with the implementation of expanded access and affordability to coverage for hundreds of thousands of Californians, and ambitious plans to increase health industry oversight to control costs, improve quality and […]
Judge Denies Delay of Sutter Settlement, Shows Need for SB 977
Last week, a judge denied the delay of Sutter Health’s $575 million settlement with California Attorney General Becerra regarding unfair competition in Northern California. Health care consumers, employers, and all who pay premiums are glad that the judge denied this delay sought by Sutter Health. The current COVID-19 crisis only increases the urgency for Sutter […]