Update on MCO (Managed Care Organization) Tax DHCS Director Jennifer Kent opened with an update on the MCO tax and the need to revise it to meet new federal guidelines to broaden the base to all health plans (learn more here). Last Spring, the Governor called a special session to resolve this and related Medicaid financing […]
Key Health Care Consumer Protections to Prevent Unfair Out-of-Pocket Costs Advance to Final Floor Votes
SB137 (Ed Hernandez), to require updated, standardized & accurate health plan provider network directories, passed out of Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB533 (Bonta), to stop “surprise” billing from out-of-network doctors; AB339 (Gordon) to prevent unfair cost-sharing for specialty drugs, and AB1305 (Bonta) to limit out-of-pocket costs for individuals in family plans, passed out of Senate Appropriations Committee. SB248 (Roger Hernández), a bill to prevent […]
Special Session on Healthcare – Informational Hearings
This week, the Legislature held two informational hearings as part of the 2015-16 Second Extraordinary Session on healthcare. These hearings were convened to help lawmakers, and the public, understand approaches to structuring a Managed Care Organization (MCO) tax and the state of Medi-Cal funding more broadly. The current MCO tax only applies to health plans […]
Medi-Cal and Medicare Turn 50–With Much To Celebrate & Room for Improvement
As we celebrate how much help Americans have gotten from Medicare and Medicaid after 50 years, including the many improvements to both programs from the Affordable Care Act, we are reminded of the work left to do. In particular, we need to close the gaps in both programs to cover the remaining uninsured. Building on the success […]
Assembly Health Committee Gives Green Light to Key Consumer Health Bills
Earlier today the Assembly Health Committee voted on several priority bills impacting health care consumers and the remaining uninsured, including SB 4 (Lara) For those who keep score, here’s how key consumer protection bills came out in today’s vote: SB 4 (Lara) Health Care Coverage, Immigration Status: 10-6 SB 137 (Hernandez) Accurate Provider Directories 16-2 […]
DMHC Hearing on Blue Shield Acquisition of Care1st Gets at Larger Questions on Nonprofit Obligations
Yesterday’s hearing (covered today in the LA Times) on nonprofit Blue Shield of California and its bid to acquire for-profit Medicaid managed care plan Care1st provided better clarity on the issues at stake in the $1.25 billion transaction, and little reason to doubt whether the assets Blue Shield proposes to use should be subject to charitable trust obligations. The comment period […]
Kaiser Family Foundation Survey Findings Affirm Results of State Reform Efforts to Date and Consumer Advocates’ Legislative Focus Two Years into Affordable Care Act
Findings from a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey of low and moderate income California residents, released yesterday, suggest the state is generally on the right track in ACA implementation, specifically in its choice to build a robust “active purchaser” exchange and to target communities with the largest coverage gaps. Those and other priorities of Covered […]