California policymakers, regulators, and advocates are being forced to take extraordinary steps to protect patients and our health system from sabotage by the Trump Administration. The latest and most shocking administrative attack was last night’s announcement that the White House is withholding funding for cost-sharing reductions (CSRs), payments which have already been budgeted and contracted […]
Defunding Already-Budgeted CSRs Will Force Premium Spikes and Cause Confusion in Our Health Care Market
President Trump’s move to stop payment on $7 billion in aid to low-income Americans to afford health care is deliberately destructive and destabilizing. These cost-sharing reductions (or CSRs) are funds that have already been allocated to help reduce co-pays and deductibles for low-income consumers. This decision will force insurers to spike premiums to reclaim these […]
Trump Executive Order Undermines Insurance Markets, But California Can Take Steps to Protect Coverage & Affordability
Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order that threatens to undermine insurance markets around the country. It directs federal agencies to craft rules allowing broader use of Association Health Plans and short-term health insurance, creating large loopholes in the Affordable Care Act’s requirements around minimum benefits and protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Consumer and health […]
Setting National Policy, CA Governor Brown Signs SB 17 on Prescription Drug Price Transparency
This morning, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 17 by Senator Ed Hernandez, nationally influential prescription drug price legislation, at a rare signing ceremony at the State Capitol. The new law will require prescription drug companies to provide advance notice and explanation for any price hike of more than 16% over two years. Despite a heavy […]
Federal Budget Proposals Threaten Cuts to Health and Safety Net Programs
House Passes Federal Budget Resolution with Staggering Cuts with 14 CA Votes
On a party line vote among the California delegation, the US House of Representatives voted this week on a House budget resolution for fiscal year 2018 with massive cuts to health and other vital services. This budget resolution also begins the process for pushing through a massive tax cut package with just 51 votes in […]
Fact-Checking Breitbart
Today we are quoted in Breitbart, the President’s favorite source for news, in a story about two health care bills that Health Access either sponsored or was the main supporter. Since we know something about the subject, we humbly offer this fact-check of the article. It’s almost impressive how the article is mistaken and/or misleading in […]
Governor Brown Signs Two Bills to Protect California’s Individual Market from Trump Sabotage
Governor Jerry Brown has signed two important health consumer protection bills, SB 133 (Hernandez) and AB 156 (Wood), aimed at protecting the 2 million Californians who purchase health care on the individual market from the Trump Administration’s attempts to undermine the Affordable Care Act, inject uncertainty into the marketplace, disrupt people’s health care and make […]
Graham-Cassidy Would Repeal the ACA, Cut & Cap Medi-Cal
Graham-Cassidy Repeal Stalls But #Fight4OurHealth Isn’t Over
The U.S. Senate announced today that it will not take a vote on the Graham-Cassidy ACA repeal proposal, which would have undone key patient protections, cut and capped Medicaid, and phased-out (and by 2027 zeroed-out) all funding from the Affordable Care Act. The proposal would have been devastating – deliberately and disproportionately – for California’s health care system, ultimately resulting in $53 billion/year in cuts and over 7 million more uninsured in our state.