A new report states that over one million Californians have benefited from provisions contained in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Health Reform. The report found that state residents who have benefitted from the law’s provisions include:
- More than 500,000 low-income adults who have obtained health care services through new programs;
- More than 21,000 individuals with pre-existing conditions who previously were denied health insurance; and
- More than 435,000 young adults who are able to remain on their parents’ health plan until age 26.
In anticipation of 2014, Covered California releases a cost estimate tool that calculates premiums and copayments based on your household size and income.
California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is announcing a new program to incentive people with disabilities to leave long term care (LTC) facilities. The goal is to create more affordable housing stock for people with disabilities to move directly into, instead of remaining in costly LTC facilities. To receive rental assistance, individuals with disabilities must be between the ages of 18 and 62 and qualify for long-term care services under Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program.
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones went on record criticizing Anthem for implementing “unreasonable” rate increases for more than 250,000 small business policyholders. Commissioner Jones said that small businesses will face a rate hike over 10% in 2013. Anthem’s spokesperson said the rate hike averaged 6.5% and only affected 52,400 policyholders.
A joint study by the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that California will significantly increase health insurance coverage at minimal cost to the state budget. According to the report, new state spending directly related to the expansion is likely to be largely offset by savings from reduced expenses in other state health programs, mental health services and state prisons.
Under the expansion, more than 1.4 million California adults under age 65 will be newly eligible for Medi-Cal (the state’s Medicaid program), of which between 750,000 and 910,000 are expected to enroll by 2019. Researchers estimate new state spending on these enrollees at between $46 million and $75 million in 2014, growing to between $309 million and $381 million in 2019.
California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has officially released ACWDL 12-36 which implements AB 641 (Feuer) and extends the spousal protections now available to married, opposite-sex couples, to same-sex spouses and registered domestic partners through the transfer of property undue hardship provisions. AB 641 added Welfare and Institutions Code §14015.12 and the provisions will be retroactive to January 1, 2012.
The Sacramento Bee reports of a lawsuit filed in Superior Court, in which Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) says the county is denying medical care to General Assistance applicants waiting for grant approval, in violation of state law. The County is also reducing their General Assistance to pay for care they could not receive.
A new study from Georgetown Health Policy Institute Center reported that California was second in the rate of uninsured children. The report found that about 745,000 children living in California, or about 8%, did not have health insurance in 2011. According to the report, only Texas had a higher number of uninsured children at 916,000.However, the state had the 12th highest decline — 1.5% — in uninsured children between 2009 and 2011.
According to a new study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change, the Sacramento health market weathered the storm much better than most California counterparts. Despite the of economic downturn, Sacramento hospitals and health care leaders turned to collaboration and offering more innovative care.
Key findings of the Sacramento report include:
- Mostly stable over the last three years, Sacramento’s local economy is greatly influenced by the presence of state government. Residents have slightly higher education and income levels and a higher proportion of private health insurance than other regions studied.
- Several powerful hospital systems still dominate the market and lead innovation in health plan-provider collaborations.
- Most Sacramento hospital systems report strong operating margins. Yet pressure to contain costs has come from the economic downturn and the growing number of uninsured.
- Declining county revenues and budgets have led to reductions in state and county health programs and staff, at the same time that demands on these programs has increased.
According to a new report, California encountered several problems during a year-long effort to transition 240,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries from fee-for-service to managed care plans. The federally approved demonstration project involved 240,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities. The Medi-Cal beneficiaries either selected a managed care plan or had one assigned to them by the state. According to the report, caregivers and other respondents said that “the managed care system … was not prepared” to address beneficiaries’ specific needs, which involved mental illness, developmental disabilities and homelessness.
