The State of California did not enact the Fiscal Year 2008-09 budget by June 30, 2008. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) directed the fiscal intermediary (EDS) to continue to pay Medi-Cal practitioners per federal mandate and continue to pay Medi-Cal institutional providers through the Medical Providers Interim Payment (MPIP) fund until the [...]
About 3,400 California residents whose health insurance was canceled by Kaiser Permanente, Health Net and PacifiCare soon will be notified that they might be eligible for new coverage and compensation for medical bills incurred while they were uninsured, the Los Angeles Times reports. The state has been investigating the insurers over claims that the companies [...]
California health officials have asked U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder to suspend an injunction that she issued against a 10% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for health care providers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid program (Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/27).
In February, California lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) approved the reduction [...]
The stories of everyday Americans will make the case for guaranteed affordable health insurance and health care.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today launched a new series of profiles of real American patients that have seen their healthcare denied or delayed at the hands of insurance corporations, the kind of abuses that would end [...]
AB 1894 California health insurance legislation (Krekorian, D – Burbank) will advance the fight against HIV/AIDS for the CA residents and compel health insurance companies to provide coverage for routine HIV tests.
In an essential next step in the fight against HIV and AIDS, the California Legislature passed legislation by Assembly Member Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) that [...]
California health insurers say legislation that would require them to spend at least 85% of premium revenue on health benefit expenses would not address the underlying causes of rising health care costs or improve the quality of care, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bill, which the state Legislature approved on Sunday, aims to hold [...]
California lawmakers last weekend approved several bills aimed at providing consumers protection against certain health insurer practices, but industry experts say the proposed changes still fall short of comprehensive health reform, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the bills, but he has said he [...]
California’s budget impasse — the longest in state history — could force health care providers across the state to stop services if an agreement is not reached soon, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and the state Legislature cannot agree upon a way to close a $17.2 billion gap. As of [...]
Kim Kutcher of Dana Point, CA says Blue Cross denies back surgery for RN.
“I am faced with an insurance hell. Six days before a planned surgery, Blue Cross denied surgery for an artificial disc implantation or disc arthroplasty. This was on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008. The lumbar artificial disc by Synthes Spine called Prodisc was [...]
The California Legislature on Tuesday approved a fiscal year 2009 state budget plan that restores some previously proposed cuts to health care and other programs, the San Jose Mercury News reports (Zapler, San Jose Mercury News, 9/16). Beyond those already introduced by state Senate Democrats, the budget agreement does not include cuts to health care, [...]