Source: Fortune The annual cost of health care for a typical family of four with employer-sponsored insurance has skyrocketed over the past few years to over $25,000 in 2016—yet more Americans say they can afford the bills. On Monday, polling group Gallup reported that 15.5% of Americans say they couldn’t afford the health care or […]
Read moreSource: KPCC Even when patients make concerted efforts to see doctors covered by their insurance plans at in-network facilities, they run the risk of unknowingly being treated by other out-of-network providers during that visit. A new state bill would protect people from paying hefty surprise medical bills stemming from such out-of-network charges. The proposal, AB […]
Read moreSource: SF Gate Physician influence can be bought for as little as a $20 meal, UCSF researchers have found. In a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, the researchers found that doctors who received just one meal averaging $20 were up to twice as likely to prescribe brand-name drugs being promoted than doctors who […]
Read moreSource: LifeHealthPro Aetna Inc.’s $37 billion deal to buy Humana Inc.was approved by the California Department of Managed Health Care, which said Monday that it could move forward after the company agreed to invest in the state’s health care infrastructure. Louisville, Kentucky-based Humana’s stock rose 1.9 percent to $190.74 at 3:07 p.m. New York time. […]
Read moreSource: California Healthline A joint legislative committee Wednesday will hear pro and con arguments on a ballot measure intended to protect an important source of funding for low-income Californians. The measure, known as the Medi-Cal Funding and Accountability Act, would override the scheduled expiration of a fund used by the state to bring in matching […]
Read moreSource: The New York Times An Obama administration proposal to reduce Medicare payments for many prescription drugs has run into sharp bipartisan criticism, suggesting that it is easier to diagnose the problem of high prices than to solve it. Patients’ advocates have joined doctors and drug companies in warning that the federal plan could jeopardize […]
Read moreSource: California Healthline The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has picked a unit of UnitedHealth Group to run its pharmacy business, hoping the nation’s largest health insurer can help contain the soaring cost of prescription drugs. Now CalPERS will turn its attention to setting health insurance rates for 2017. The CalPERS board voted unanimously Wednesday […]
Read moreSource: Rushing To Move Excluded Immigrants Into Obamacare – Before Obama Exits State legislators and advocates are racing to get federal approval in the waning months of the Obama administration for a proposal to allow immigrants living in the U.S. illegally onto the California insurance exchange. Fearful that a new administration will torpedo their plans, […]
Read moreSource: CBS President Obama’s signature health care law is called the Affordable Care Act, but just how affordable remains an open question even this long after its enactment. One of its provisions that aimed at chipping away health care’s high costs is a tax that attempts to remove a hidden subsidy for the most expensive […]
Read moreSource: California Healthline Bolstered by the federal health care reform law, the number of low-income kids getting full health coverage in California continues to grow, as it does in the nation as a whole, a recent study found. The rate of uninsurance among California’s children dropped from 7.3 percent in 2013 to 5.2 percent in […]
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