Health

The number of Californians who have health insurance has grown by more than 2 million since the federal government began requiring two years ago that everyone have coverage. About 90 percent of Californians are insured, data show — up from 85 percent before major features of the federal law kicked in. But more than 3 million people in the state remain uninsured, […]

As the presidential election generates a heated national debate about immigration, California is ploughing ahead with policies to integrate undocumented immigrants, most recently, by expanding healthcare access. “It’s one of the most dramatic turnarounds in California political history,” said Daniel Zingale, senior vice president of the California Endowment, a nonprofit health foundation, about undocumented kids […]

This letter was written in response to A child’s death and the power of the dental lobby, which CALmatters published on April 13, 2016. “There is no evidence that dental anesthesia under this model of care carries a greater risk than dental care with a second anesthesiologist present,” Alicia Malaby, spokeswoman for the California Dental […]

After their 6-year-old son died following a dental procedure, a Bay Area couple went to the California Legislature, hoping a new law could prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedy. What they’ve found, so far, is that dentists hold surprising sway in Sacramento. More, it seems, than grieving parents making a plea for change. The […]

When Californians go to the polls this November, they’ll weigh-in on a contentious health care topic amplified by presidential campaigns: prescription drug prices. A state ballot initiative, Proposition 61, would restrict California health programs from paying more for a prescription drug than what’s paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which is widely cited […]

SACRAMENTO — In a small room at a neighborhood clinic in Sacramento, a handful of hepatitis C patients wait to see their physician, hoping they’ll be found sick enough to be approved for a cure. The low-income patients hope to be prescribed new breakthrough drugs, such as Sovaldi or Harvoni, which offer cures with almost […]

NOTE: Somebody redirected this to medium.com version. Doing the same here. What’s behind the jaw-dropping cost of new “specialty drugs” like Orkambi, which has a sticker price of $259,000 per year for cystic fibrosis patients? Orkambi, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last July, is expected to take almost $36 million […]

Private health plans invoiced the state of California $387.5 million to cover high-cost hepatitis C treatments in Medi-Cal between July 2014 and November 2015, when just 3,624 patients received the treatments, according to the California Department of Health Care Services. The state’s supplemental payments started after managed care plans that cover health services for almost […]

California will be a flashpoint in the policy debate this year around reining in the cost of high-priced prescription drugs. A measure expected to be before voters this November would restrict the state’s payments for drugs to no more than the lowest prices paid for the same drug by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. […]

A strange thing is happening in Sacramento: voices on the political left and right are calling for the state to spend more money on services for Californians with developmental disabilities. The message is coming from Republican legislators, who have delivered boxes of petitions to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office, as well as labor unions that have […]