USA Today: Obama, congressional leaders: No deal on sequester
David Jackson, USA TODAY3:55p.m. EST March 1, 2013 President Obama and congressional leaders failed to reach a deal Friday ahead of the deadline for the sequester, $85 billion in automatic budget cuts that both sides say will be bad for the economy. WASHINGTON – Preparing to leap into the fiscal unknown, President Obama and congressional Republicans … Read more
California Healthline: Lawmakers Might Have Time To Avert Medicare Payment Cuts
Health care providers are hoping that a one-month delay in reductions to Medicare reimbursement rates under sequestration will give lawmakers enough time to develop and pass legislation to avert cuts under the sequester, Modern Healthcare reports (Daly, Modern Healthcare, 2/26). The mandated cuts involve nearly $1 trillion in across-the-board reductions, including a 2% reduction to Medicare reimbursement rates. … Read more
LA Times: Healthcare overhaul may threaten California’s safety net
If public hospitals and clinics lose too much funding, county health leaders say, who will treat the uninsured? About 10% of Californians could still lack coverage after the law takes full effect. By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles TimesFebruary 25, 2013, 10:45 p.m. Millions of uninsured Californians will gain medical coverage under the national healthcare overhaul … Read more
HHS: HHS providing states with additional flexibility, resources to enhance care
HHS announces 25 states will receive funding to test new models of care that will improve health, lower costs Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the first recipients of State Innovation Model awards made possible by the Affordable Care Act. Nearly $300 million in awards will provide flexibility and support to … Read more
SacBee: CalPERS sets new long-term care rates, plans open enrollment
![[Chamberlin, Bob -- B582009456Z.1 BURBANK, CA - APRIL 05, 2012: Photographer Dale Berman at his home in Burbank on APRIL 05, 2012. He has a preexisting medical condition and fears he won't be able to afford insurance if the healthcare reform law falls apart. ( Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times )] *** []](http://laaac.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/april-13-healthcare-reform.jpg?w=440&h=240&crop=1)
A key CalPERS committee today approved a plan to reopen its long-term care insurance to new policyholders, widen the eligibility pool and introduce a new, cheaper benefit program. Today’s news – “CalPERS enrollees receive notice of long-term care rate hikes” – underscored CalPERS’ decade-long effort to right a struggling program that pays for things like nursing care … Read more
California Healthline: Bowles, Simpson Unveil Deficit-Reduction Plan To Avoid Sequester Cuts
Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) — former co-chairs of President Obama’s deficit-reduction commission — on Tuesday unveiled a $2.4 trillion deficit-reduction proposal, which includes $600 billion in federal entitlement savings over a decade, in hopes of staving off the automatic cuts under sequestration that take effect in March, Modern Healthcare reports (Zigmond, Modern Healthcare, 2/19). The … Read more
California Healthline: LAO Report: Benefits of Medi-Cal Expansion Would Outweigh Costs
The benefits of expanding Medi-Cal under the Affordable Care Act would outweigh the costs, according to a new report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the AP/Sacramento Bee reports. Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid program (AP/Sacramento Bee, 2/19). Background The expansion would affect individuals with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level — or $15,415 annually (California Healthline, 1/29). … Read more
California Healthline: GOP Rejects Senate Democrats’ Plan To Avoid Mandated Spending Cuts
On Sunday, Republicans rejected a recent proposal by Senate Democrats to replace mandated spending cuts under sequestration with alternative spending cuts and tax increases, suggesting little chance that a compromise will be reached before the sequester takes effect in March, the Wall Street Journal reports (Peterson, Wall Street Journal, 2/17). The mandated cuts involve nearly $1 trillion in … Read more
Washington Post: States make decisions about roles in insurance marketplaces
By Sandhya Somashekhar, Published: February 15 Florida, New Jersey and Tennessee will not partner with the federal government to create the online insurance marketplaces required under President Obama’s health-care law, the states’ governors announced Friday, ending months of speculation and starting a new chapter in the implementation of the law. The exchanges in those states — and others … Read more
Washington Post: Inside the Obama administration’s plan to build 25 insurance markets
Posted by Sarah Kliff on February 14, 2013 at 11:46 am For months now, its been one of the health care overhaul’s biggest unknowns: Will the federal government be ready to run two dozen state insurance marketplaces? On Thursday Gary Cohen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight gave the Senate Finance Committee the most … Read more
