Articles

Was Health Net-Centene Merger Approval A One-Off, Or Tone-Setting for Anthem, Aetna Deals?

Submitted by Eddie Barrera on Thu, 03/24/2016 - 11:50
Did California regulators' approval of the Centene and Health Net merger give a preview of how reviews of Anthem's proposed consolidation with Cigna will go down? Let's hope not. Conditions for Health Net were a world away from what regulators will find in the Anthem-Cigna deal. (More on those hearings here.)  
 

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Planned Parenthood’s Prop 46 Payback

Submitted by Carmen Balber on Thu, 03/24/2016 - 11:45

Prop 46 on the November 2014 ballot would have updated California’s $250,000 cap on compensation for victims of medical negligence, enacted in 1975, for 40 years of inflation. The insurance industry spent $58 million to kill it.

Why was Planned Parenthood with them?

New campaign disclosures reveal how Planned Parenthood benefited from the deal.

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PG&E's Gift That Keeps On Giving

Submitted by Liza Tucker on Tue, 03/22/2016 - 15:33

A century ago, Governor Hiram Johnson declared that publicly-traded electric and gas utilities had taken over California state government.

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Mr. Picker Stars On Wall Street As Peevey's Understudy

Submitted by Liza Tucker on Fri, 03/18/2016 - 18:14

When PUC commissioner Michael Picker, a former senior aide to Governor Jerry Brown, was appointed PUC president by Brown, he claimed that he would make the agency “fair, open, accessible and effective” in the wake of scandal-tainted Michael Peevey’s retirement.

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California Medical Association Stands Alone Against Prescription Drug Reform

Submitted by Carmen Balber on Wed, 03/16/2016 - 15:26

The California Medical Association should get over its reactionary opposition to reform that would curb the prescription opioid and heroin overdose epidemic.

Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new painkiller prescription guidelines recommending that doctors check state prescription drug databases before prescribing opioids to a patient. This simple tool has been proven to reduce overprescribing, but only when doctors are required to use it.

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