Kaiser

Health Insurers Lose Silent Round In Medi-Cal Deal

Submitted by Carmen Balber on Tue, 03/01/2016 - 09:55

California taxpayers dodged a bullet yesterday with the passage of a high-stakes bill to help fund Medi-Cal.

Legislative Democrats and nearly a dozen Republicans approved a plan to trade existing taxes for a new tax on insurers to raise more than $1 billion in needed health care funding and preserve federal Medi-Cal matching funds.

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Billion Dollar Plus Valentine’s Day Gift for CA Health Plans Greases MCO Tax Legislation?

Submitted by Jamie Court on Tue, 02/16/2016 - 08:25
Legislation that first appeared little more than one week ago, which is moving so fast it could be law this week, could give California’s health insurance companies one of the largest tax giveaways of the century.  

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Kaiser Gets Away with Hiring Regulator Who Worked on Mental Health Failure

Submitted by Eddie Barrera on Wed, 01/13/2016 - 15:16

If Kaiser Permanente can't evade the state's scrutiny into its mental health fiasco, it will just buy the regulators doing the scrutiny. And get away with it when caught. 

On Thursday, the Fair Political Practicies Commission approved a fine for a state official who was involved in the 2012 audit of Kaiser's mental health plan and then a month later started at the HMO and worked on responding to the survey.

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Alarming Study Should Push CA Lawmakers to Get Serious About Rate Regulation

Submitted by Eddie Barrera on Wed, 01/06/2016 - 08:42
Since 2012, health insurance companies have imposed more than $300 million in rate hikes deemed by the California regulators to be excessive and unjustified. In addition to these actual higher premiums, shrinking physician networks, fewer benefits, increasing out-of-network charges and soaring deductibles have become the hidden premium hike for health insurance that an increasing number of consumers simply can't afford. 
 

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Kaiser Permanente, Example of California's Mental Health Crisis

Submitted by Eddie Barrera on Wed, 12/16/2015 - 12:13

Kaiser Permanente won't be using testimony from this week's state Senate hearing on mental health services in any of its $50 million advertising plans next year. If it did, it would have to change its "Thrive" campaign to a "Withering" campaign. 

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Insurance Commissioner Next for Sen. Ed Hernandez?

Submitted by Eddie Barrera on Mon, 06/01/2015 - 15:02

San Gabriel Valley Democrat Ed Hernandez might have opened a committee to raise money for a lieutenant governor campaign in 2018, but it's more likely that the state senator runs for Insurance Commissioner. By mid-April, ten candidates had opened committees to run for lieutenant governor in 2018, five Republicans and five Democrats.
 

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