Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
August 27, 2016 at 8:10 PM
Enrollment in the insurance exchanges for President Obama’s signature health-care law is at less than half the initial forecast, pushing several major insurance companies to stop offering health plans in certain markets because of significant financial losses.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016 – 09:00 a.m.
We said it more than a year ago and it’s coming true.
Obamacare is melting down right in the middle of the U.S. presidential election.
By Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated Press
July 19, 2016 – 1:01 PM
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
Monthly premiums in California’s health insurance exchange will increase by more than 13 percent on average next year after two major insurers requested large rate increases, officials said Tuesday.
By Harriet Ryan, Lisa Girion and Scott Glover
July 10, 2016
In the waning days of summer in 2008, a convicted felon and his business partner leased office space on a seedy block near MacArthur Park. They set up a waiting room, hired an elderly physician and gave the place a name that sounded like an ordinary clinic: Lake Medical.
By Neil Nisperos, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 07/06/16 – 10:51 PM PDT |
ONTARIO >> Ontario-based Prime Healthcare medical group responded Wednesday to news the federal government is joining a Medicare fraud lawsuit against the company, denying charges it admitted patients needlessly.
Noam N. Levey
May 31, 2016
Health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, which sat out California’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act until this year, will not sell health plans on the state’s insurance marketplace in 2017, state and company officials said Tuesday.
Paul Sisson
May 26, 2016
The U.S. Justice Department has joined a whistle-blower case against Prime Healthcare Services, adding significant weight to allegations of widespread Medicare overbilling at 14 of the company’s hospitals in California.
Capitol Alert
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
May 11, 2016 – 12:15 PM
California is spending more than $2 billion a year on health care for retired state employees – up more than 80 percent in the last decade, according to Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest budget.
By Chad Terhune
California Healthline
May 11, 2016
California’s health insurance exchange estimates that its Obamacare premiums may rise 8 percent on average next year, which would end two consecutive years of more modest 4 percent increases.
Noam N. Levey
April 19, 2016
UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, announced Tuesday that it would stop selling health plans through the Affordable Care Act next year in most of the 34 of states where it operates.
Ed Mendel
April 11, 2016
Gov. Brown’s plan to reduce state worker retiree health care costs got only a small nod in a tentative CSU faculty contract agreement last week. But three unions have agreed to begin paying down one of the state’s fastest-growing costs and largest debts.
Health & Medicine
By Claudia Buck
cbuck@sacbee.com
April 7, 2016 – 9:11 AM
In a move called both symbolic and practical, the Covered California board took the first step Thursday toward allowing undocumented residents to purchase health plans – with no state or federal subsidies – through California’s Obamacare marketplace.
Friday, March 25, 2016 – 11:00 a.m.
The Inland Empire’s economic cheerleader was out touting the region’s job growth this week.
But he didn’t say much about all-important wage growth.
By Melody Gutierrez
Updated: March 10, 2016 – 3:57pm
SACRAMENTO — Dying Californians can ask their doctors for a lethal prescription to end their lives beginning June 9.
By Melanie Mason
February 29, 2016
Culminating a prolonged, wonky debate that has consumed the Capitol for months, legislators on Monday approved a new tax on healthcare plans that would help finance the state’s public healthcare program for the poor.
California
Jonathan Cooper, Associated Press
February 8, 2016 – 6:26 PM
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The California Legislature on Monday unveiled a bill imposing a new tax on health insurance plans that would prevent a massive $1.1 billion hole in the state budget.
By Tracy Seipel
tseipel@mercurynews.com
Posted: 01/21/2016 – 12:01:48 PM PST
Updated: 01/21/2016 – 07:01:54 PM PST
California’s four largest health plans may be on the hook for $10 billion in state back taxes — and at least $1 billion every year going forward — if a closely watched legal case does not break their way.
John Myers and Melanie Mason
January 7, 2015
In an effort to break a political and policy logjam, Gov. Jerry Brown will unveil a state budget that revamps a controversial tax on health plans to avoid jeopardizing federal healthcare dollars.
By Christie Smythe and Keri Geiger | December 17, 2015
Martin Shkreli, the boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested by federal agents at his Manhattan home early Thursday morning on securities fraud related to a firm he founded.
John Myers
December 11, 2015
In the eyes of Martin Weil, it’s not the hard slog of political deal-making that explains why his 26-year old daughter, a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy who is unable to speak, struggles to keep the services she needs.
It’s more like political malpractice.
Chad Terhune
December 2, 2015
U.S. healthcare spending grew 5.3% last year to $3 trillion, another sign that a historic slowdown in medical inflation may be ending, a new federal report shows.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
December 1, 2015
For years, the state has conducted something of a shell game to help finance Medi-Cal, its health insurance system for the poor that now covers nearly a third of Californians.
By Sarah Ferris
12/01/15 – 11:05 AM EST
The CEO of UnitedHealthcare on Tuesday said he regretted the decision to enter the ObamaCare marketplace last year, which the company says has resulted in millions of dollars in losses.
By Carolyn Y. Johnson and Brady Dennis
December 1, 2015 at 2:27 PM
–This story has been updated.–
Gilead Sciences executives were acutely aware in 2013 that their plan to charge an exorbitantly high price for a powerful new hepatitis C drug would spark public outrage, but they pursued the profit-driven strategy anyway, according to a Senate Finance Committee investigation report released Tuesday.
Chad Terhune
November 19, 2015
Industry giant UnitedHealth has warned it may quit selling Obamacare coverage across the country, raising questions about an expansion in California.
By Eric Pianin
November 16, 2015
First, the administration revealed that enrollments for Obamacare next year will barely hit 10 million, far below previous projections.
Soumya Karlamangla
October 9, 2015
Half of Californians in the country illegally would be eligible for the state’s healthcare program for the poor if it were expanded under a proposal by legislators, a new report finds.
Chad Terhune
October 9, 2015
Health insurance giant Blue Shield of California sued its former public policy director and accused him of disclosing confidential company information.
By Seung Min Kim
10/25/15 – 05:29 PM EDT
Senate Republicans’ carefully-laid plans to use a powerful fast-track tool to send an Obamacare repeal to President Barack Obama is running into fresh resistance, with new opposition from high-profile conservatives and bubbling concerns from moderates.
Stuart Pfeifer
October 24, 2015
Dr. Prem Reddy has frequently been criticized over his tough management, cost-cutting and reduced medical services at Prime Healthcare Services Inc., his fast-growing Ontario-based hospital chain.
By Bradley J. Fikes | Oct. 22, 2015 | Updated 6:23 p.m.
San Diego’s Imprimis has introduced a compounded drug that sells for far less than Daraprim from Turing Pharmaceuticals.
Turing Pharmaceuticals sparked nationwide outrage and government investigations when it raised the cost of a generic drug used for AIDS and cancer from $13.50 to $750 a capsule.
By Stacy Cowley
October 19, 2015
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — When Billy Sewell began offering health insurance this year to 600 service workers at the Golden Corral restaurants that he owns, he wondered nervously how many would buy it. Adding hundreds of employees to his plan would cost him more than $1 million — a hit he wasn’t sure his low-margin business could afford.
Melanie Mason
October 9, 2015
A new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown Friday cements California’s expansion of public healthcare to children who are in the country illegally, underscoring the state’s immigrant-friendly tilt.
By John Howard
October 5, 2015
Gov. Jerry Brown, in one of the most emotional moments of his long political career, signed into law a bill allowing people near death to end their lives with lethal drugs supplied by a physician. “The crux of the matter is whether the state of California should continue to make it a crime for a dying person to end his life, no matter how great his pain or suffering,” Brown wrote in his official signing message.
By Stuart Pfeifer
September 20, 2015
Hospital operator Prime Healthcare Services Inc. is suing California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris for imposing strict restrictions that caused the Ontario company to back out of its attempted purchase of six Roman Catholic hospitals earlier this year.
By Evan Halper and Noam N. Levey
September 21, 2015
Democrats facing tough elections have been running away from Obamacare in their campaigns almost since the law was passed, but Hillary Rodham Clinton is taking a different approach. She is embracing it.
By David G. Savage
September 9, 2015
House Republicans won the opening round in a lawsuit against President Obama over their claim that his administration spent money for health insurers under the Affordable Care Act without receiving needed approval by Congress.
AP California News
By JUDY LIN
Associated Press
Jul 27, 2015 – 9:14 PM EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The cost of private individual health plans on California’s state-run market will increase about 4 percent for the second straight year, evidence the strategy of forcing insurers to compete is controlling costs, program officials said Monday.
Saturday, July 25, 2015 – 09:00 a.m.
Really! Another larges-scale merger, this time in the healthcare industry, and it’s supposed to be a good thing.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
July 10, 2015
A tobacco-tax initiative proposed for the November 2016 ballot would raise as much as $1 billion to increase reimbursement rates for healthcare providers, about three-quarters of the estimated revenue that would be generated by the $2-per-pack tax hike.
Capitol Alert
By David Siders and Jim Miller
dsiders@sacbee.com
July 9, 2015
Inheriting a budget deficit when he took office in 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown tried for months – and failed – to reach agreement with Republicans to put a tax measure on the ballot. He finally bypassed the Legislature and went directly to voters himself.
By Philip Rucker
July 3, 2015 at 4:20 PM
HANOVER, N.H. — Hillary Rodham Clinton sharpened her partisan rhetoric to appeal to Democratic primary voters here Friday by issuing a dire warning: President Obama’s health care law would disappear if a Republican wins the White House in 2016.
AP California News
By Femit Nirappil and Judy Lin
Associated Press
June 29, 2015 – 2:37 PM EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Legislature is holding two special sessions this summer to tackle long-vexing funding shortfalls in the state’s transportation and health care programs. But talk of targeted tax increases has prompted political hand-wringing.
Sunday, June 28, 2015 – 10:30 a.m.
Set aside all the hubbub.
The Supreme Court of the United States did the Republican Party a huge favor this week.
By Debra J. Saunders
Friday, June 26, 2015 – Updated 2:12 pm
The GOP-majority Supreme Court saved President Obama’s bacon Thursday with a political ruling that papered over his signature Affordable Care Act. Writing for the majority in the 6-3 King vs. Burwell decision, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the 900-page law was written behind closed doors with little debate or amendment, and thus was “inartfully drafted.” It was the court’s obligation, he wrote, to translate bill language limiting the government subsidies to enrollees in “an exchange established by the state” to also cover federal exchanges.
Capitol Alert
By Jeremy B. White
jwhite@sacbee.com
June 25, 2015
The state Assembly passed a closely watched bill Thursday compelling schoolchildren to be fully vaccinated, approving the measure on a 46-30 vote that blurred party lines.
Thursday, June 25, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.
On the Lou Desmond and Company Show tonight, Lou is joined in the studio by Toyota of San Bernardino Owner Cliff Cummings and on the newsmaker line by Constitutional Scholar Ralph Rossum to discuss today’s depressing SCOTUS ruling. Scalia said it best: words no longer have meaning. So how could the Court end up at such a ruling?
By Mark Sherman
June 25, 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the nationwide tax subsidies underpinning President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, rejecting a major challenge to the landmark law in a ruling that preserves health insurance for millions of Americans.
By Victoria Colliver
June 22, 2015
Updated: June 22, 2015 5:17pm
Drug shortages have turned into a nationwide chronic condition.
Disruptions in production, safety recalls, difficulties finding key raw ingredients, shifts in demand and decisions to discontinue certain products are just some of the reasons pharmaceutical makers give for not having enough supply. Nearly half the time, research shows, the reason is not disclosed, but the problem has escalated over the past five years.
By Lawrence Hurley
Sunday, June 21, 2015
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tensions are building inside and outside the white marble facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building as the nine justices prepare to issue major rulings on gay marriage and President Barack Obama’s healthcare law by the end of the month.
By Chad Terhune
June 18, 2015
Citing higher drug prices, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System said its HMO premiums are rising by 7.2% next year.
By Chris Megerian and Melanie Mason
June 17, 2015
Immigrant children who are in the country illegally would receive public healthcare coverage in California under a budget deal announced Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders.
Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
June 16, 2015
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether residents of states that refused to implement Obamacare are entitled to federal insurance subsidies.
By Debra J. Saunders
Friday, June 12, 2015 – Updated 3:08 pm
“There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally,” President Obama proclaimed in a 2009 speech to Congress. It was a memorable event in part because Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouted, “You lie.” Editorial-page umbrage followed.
By Chad Terhune
June 5, 2015
Health insurance giant Blue Shield of California is facing more questions over its loss of tax-exempt status as it tries to win state approval of a $1.2-billion acquisition.
David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times
david.lazarus@latimes.com
@Davidlazurus
June 5, 2015
A single dose of the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam — the generic version of Ativan — will run you about 14 cents at Safeway or Target.
At Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, the same pill goes for nearly $2,000.
The State Worker
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
June 1, 2015
Even as Gov. Jerry Brown bargains changes to retiree health benefits with four state-employee unions, his administration has drawn up some unnumbered bills that reveal the governor’s thinking on how to cut those costs long-term.
Friday, May 29, 2015 – 03:00 p.m.
Coming to you from the Toyota of San Bernardino Studios, Lou is joined by Ed Hoffman, proprietor of Wholesale Capital Corporation. They talk about Francis Pusok, who was charged with 11 felonies yesterday.
By Soumya Karlamangla
May 24, 2015
Since California’s health insurance program for the poor was expanded under the Affordable Care Act last year, enrollment has exploded, with more than 3.5 million people signing up for the first time. Almost 1 in 3 Californians — a total of 12.2 million people — now receive coverage through Medi-Cal.
By Melanie Mason
May 4, 2015
Extending state-subsidized healthcare coverage to people in the country illegally could cost California as much as $740 million annually, according to a Senate fiscal analysis released Monday.
Published: April 29, 2015
Updated: May 2, 2015 4:20 p.m.
Since 1999, Riverside County employees have been able to get health care through an exclusive, county-run program called, fittingly enough, Exclusive Care.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
Thursday, April 23, 2015 – 10:00 p.m.
All sides of a contract dispute affecting San Bernardino County Nurses and Per Diem Nurses have given their blessing to a new contract that will run through July 2017.
By Patrick McGreevy
April 23, 2015
Democratic state lawmakers on Thursday shot down a proposal that would have required all California state legislators to get their health insurance from Covered California, the benefits exchange set up to implement Obamacare in the state.
Published: April 2, 2015 – 10:26 a.m.
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, was one of four Democrats and 43 first-year representatives to sign a letter to House Speaker John Boehner this week urging him to repeal a tax on medical devices tied to the Affordable Care Act.
To read post by Jeff Horseman in The P-E Political Empire Blog, click here.
By Ed Mendel
March 30, 2015
Employer and employee groups are urging CalPERS to “undertake all efforts” to avoid the “Cadillac Tax,” a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans imposed in 2018 by President Obama’s health care law, a CalPERS staff report said this month.
By Lisa Zamosky
March 29, 2015
Coping with ever-increasing medical bills is frustrating — and getting more so.
By Chad Terhune
March 27, 2015
With billions of dollars in reserve, nonprofit insurer Blue Shield of California is facing new pressure to offer better prices for its policies.
By Jonathan Weisman
March 27, 2015
WASHINGTON — Emerging from an all-night session that contained more exhaustion than drama, Senate Republicans squeaked through a budget blueprint Friday morning that would repeal the Affordable Care Act, fundamentally remake federal health care for the poor and elderly, and push the federal deficit toward zero over the next decade.
Published: March 25, 2015 – Updated: 10:28 p.m.
Those who avoided Riverside County Regional Medical Center can now seek treatment at Riverside University Medical Center.
Just a couple of things worth noting, though.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By BROOKE SELF
STAFF WRITER
Posted Mar. 22, 2015 at 3:50 PM
ADELANTO — About 40 former Adelanto employees and a few City Council members are named on a list of those who were grandfathered into a city policy granting free health care benefits for life, with an additional 26 former employees who stand to qualify but have not yet sought reimbursement, according to city records.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, March 23, 2015
Gov. Brown’s plan to curb the long-ignored debt for state worker retiree health care, now much larger than their unfunded pension debt, may look familiar. It’s similar to the standard state and local government pension reform.
The State Worker
Jon Ortiz chronicles civil-service life for California state workers
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
03/18/2015 – 4:27 PM
Unions lined up Wednesday to oppose Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to offer high-deductible medical coverage to state employees, suggesting it could hurt workers’ health instead of improving it.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.
Tonight on the Lou Desmond & Company Show, Lou is joined by Ryan Hagen, writer for the San Bernardino Sun, to discuss San Bernardino’s financial woes.
By Melody Petersen
March 12, 2015
The founder of Prime Healthcare Services Inc. defended his decision to pull out of a deal to buy six Catholic hospitals, saying critics were wrong to suggest that he placed profit over patients.
By Melody Petersen
March 11, 2015
Prime Healthcare Services Inc.’s proposed deal to buy six financially struggling Roman Catholic hospitals has collapsed, raising questions about how the nonprofit chain will keep its doors open.
Monday, March 9, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.
Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, estimable economist Jay Prag joins Lou to discuss what it takes to be a leader in a business setting.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, March 9, 2015
Something that rarely happens in California could result from Gov. Brown’s proposal to contain growing state worker retiree health care costs — benefits received by current government retirees might be reduced.
By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times
Updated: 11:33 a.m. on Monday, March 9, 2015
Obamacare exchange customers could see a significant spike in their premiums over the next few years as insurers face pressures from both the government and the marketplace, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday in a new analysis finding Obamacare is both cheaper and less comprehensive than predicted.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 – 04:30 p.m.
Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Executive Director of Pacific Legal Foundation’s D.C. Center and Constitutional Senior Fellow Todd Gaziano joins Lou to discuss the Supreme Court’s oral arguments that took place earlier today.
By Philip Klein | February 26, 2015 | 6:11 am
The U.S. Treasury Department has rebuffed a request by House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R- Wis., to explain $3 billion in payments that were made to health insurers even though Congress never authorized the spending through annual appropriations.
By Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News
February 26, 2015
Roberta and Curtis Campbell typically look forward to tax time. Most years, they receive a refund – a little extra cash to pay off credit card bills.
By Tracy Seipel
tseipel@mercurynews.com
Posted: 02/24/2015 05:55:02 AM PST
Updated: 02/24/2015 05:55:35 AM PST
SAN JOSE — Take it or leave it. That’s the message to a Southern California for-profit company from Attorney General Kamala Harris who late last week laid out a dozen requirements for Prime Healthcare Services’ $843 million deal to buy six cash-crunched nonprofit hospitals.
By Joe Garofoli
Saturday, February 21, 2015 – Published 4:40 pm
Politicians don’t get much more conservative than Orange County Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. He was Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter, an inspiration behind California’s anti-immigration Proposition 187, a Cold War hardliner, and a man who self-deprecatingly calls himself a “Neanderthal Republican.”
Saturday, February 2015 – 09:30 a.m.
It just keeps getting worse for Democrats nationally. The Obamacare steamroller was operating at full speed this week.
Where do I start?
By Stuart Pfeifer and Javier Panzar
February 20, 2015
California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris on Friday approved the hotly debated sale of a chain of six struggling Catholic hospitals — including two in Los Angeles County — but imposed strict conditions on how they will be managed.