Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
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.
By Judy Lin, Associated Press
02/19/2015 5:14 PM
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s health exchange apologized Thursday for sending about 100,000 incorrect tax forms last month to people who purchased private coverage, a mistake that could delay tax filings or force households to amend their taxes.
By J.D. Harrison
February 19, 2015 at 3:11 PM
One of these days, employers will experience the full effects of Obamacare — but not yet.
Thursday, February 19, 2015 – 05:00p.m.
Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Tom Del Beccaro, former Chairman of the California Republican Party joins Lou to discuss ISIS.
By Chad Terhune and Soumya Karlamangla
February 17, 2015
California’s health exchange, after notching 1.4 million in Obamacare enrollment as of Sunday’s deadline, said it may give uninsured people subject to a tax penalty yet another chance to sign up.
Monday, February 16, 2015 – 11:00 a.m.
It looks as if Congressional Democrats have figured out what we’ve been saying here for over a year.
By Chad Terhune
February 14, 2015
Short of its enrollment goal ahead of a Sunday deadline, California’s Obamacare exchange made a final push for sign-ups at Los Angeles area clinics, churches and shopping malls.
By Tracy Seipel
tseipel@mercurynews.com
Posted: 02/14/2015 10:03:51 AM PST
Picture an empty hospital. No patients, no medical staff — not a stethoscope in sight.
Monday, February 9, 2015 – 09:00 a.m.
First it was the “If you like your plan you can keep it” debacle.
Now everyone is just starting to get the second dose of Obamacare.
By Chad Terhune
February 5, 2015
Insurance giant Anthem Inc. suffered a massive data breach exposing the personal information of up to 80 million Americans — and it could have been even worse for consumers.
Thursday, February 5, 2015 – 08:45 a.m.
The California Nurses Association (CNA) appears to have secured a victory against San Bernardino County.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
02/05/2015 7:54 AM
If you’re a state retiree or planning to become one, a piece of Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2015-16 budget proposal could hit your wallet.
By Laurel Rosenhall
lrosenhall@sacbee.com
02/05/2015 7:48 AM
With measles breaking out in California 15 years after it was thought to be eradicated, two state senators introduced legislation Wednesday that would make it harder for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children.
Monday, February 2, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.
Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, economist Jay Prag and Producer Beth Baumann join Lou to discuss an array of topics.
Saturday, January 31, 2015 – 01:00 p.m.
We’ve said it here many times.
If there’s one group who can routinely shoot itself in the head, it’s the GOP.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
01/26/2015 7:31 AM
After years of making concessions to Gov. Jerry Brown, California labor leaders had hoped that the fourth-and-final-term Democrat finally would be in a giving mood.
By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
01/16/2015 10:44 PM
Last year, after the Food and Drug Administration approved a breakthrough new drug for hepatitis C, health officials around the country warned of dire consequences for state budgets.
By Maura Dolan
January 14, 2015
A Sacramento federal judge prepares to decide whether to downgrade marijuana, but ruling’s reach is limited
By Jim Steinberg, San Bernardino Sun
Posted: 01/11/15, 5:23 PM PST |
COLTON >> Contract negotiations between county officials and its nursing union have resumed, officials said.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
01/09/2015 11:38 PM
Gov. Jerry Brown says he wants state workers to begin contributing toward their retiree health benefits and that he will take up the issue at the bargaining table beginning this year.
By Chris Megerian
January 9, 2015
The state’s mountain of medical bills threatens to undermine Gov. Jerry Brown’s fiscal goals
January 8, 2015 | 11:40 AM
By April Dembosky
Most days in early January, tax preparation offices are dead. Most people won’t get their W-2 or other tax documents until later this month.
SHEA JOHNSON
STAFF WRITER
Posted Jan. 5, 2015 @ 5:40 pm
Updated Jan 5, 2015 at 5:42 PM
Testifying before a state Attorney General’s panel Monday in Lynwood, San Bernardino County 1st District Supervisor Robert Lovingood expressed support for Ontario-based Prime Healthcare’s proposed acquisition of six struggling nonprofit hospitals.
By Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 01/03/15, 5:01 PM PST |
Dozens of hospitals across Southern California will see their federal reimbursements reduced this year for not meeting standards to keep Medicare patients safe and infection free.
By Stuart Pfeifer
January 1, 2014
Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris is jumping into a heated battle over the purchase of six struggling nonprofit Catholic medical centers in California by the fast-growing Ontario hospital chain Prime Healthcare Services Inc.
Published: December 25, 201
Updated: December 26, 2014 – 10:49 a.m.
Buried in the $1.1 trillion, 1,603-page federal spending bill approved by Congress earlier this month is a little relief for medical marijuana advocates such as Jim Camper.
The spending package contains language forbidding federal agencies from using their resources to go after medical marijuana in states where it is legal.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Bob Egelko
Published: Monday, December 22, 2014
In a sharp reversal of federal drug policy, Congress has prohibited the Justice Department from interfering with laws in California and other states that allow the medical use of marijuana. And the turnabout caught the immediate attention of federal judges, who want to know its impact on some recent criminal convictions under the federal law that classifies pot as one of the most dangerous drugs.
By Cheryl K. Chumley – The Washington Times
Monday, December 22, 2014
Republicans say they have the will to bring down Obamacare — and many are eyeing a little-known, little-used budget too called “reconciliation” to do so.
By Evan Halper
December 16, 2014
‘The first time in decades that the federal government has curtailed its oppressive prohibition of marijuana’
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 12/15/14, 9:13 PM PST | Updated: 15 secs ago
About 30 nurses from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center will address the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Tuesday following a two-day strike last week in protest of low pay and poor working conditions.
Saturday, December 13, 2014 – 11:45 a.m.
The California Nurses Association (CNA), successfully and legally, pulled off a two-day walkout at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center this week.
By Josh Richman
Thursday, December 11th, 2014 at 12:34 pm
Rep. Mike Honda and Rep. Zoe Lofgren led 16 other California House members Thursday in urging California Attorney General Kamala Harris to reject the sale of six Daughters of Charity Health System hospitals to a for-profit company they say has a history of unfair business practices.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 – 04:00 p.m.
A California appellate court has refused to intervene in a ongoing two-day strike by San Bernardino County Nurses.
By Jim Steinberg, The Sun
Posted: 12/09/14, 9:56 AM PST | Updated: 59 secs ago
COLTON >> Hundreds of county nurses did not show up for work Tuesday as the nurses union began a two-day strike, demanding higher wages and protesting working conditions.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 – 10:30 a.m.
In San Bernardino County’s pocket?
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 – 10:00 a.m.
A two day strike by more than 1,000 San Bernardino County nurses is being felt across the Inland Empire with emergency and other patients being deferred to other area hospitals.
SHEA JOHNSON
STAFF WRITER
Posted Dec. 8, 2014 @ 5:17 pm
Updated Dec 8, 2014 at 5:21 PM
VICTORVILLE — Prime Healthcare CEO Dr. Prem Reddy said Monday that the fifth-largest hospital system in the U.S. plans to go public in the next two to three years.
Behind closed doors, Republicans are plotting one last tilt at the Affordable Care Act.
By Jennifer Haberkorn and Manu Raju
12/8/14 8:15 PM EST
In high-level strategy sessions on Capitol Hill, Republicans are going through reams of historical information and sitting through marathon slide show presentations, trying to figure out how to gut Obamacare through a complicated budget process that requires only a simple majority — a sign of how seriously they’re taking their best shot yet at dealing a long-term blow to the health care law.
Monday, December 8, 2014 – 11:00 a.m.
A San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge has refused to block a planned strike by county-employed nurses set for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Greg Giroux
Dec 7, 2014 3:17 PM PST
Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy’s double-digit ousting of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu on Saturday was, in the words of the senator-elect, an “exclamation mark” on a 2014 election that saw the Republicans win control of the Senate. With Landrieu’s departure, only half of the Senators who voted to pass the Affordable Care Act will still be in office in 2015, when the new members are sworn in.
Sunday, December 7, 2014 – 10:00 a.m.
San Bernardino County’s labor relations continues down the path of obstruction and disharmony.
Friday, December 5, 2014 – 03:30 p.m.
A San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge has denied a request for an injunction prohibiting a two-day walk out of the county’s 1,100 nurses.
By Jim Steinberg, The Sun
Posted: 12/04/14, 5:28 PM PST | Updated: 28 secs ago
San Bernardino County officials are seeking to block a planned strike by its 1,100 member nurses union, saying a two-day event next week “could cost taxpayers millions of dollars” if the county is forced to hire temporary nurses.
By Chad Terhune
December 2, 2014
Nearly four in 10 Californians say the state’s health exchange isn’t working well as the second open enrollment gets underway, a new survey shows.
Sarah Hurtubise, Reporter
11/28/2014 – 2:48 PM
One in three Americans has put off seeking medical treatment in 2014 due to high costs, according to Gallup — the highest percentage since Gallup began asking the question in 2001.
By Jim Steinberg, The Sun
Posted: 11/26/14, 4:40 PM PST |
About 1,200 nurses employed by the county of San Bernardino will strike Dec. 9 and 10 because 14 months of contract negotiations have yielded no progress, officials of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United said Wednesday.
By Amanda Becker
WASHINGTON Fri Nov 21, 2014 11:27am EST
(Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday filed a long-anticipated lawsuit challenging the implementation of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law over employer-based coverage and payments to insurers, according to court documents.
By Chad Terhune
November 19, 2014
Southern California employers expect their health-benefit costs to rise 4.8% next year as the economy recovers and mandates under the federal health law kick in, a new survey shows.
Monday, November 17, 2014 – 08:45 a.m.
Obamacare. The Gift that keeps on giving!
My last story on Obamacare isn’t even a week old and already there’s another controversy.
By Dan Keating and Jason Millman
November 15, 2014 at 6:59 PM
People shopping on the HealthCare.gov marketplace that reopened Saturday have more options this year than they did last year, but the options usually will be costlier.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
11/14/2014 1:44 PM
CalPERS has dropped health coverage for nearly 9,000 people over the last year after a sweeping audit revealed they weren’t eligible for benefits received through state-worker and state-retiree health plans.
By Kevin Drawbaugh
Wed Nov 12, 2014 – 6:53pm EST
Washington–
(Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. Congress will soon move to kill a medical device tax imposed less than two years ago under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, congressional aides and analysts said on Wednesday.
By Sam Baker
November 12, 2014
Republicans’ pledge to “repeal and replace” Obamacare will never die, and yet it is not really alive. It is the undead—and it has risen again.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014 – 11:00 a.m.
Over a year ago we correctly said the Affordable care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, would single-handedly undermine Democrat chances in the 2014 midterm elections. The pocketbook issue was raised by every Republican candidate in every contested U.S. Senate race, and it worked. Democrats were routed at the polls.
Now brace for round number two!
Court ot rule on healthcare law again
By David G. Savage
November 7, 2014
The Supreme Court will decide the fate of President Obama’s healthcare law yet again, this time ruling on whether low- and middle-income Americans may receive subsidies in two-thirds of the states to make insurance more affordable.
By Ed Silverman
Associated Press
October 20, 2014
Last month, CVS Health {CVS +0.83%} purged its 7,700 pharmacies of tobacco products in a gambit to embrace a commitment to improving public health and generate goodwill. But the move comes with a price – an estimated $2 billion in annual sales will be sacrificed.
Friday, October 24, 2014 – 08:00 p.m.
We’ve been saying it for a year that the President’s healthcare law would impact this years electoral contests..
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014 – 12:00 am
Last Modified: Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014 – 8:42 am
The group backing a health insurance rate-control measure on next month’s ballot called on Attorney General Kamala Harris on Monday to investigate millions of dollars in no-bid contracts by Covered California and reported links between the health exchange’s executives and and the insurance industry.
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press
Oct. 12, 2014 – 07:35 a.m.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s health insurance exchange has awarded $184 million in contracts without the competitive bidding and oversight that is standard practice across state government, including deals that sent millions of dollars to a firm whose employees have long-standing ties to the agency’s executive director.
By Chad Terhune
October 10, 2014
Escalating its battle with organized labor, Prime Healthcare Services Inc. reached a deal to acquire six nonprofit Catholic hospitals in California, including St. Vincent and St. Francis medical centers in Los Angeles County.
By RACHAEL BADE | 10/9/14 11:58 AM EDT Updated: 10/9/14 12:57 PM EDT
There are dozens of ways to escape Obamacare’s individual mandate tax — but good luck figuring that out come tax season.
By Bradley J. Fikes
Oct. 9, 2014
Ebola drug maker Mapp Biopharmaceutical is working on several fronts to increase supplies of the potentially life-saving medicine as fast as possible, Mapp’s chief executive, Kevin Whaley, said Thursday.
By Andrew Khouri
October 7, 2014
Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is cutting healthcare benefits for roughly 30,000 part-time employees, citing rising costs.
Officials don’t find Covered California rates unreasonable
By Chad Terhune
October 3, 2014
California regulators won’t challenge the next round of health insurance rate increases in the state exchange, but insurers’ narrow networks of doctors and hospitals are drawing tougher scrutiny.
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2014 – 9:00 pm
The Affordable Care Act continues to divide Californians, who remain skeptical four years after its passage despite the state’s relatively smooth launch in which more than 1.2 million people enrolled in health insurance coverage.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 09/16/14, 9:49 PM PDT |
RIVERSIDE >> Supervisors from Riverside and San Bernardino counties agreed Tuesday to form a committee to plan strategies to tackle the Affordable Care Act, prison realignment and the future of L.A./Ontario International Airport.
By Chad Terhune
September 16, 2014
Taking aim at HMO giant Kaiser Permanente, insurer Anthem Blue Cross is joining forces with several big-name hospitals and their doctors to create an unusual health plan option for employers in Southern California.
BY JEFF HORSEMAN / STAFF WRITER
Published: Sept. 9, 2014 Updated: Sept. 10, 2014 11:18 a.m.
After several years of deficits and financial struggles, Riverside County Regional Medical Center should have a balanced budget this fiscal year, the county-run hospital’s interim CEO said Tuesday.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 09/09/14, 9:55 AM PDT | Updated: 47 secs ago
SAN BERNARDINO >> Nurses for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and other San Bernardino County facilities protested Tuesday outside the county Government Center, alleging static labor negotiations between the California Nurses Association and the county are jeopardizing patient safety.
By JUDY LIN Associated Press
Sept. 9, 2014 – 01:44 p.m.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Some Californians who purchased individual health coverage through the state’s insurance exchange are suddenly being dropped or transferred to Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid program for the poor that fewer doctors and providers accept.
By BRETT NORMAN | 9/4/14 5:00 PM EDT Updated: 9/4/14 8:36 PM EDT
The HealthCare.gov insurance portal succumbed to a cyberattack this summer, the government said Thursday, prompting an eruption of GOP finger-pointing and demands for hearings into the administration’s security policies for the site, where millions of Americas have registered to purchase insurance.
August 29, 2014 | 12:03 PM | By state of health
By Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News
Consumers getting government subsidies for health insurance who are later found ineligible for those payments will owe the government, but not necessarily the full amount, according to the Treasury Department.
BY EMILY BAZAR / CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
Published: Aug. 26, 2014 Updated: Aug. 27, 2014 8:01 a.m.
A worrisome trend is emerging among some Californians who thought they were safe and secure under Covered California: Their plans are being canceled without consent and sometimes without notice.
By Chad Terhune
August 21, 2014
About 100,000 Californians who haven’t yet proved their citizenship or legal residency in the U.S. face losing their Obamacare coverage in October, state officials said.
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014 – 12:00 am
A California initiative on the fall ballot requiring that health insurance rate changes be approved by the elected insurance commissioner is receiving strong support from voters statewide, according to the latest Field Poll.
By Chad Garland
August 15, 2014
Prime Healthcare Services Inc., a hospital chain that has come under fire for billing and patient privacy issues, is facing opposition over its potential acquisition of six California hospitals, including two medical centers in Los Angeles County.
Monday, August 11, 2014 – 09:00 a.m.
One has to wonder.
The current scare over the Ebola virus is well taken. You know, that virus that causes out-of-control internal hemorraging and organ failure, and ultimately death in ninety-percent of those infected.
By Sam Baker
August 5, 2014
If you like your Obamacare plan, you can keep it—but you might end up paying a whole lot more.
People who decide to stick with the coverage they’ve already gotten through Obamacare, rather than switching plans, are at risk for some of the biggest premium spikes anywhere in the system. And some people won’t even know their costs went up until they get a bill from the IRS.
By LAUREN FRENCH | 7/30/14 4:44 PM EDT Updated: 7/30/14 9:38 PM EDT
The House on Wednesday approved legislation 420-5 to drastically reform the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 – 11:30 a.m.
Here’s some news flowing across the transom this Tuesday morning. In case you missed it!
Appeals court deals blow to Obamacare
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled subsidies paid under The Affordable Care Act in states where no exchanges exist are illegal. Meanwhile, within hours, a Virginia Circuit Court of Appeals ruled exactly the opposite.