Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jul. 9, 2014 – 4:58 pm
California’s dominant healthcare union has taken the “extraordinary” step of requesting that elected officials refrain from accepting political contributions from an Ontario-based hospital chain and its chief executive.
By JUDY LIN
Associated Press
July 1, 2014
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s marketplace for buying individual health insurance often failed to verify important personal information and resolve discrepancies in applications, a critical process in determining if people are eligible for taxpayer subsidies, a federal watchdog said Tuesday.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
June 30, 2014
Thanks to high birth and immigration rates over the last several decades, California has one of the nation’s lowest proportions of over-65 residents – but it also has one of its higher elderly growth rates, a new Census Bureau report reveals.
Jun 30, 11:30 AM EDT
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that some corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.
Chad Terhune
June 28, 2014
Frustration and legal challenges over the network of doctors and hospitals for Obamacare patients have marred an otherwise successful rollout of the federal healthcare law in California.
By Helen Shen
Kaiser Health News
Posted: 06/28/2014 12:20:48 PM PDT
Updated: 06/28/2014 08:23:26 PM PDT
A mountainous backlog of Medi-Cal applications is well into its third month, but California officials have provided little information about how and when the largest such bottleneck in the nation might be cleared.
Health Care
By Sam Baker
June 23, 2014
A Republican Senate majority wouldn’t be able to fully repeal Obamacare, but it could force some pretty significant changes to the health care law.
Business Day
By ANDREW POLLACK
JUNE 20, 2014
In dealing with health plans, drug companies are facing a new imperative — bargain or be banned.
Determined to slow the rapid rise in drug prices, more health plans are refusing to cover certain drugs unless the companies charge less for them.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jun. 17, 2014 – 10:25 pm
CalPERS’ health care premiums are going up again for hundreds of thousands of public employees and their families, although 40 percent of CalPERS members will see their rates decline.
Published: May 30, 2014 Updated: 10:55 p.m.
Riverside and San Bernardino are joining the rush of California counties seeking to enroll jail inmates in a government-run health insurance program to recoup millions of dollars in medical costs.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in the Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Jim Steinberg, The Sun
Posted: 05/30/14, 8:41 PM PDT | Updated: 50 secs ago
LOMA LINDA >> Wendy Clouser of Big Bear Lake has been taking medications for post-traumatic stress disorder — one of them experimental — for two years.
By Juliet Eilperin and Ed O’Keefe
May 22, 2014
President Obama delivered a forceful defense of his veterans policies Wednesday, saying that caring for veterans and their families is “one of the causes of my presidency” and vowing to punish those responsible for long wait times and other serious problems at military medical centers.
NJ Daily
By Michael Catalini
May 21, 2014
A senior Democratic senator suggested Wednesday that President Obama’s race factored into opposition to the Affordable Care Act, sparking outrage on the part of one of his Republican colleagues.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, May. 20, 2014 – 12:00 am
Last Modified: Tuesday, May. 20, 2014 – 12:16 am
A half-century ago, a governor named Brown persuaded the California Legislature to embark on what those involved thought would be a modest new program of health care for poor Californians.
Campaign 2014
By John Tozzi May 19, 2014
Political candidates, their allies, and issue groups have spent nearly half a billion dollars on TV ads talking about the Affordable Care Act since the law was passed four years ago, according to a new analysis by Kantar Media CMAG, which tracks political ads. And for every $1 spent in support of Obamacare, $15 went to trashing it.
By Phil Stewart and David Alexander
WASHINGTON Fri May 16, 2014 6:08pm EDT
(Reuters) – The top health official at the Department of Veterans Affairs resigned on Friday amid a scandal over allegations of deadly healthcare delays, but critics dismissed the gesture as “damage control” because he planned to retire this year anyway.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
May 15, 2014
By Christopher Cadelago
Bee Capitol Bureau
A decades-long fight among powerful California interests is finally coming before voters, as the proponents of a push to increase the sum victims can recover in medical malpractice lawsuits announced Thursday that they’ve qualified for the November ballot.
By Terry Baynes
Thu May 15, 2014 3:41pm EDT
(Reuters) – Consumers who purchased new health plans from Blue Shield of California have sued the insurer, claiming they were misled into thinking the insurance would cover their desired doctors and hospitals.
May 5, 2014, 1:46pm PDT
Kathy Robertson
Senior Staff Writer- Sacramento Business Journal
Almost two years since the U.S. Supreme Court approved the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation gets a shot in appeals court this week at unwinding the mandate based on how it was enacted.
By Jim Steinberg, The Sun
Posted: 05/01/14, 6:50 PM PDT |
COLTON >> More than 400 registered nurses picketed Thursday in front of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
“The primary issues are patient care and nursing safety,” said Jed Smith, a labor representative with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.
By JOHN HOWARD
Posted 04.23.2014
Voter registration, politics and health care: a volatile mix?
Millions of Californians who applied for coverage under the Affordable Care Act will be getting voter registration cards from Covered California, the state’s health insurance portal. It’s not clear how many actually will register.
By Patrick McGreevy
April 21, 2014, 4:15 p.m.
SACRAMENTO — Medical marijuana dispensaries in California would have to get state Public Health Department licenses, and doctors who recommend pot would face new standards for examining patients under legislation supported Monday by a state Senate panel.
By Chad Terhune
April 21, 2014, 8:19 p.m.
With open enrollment for Obamacare wrapped up, insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross stayed ahead of the pack in California sign-ups and widened its lead over rival Blue Shield of California.
California University of Science and Medicine expects to welcome first class in 2016
April 14, 2014 12:59 PM
BROOKE SELF, STAFF WRITER
COLTON • A local group of doctors and community officials announced plans Monday to develop a privately-funded, nonprofit medical school in Colton.
By Soumya Karlamangla
April 13, 2014, 6:26 p.m.
For nearly two decades, Barbara Garnaus maintained a modest, delicate life balance: keeping her part-time Orange County school district job and juggling her bills and credit card debt.
Amended whistle-blower lawsuit adds dozen more examples of alleged fraud
April 10, 2014 5:16 PM
SHEA JOHNSON, STAFF WRITER
LOS ANGELES • In response to an amended whistle-blower lawsuit filed last week, Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. this week continued to defend its hospitals’ Medicare practices, reiterating its earlier claim that accusations the chain systematically reports inflated billings and defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars were without merit.
April 10, 2014
Riverside County supervisors weren’t happy to hear of massive overtime costs at the county hospital. But at least two were even less pleased with how those costs were reported by the county auditor-controller.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press Enterprise, click here.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014 – 08:30 a.m.
It’s going to be an interesting election season.
Full of venom, recriminations and denials.
April 04, 2014; 10:40 PM
Riverside County’s hospital exceeded its budget for overtime and per diem staff by almost $28 million over a five-year period, the county’s auditor-controller said in a report that gives insight into the depth of the financially struggling medical center’s problems and the challenge facing those tasked with fixing them.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press Enterprise, click here.
By Chad Terhune
March 30, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
After months of head counts for Obamacare, it is the medical bills that will start to matter now.
Even before enrollment closes Monday, California has far exceeded its initial goals for signing up people under the Affordable Care Act. Although the sheer volume of 1.1 million policyholders is impressive for a brand new government program, the number of sicker patients is what’s likely to draw the most attention.
By Juliet Eilperin
March 27 at 2:30 pm
A tea party member reaches for a pamphlet titled “The Impact of Obamacare”, at a “Food for Free Minds Tea Party Rally” in Littleton, N.H. in this Oct. 27, 2012 file photo (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters)
March 19, 2014, 06:00 am
By Elise Viebeck
Health industry officials say ObamaCare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims recently made by the administration.
March 19, 2014, 02:51 pm
By Mike Lillis
House Democratic leaders are doubling down on their bet that President Obama’s healthcare reform law will benefit them politically at the polls in November.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 03/16/14, 7:15 PM PDT |
SAN BERNARDINO >> More than one-fifth of the $62.8 million San Bernardino County paid to settle civil lawsuits over the past six years named the Sheriff’s Department as a defendant, while Arrowhead Regional Medical Center was named defendant in 17 percent of the settled cases.
By Robert Costa
Monday, March 17, 2014
House Republican leaders are adopting an agreed-upon conservative approach to fixing the nation’s health-care system, in part to draw an election-year contrast with President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
March 13, 2014
The number of Californians enrolling in coverage through the state’s new health insurance marketplace reached 923,832 through Sunday, officials said.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014 – 05:00 p.m.
City Councilman John Valdivia (R-San Bernardino) has opted not to run in the 31st Congressional District.
The move leaves six candidates candidates, four democrats and two republicans, who have officially-qualified.
Top 100 recognition rescinded
March 11, 2014 1:42 PM
Shea Johnson, Staff Writer
VICTORVILLE • A spokesman for Prime Healthcare Services Inc. on Monday said its flagship Desert Valley Hospital is appealing a sanction by the California Department of Public Health that spurred Truven Health Analytics to strip the facility of a Top 100 Hospitals recognition.
By Noam Levey
March 11, 2014, 6:13 p.m.
WASHINGTON — With less than a month remaining in the first enrollment period, more than 4.2 million Americans have signed up for health insurance on marketplaces created by President Obama’s health law, administration officials announced Tuesday.
By David Lauter
March 11, 2014, 5:41 p.m.
Republicans scored a significant victory in a special congressional election Tuesday, holding onto a seat in a swing district in Florida that Democrats had high hopes of capturing after a campaign that focused heavily on President Obama’s healthcare law.
By Jim Steinberg, San Bernardino Sun
Posted: 03/09/14, 8:58 PM PDT |
Registration numbers for Covered California in San Bernardino County soared in a report recently issued by Covered California.
By Miles Corwin, CHCF Center for Health Reporting
Posted: 03/07/14, 7:42 PM PST |
His wife caught the flu and was treated at Summit Urgent Care in Palmdale. Then his daughter became ill and sought treatment at the facility. Now it was his turn.
By Soumya Karlamangla
March 5, 2014, 4:58 p.m.
With less than a month left for enrollment in Obamacare, California’s insurance exchange is applying a major dose of peer pressure.
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Feb. 28, 2014 – 11:04 pm
Last Modified: Friday, Feb. 28, 2014 – 11:54 pm
Computer problems that darkened Covered California’s website last week will force as many as 14,500 customers with partially completed applications to either resubmit the changes or begin a new request, officials at the health exchange said Friday.
By Noam N. Levey
February 25, 2014, 5:32 p.m.
WASHINGTON – Enrollment in health plans sold on marketplaces created by President Obama’s healthcare law has hit 4 million, the administration announced Tuesday, marking another milestone in the law’s implementation.
February 24, 2014; 05:18 PM
Riverside County’s hospital reduced its current budget shortfall to $36 million, an improvement over the expected $54 million gap for the Moreno Valley facility.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press Enterprise, click here.
By J.D. Harrison
Monday, February 24, 2014
After a slow start, the pace of enrollment is starting to pick up on the health-care law’s new insurance marketplace for individuals and families, with more than 1 million people signing up for coverage last month, including strong showings in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
By DAVID NATHER | 2/23/14 10:59 PM EST
When you go to all this trouble to cover the uninsured, is it really that unreasonable to ask how many uninsured people Obamacare has covered so far?
The answer, apparently, is: Yes. It’s unreasonable.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
February 21, 2014
Calderon Bribe Case – Indictment
Sen. Ron Calderon and his brother, former Assemblyman Tom Calderon, have been indicted by federal authorities on multiple criminal charges, including money laundering.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
February 19, 2014
Some 828,638 Californians enrolled in health coverage via the state health insurance exchange through the first two weeks of February, officials said Wednesday.
By J.D. Harrison
Friday, February 14, 2014
The nation’s most populous state has elected to temporarily shutter its new online health insurance marketplace for small business only four months after it launched, dealing yet another blow to a key element of the health care law meant to lower costs for employers.
Health Care
By Sam Baker
February 11, 2014
Republicans have done everything they can think of to strike down Obamacare, but they’ve still only managed to come in second place. For all the House votes to repeal, defund, or weaken Obamacare, some of the most significant setbacks for the law have come from the administration itself.
February 10, 2014; 06:50 PM
A judge in Sacramento has denied Moreno Valley’s attempt to derail plans for a medical complex near March Air Reserve Base.
To read story by David Danelski in The Press Enterprise, click here.
By Sarah Kliff
February 10 at 4:15 pm
The Treasury Department on Monday rolled out more tweaks to the health-care law’s requirement that all large employers–those with 50 or more workers–provide insurance coverage to their workers. This is the part of Obamacare was supposed to take effect at the start of 2014, but was delayed by the White House this past summer as the White House was facing significant push back from employers.
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press
Posted: 02/09/2014 09:01:48 AM PST
Updated: 02/09/2014 10:41:12 AM PST
LOS ANGELES—Covered California, held up as a jewel in the nation’s up-and-down health care overhaul, is setting aside nearly $200 million to fight off projected budget shortfalls as it prepares for what it says is a challenging financial future without hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid.
By Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 02/07/14, 8:38 PM PST |
A list of physicians included on the Covered California website will be discontinued until further notice after errors were spotted, state officials said.
By David Morgan and David Lawder
WASHINGTON Tue Feb 4, 2014 3:08pm EST
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s healthcare law will reduce American workforce participation by the equivalent of 2 million full-time jobs in 2017, the Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday, prompting Republicans to paint the law as bad medicine for the U.S. economy.
By Chad Terhune
February 4, 2014, 6:41 p.m.
After overcoming website glitches and long waits to get Obamacare, some patients are now running into frustrating new roadblocks at the doctor’s office.
By Jim Steinberg, San Bernardino Sun
Posted: 02/03/14, 10:23 PM PST |
With San Bernardino County lagging in terms of sign-ups for Obamacare, state officials say they have launched a new recruiting focus to reach more potential enrollees there and in neighboring Riverside County.
By Chad Terhune
January 30, 2014, 5:43 p.m.
Thousands of Anthem Blue Cross individual customers with older insurance policies untouched by Obamacare are getting some jarring news: Their premiums are going up as much as 25%.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 29, 2014
As the federal health care overhaul continues to divide Californians, President Barack Obama’s approval here plunged to a record low, according to a new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California.
January 19, 2014; 01:23 PM
Republicans hope a steady dose of Obamacare-bashing will lead them to victory in the 2014 congressional races.
But will a full-on assault against the national health care law work in the Inland Empire, where two Democratic House incumbents are defending their seats for the first time?
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press Enterprise, click here.
January 23, 2014; 03:58 PM
It’s a waiting game for Thomas Hollenhorst.
An associate justice for the 4th District Court of Appeal in Riverside, Hollenhorst works with deadlines. But now the 67-year-old jurist, a fixture in the Inland legal scene for more than 40 years, needs a kidney transplant — and there are no rules of court to set when he will hear about an available organ from one of the two medical centers where is on transplant lists.
To read story by Richard K. De Atley in The Press-Entrprise, click here.
By TAL KOPAN | 1/22/14 12:36 PM EST
A slim majority of Americans say the Obama administration is not competent at running the government, according to a new poll.
By Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 01/21/14, 7:45 PM PST |
Half a million people enrolled into private health care plans through Covered California in its first three months, with 85 percent of them receiving tax subsidies to help pay for coverage, according to state data released Tuesday.
January 15, 2014 6:21 PM
Shea Johnson, Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES • An employee whistle-blower alleges Prime Healthcare Services, Inc., which boasts its flagship Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville, systematically misdiagnosed and extended stays of patients to collect on lucrative Medicare billings.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 14, 2014
Beset by processing delays and customer confusion, two providers offering health coverage through California’s new insurance exchange have pushed back their premium payment deadlines.
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Sunday, January 12, 2014
When millions of health-insurance plans were canceled last fall, the Obama administration tried to be reassuring, saying the terminations affected only the small minority of Americans who bought individual policies.
By Chad Terhune
January 8, 2014, 7:00 a.m.
Californians searching for a doctor have new ratings from Consumer Reports on 170 physician groups statewide.
By Chad Terhune
January 6, 2014, 7:16 p.m.
Paperwork and computer glitches are still tripping up some eager consumers who are seeking coverage through California’s insurance exchange and its 11 health plans.
Federal report finds health spending continued its slow climb in 2012.
By Clara Ritger
January 6, 2014
Growth in national health spending remained low for the fourth consecutive year, an annual federal report says.
By Chad Terhune
January 4, 2014, 6:11 p.m.
Amid deepening consumer frustration, California’s health exchange extended the payment deadline to Jan. 15 for insurance coverage starting Jan. 1 under the federal healthcare law.
Friday, January 3, 2014 – 10:00 a.m.
First, it was the flawed exchange rollout.
Now it’s the “We’ll get back to you!” problem.
By Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 01/02/14, 4:35 PM PST | Updated: 4 hrs ago
Dr. Michael Fishman is a podiatric surgeon with feet planted on both sides of the health care reform issue.
As a medical professional with a practice in Los Alamitos, Fishman mostly sees patients covered under PPO health insurance, some covered by Medicare, and very few from HMOs. But he fears he’ll lose patients as they transition into different policies under the Affordable Care Act.
By Jeremy B. White
jwhite@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014 – 12:00 am
Last Modified: Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014 – 8:58 am
Bills that crossed Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk in 2013 encompassed policy topics from bullets to bike safety. In some cases Brown signed legislation that enshrined key Democratic goals, reflecting the strength of robust Democratic majorities in both houses of the Legislature.
Business
Sarah Hurtubise
12:10 AM 01/01/2014
Obamacare may have promised health insurance for the masses. But on its first day, it’s left more Americans without coverage than before the law was passed.
Higher premiums could really kneecap the economic recovery
By Jacqueline Leo, The Fiscal Times | 10:30am ET
ObamaCare has delivered another sucker punch to the middle class. This time it’s sticker shock.
Monday, December 30, 2013 – 08:15 a.m.
Woo hoo! The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) announced over the weekend that some 1.1 million consumers enrolled, or signed-up, for healthcare coverage through government-run exchanges.
Even though premiums must still be collected for most of that number.
Health care
Published December 26, 2013
FoxNews.com
So you’ve signed up for health care on the ObamaCare exchanges. Think you’re covered? Not quite.
By S.A. Miller and Geoff Earle
December 25, 2013 | 5:45am
WASHINGTON — Here comes the ObamaCare tax bill.
The cost of President Obama’s massive health-care law will hit Americans in 2014 as new taxes pile up on their insurance premiums and on their income-tax bills.
Monday, December 23, 2013 – 09:15 a.m.
It’s finally here!
Take your pick! Will it be Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum?
Today’s the December 23, 2013, deadline to enroll in ObamaCare for coverage effective January 1, 2014.
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: December 21, 2013
WASHINGTON — For most Americans, Monday is the deadline to sign up for health insurance that takes effect on Jan. 1. It was supposed to be a turning point in the troubled history of the new health care law, the moment when the spotlight would shift from the federal government’s online marketplace to the insurance companies providing coverage to hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of people.
By Lesley Clark
McClatchy Washington Bureau
December 20, 2013 Updated 7 hours ago
President Barack Obama rejected the suggestion that 2013 — marked by the chaotic rollout of his signature legislative accomplishment — was the worst year of his presidency, as some polls suggest.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
December 19, 2013
Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, is experiencing a significant surge in enrollment, officials said Thursday.
Posted by Ezra Klein
December 19, 2013 at 9:15 pm
Today, the Obama administration announced that people whose insurance plans were canceled this year will “temporarily” be exempted from the law’s individual mandate. Here’s how they’re doing it — and what it means for the law.