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"content": "\u003cp>Lawmakers will begin debate next month on a bill that would require doctors to screen new moms for mental health problems – once while they’re pregnant and again, after giving birth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a lot of doctors don’t like the idea. Many obstetricians and pediatricians are afraid to screen new moms for depression and anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are you going to do with those people who screen positive?” said Laura Sirott, an OB/GYN who practices in Pasadena. “Some providers have nowhere to send them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of women who screen positive for postpartum depression, 78 percent don’t get mental health treatment, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4618720/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2015 study review\u003c/a> published in the journal \u003cem>Obstetrics & Gynecology\u003c/em>. Dr. Sirott’s patients have told her the range of reasons why they don’t take her up on a referral to a psychologist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, they don’t take my insurance. Or my insurance pays for three visits. I can’t take time off of work to go to those visits. It’s a three-month wait to get in to that person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, it’s hard to find a psychiatrist who is trained in the complexities of prescribing medications to pregnant or breastfeeding women, and who is willing to treat them, especially in rural areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it’s very frustrating to ask patients about a problem and then not have any way to solve that problem,” Sirott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But moms are frustrated, too. After the baby comes, no one asks about them anymore. Wendy Root Askew struggled for years to get pregnant, and when she finally did, her anxiety got worse. She couldn’t stop worrying that something would go wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then after I had my son, I would have these dreams where someone would come to the door and they would say ‘Well, you know, we’re just going to wait two weeks to see if you get to keep your baby or not,’” she said. “And it really impacted my ability to bond with him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She likes the bill, \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2193\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AB 2193\u003c/a>, because it goes beyond mandated screening. It requires health insurance companies to set up case management programs to help moms find a therapist, and to connect obstetricians or pediatricians with a psychiatric expert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just like we have case management programs for patients who have diabetes or sleep issues or back pain, a case management program requires the insurance company to take some ownership of making sure their patients are getting the treatment they need to be healthy,” said Root Askew, who is now advocating for the bill on behalf of the group \u003ca href=\"https://www.2020mom.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020 Mom\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health insurance companies haven’t taken a position on the legislation. It’s unclear how much it will cost them to comply, because some already have infrastructure in place for case management programs and some don’t. But there is consensus among insurers and health advocates that such programs save money in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sooner that you can get good treatment for a mom, the less expensive that condition will be to manage over the course of the woman’s life and over the course of that child’s life,” Root Askew said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors still have their objections. Under the bill, they could be disciplined for not screening. And screening takes time. Sometimes a doctor asks a mom how she’s sleeping, and she’s in tears for the next 30 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health care system, and the incentives, aren’t set up for this, said Dr. Sirott.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Currently, I get six dollars for screening a patient,” she said. “By the time I put it on a piece of paper and print it, it’s not worth it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not clear it’s worth it to the patients either. Four other states – Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and West Virginia – have tried mandated screening, and it made no difference in patient outcomes, according to \u003ca href=\"https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201300505?code=ps-site\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a study\u003c/a> published in \u003cem>Psychiatric Services\u003c/em> in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with California’s extra requirements on insurance companies to facilitate care, women could still face high co-pays or limits on therapy sessions. Or, they’re so overwhelmed caring for a newborn, they never leave the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What does seem to work, according to the study, is when nurses or mental health providers visit new moms at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Despite abundant good will, there is no evidence that state policies are addressing this great need,” the study authors wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But supporters of the proposed bill say doctors need to start somewhere. Screening is the first step in recognizing the full scope of the problem, said Mountain View psychiatrist \u003ca href=\"https://www.elcaminohospital.org/doctors/nirmaljit-dhami\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nirmaljit Dhami\u003c/a>, adding that women should be screened on an ongoing basis throughout pregnancy and for a year after birth, not just once or twice as the bill requires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I often tell doctors that if you don't know that somebody is suicidal it doesn't mean that their suicidality will go away,” she said. “If you don't ask, the risk is the same.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, it’s hard to find a psychiatrist who is trained in the complexities of prescribing medications to pregnant or breastfeeding women, and who is willing to treat them, especially in rural areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it’s very frustrating to ask patients about a problem and then not have any way to solve that problem,” Sirott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But moms are frustrated, too. After the baby comes, no one asks about them anymore. Wendy Root Askew struggled for years to get pregnant, and when she finally did, her anxiety got worse. She couldn’t stop worrying that something would go wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then after I had my son, I would have these dreams where someone would come to the door and they would say ‘Well, you know, we’re just going to wait two weeks to see if you get to keep your baby or not,’” she said. “And it really impacted my ability to bond with him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She likes the bill, \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2193\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AB 2193\u003c/a>, because it goes beyond mandated screening. It requires health insurance companies to set up case management programs to help moms find a therapist, and to connect obstetricians or pediatricians with a psychiatric expert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just like we have case management programs for patients who have diabetes or sleep issues or back pain, a case management program requires the insurance company to take some ownership of making sure their patients are getting the treatment they need to be healthy,” said Root Askew, who is now advocating for the bill on behalf of the group \u003ca href=\"https://www.2020mom.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020 Mom\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health insurance companies haven’t taken a position on the legislation. It’s unclear how much it will cost them to comply, because some already have infrastructure in place for case management programs and some don’t. But there is consensus among insurers and health advocates that such programs save money in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sooner that you can get good treatment for a mom, the less expensive that condition will be to manage over the course of the woman’s life and over the course of that child’s life,” Root Askew said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors still have their objections. Under the bill, they could be disciplined for not screening. And screening takes time. Sometimes a doctor asks a mom how she’s sleeping, and she’s in tears for the next 30 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health care system, and the incentives, aren’t set up for this, said Dr. Sirott.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Currently, I get six dollars for screening a patient,” she said. “By the time I put it on a piece of paper and print it, it’s not worth it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not clear it’s worth it to the patients either. Four other states – Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and West Virginia – have tried mandated screening, and it made no difference in patient outcomes, according to \u003ca href=\"https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201300505?code=ps-site\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a study\u003c/a> published in \u003cem>Psychiatric Services\u003c/em> in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with California’s extra requirements on insurance companies to facilitate care, women could still face high co-pays or limits on therapy sessions. Or, they’re so overwhelmed caring for a newborn, they never leave the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What does seem to work, according to the study, is when nurses or mental health providers visit new moms at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Despite abundant good will, there is no evidence that state policies are addressing this great need,” the study authors wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But supporters of the proposed bill say doctors need to start somewhere. Screening is the first step in recognizing the full scope of the problem, said Mountain View psychiatrist \u003ca href=\"https://www.elcaminohospital.org/doctors/nirmaljit-dhami\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nirmaljit Dhami\u003c/a>, adding that women should be screened on an ongoing basis throughout pregnancy and for a year after birth, not just once or twice as the bill requires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I often tell doctors that if you don't know that somebody is suicidal it doesn't mean that their suicidality will go away,” she said. “If you don't ask, the risk is the same.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "A Rush to Get Health Insurance for 2018, Before California Deadline",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The open enrollment period to get insurance through \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covered California\u003c/a> closes at midnight tonight. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Agents like Monica Tracht are feeling the looming deadline. \u003c/span>Tracht is a certified insurance agent for Covered California, based in San Francisco. She's spent recent nights fielding calls, at home, even past 10 p.m. At her office, she's booked back-to-back appointments, between which she accommodates walk-ins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco insurance brokers like Tracht are logging extra hours to sign up new enrollees for Covered California in 2018. These enrollment numbers, which \u003ca href=\"https://coveredcanews.blogspot.com/2018/01/covered-california-announces-continued.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">surpass last year's numbers\u003c/a>, are strong — despite actions by President Trump and Congressional Republicans that have weakened the Affordable Care Act (ACA). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tracht runs a \u003ca href=\"http://storefronts.coveredca.com/agent-signage/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covered California \"Storefront,\"\u003c/a> a permanent location open to walk-in traffic with Covered California signage. The \"Storefront\" designation also means her office is prominently listed on the health care exchange website. Tracht says that's how most of her clients find her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I'd advertised in a local magazine in Spanish,\" Tracht said, \"A couple people came because of the magazine.\" But Tracht realized she could save her advertising money, because Covered California was promoting the health care coverage for her. \"They're everywhere,\" she said. \"The TV, the radio, the newspapers.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Trump Administration cut advertising budgets for the ACA, Covered California officials boosted their own marketing budget, to more than $100 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_362588\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-362588 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Monica Tracht used to advertise her health insurance business in a local, Spanish language magazine. But she's found she no longer needs to. Her clients find her through Covered California's own marketing efforts.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monica Tracht used to advertise her health insurance business in a local, Spanish language magazine. But she's found she no longer needs to. Her clients find her through Covered California's own marketing efforts. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Marie Crinnion had an appointment with Tracht the day before the deadline. Crinnion is currently enrolled in\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003ca href=\"https://www.medi-cal.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Medi-Cal,\u003c/a> a government insurance program for low-income people, but thinks she will no longer qualify this year because her income will increase. Crinnion's mother died recently and now, Crinnion will collect rent from a property she inherited. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I looked online for an actual person to be able to talk to, because my insurance situation is changing and it’s a little complicated,\" Crinnion said. \"I wanted to be able to explain it to a live person and get advice.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Crinnion wants to avoid a lapse in coverage because she has chronic immune problems and is partially blind. After going over her options with Tracht for a half hour, she learned her income will be too high this year to qualify for any insurance subsidies offered through Covered California. Crinnion felt she'd get a better deal by shopping outside of the Covered California exchange. She was especially interested in some of the individual plans offered by a local organization, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cchphealthplan.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chinese Community Health Plan\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In many other states, where consumers are using the federally-run marketplace, enrollment ended on Dec. 15. The Trump Administration shortened the enrollment period on the federal exchange from three months to six weeks. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But all states will be affected by another new change to the ACA -- the Congressional tax bill, which removed the penalty for not having health insurance, starting in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tracht said some consumers were a bit confused about the different deadlines, but said no one had questions about whether the penalty was still in effect. It is for 2018. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California officials are trying to accommodate last-minute sign-ups. Although the official deadline is January 31st, if consumers have started an application before midnight, but are struggling to complete it, they \"will be allowed to finish the process on Thursday or Friday with a certified enroller,\" according to James Scullary, a spokesman for Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who complete applications by February 2 will have coverage beginning on March 1.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The open enrollment period to get insurance through \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covered California\u003c/a> closes at midnight tonight. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Agents like Monica Tracht are feeling the looming deadline. \u003c/span>Tracht is a certified insurance agent for Covered California, based in San Francisco. She's spent recent nights fielding calls, at home, even past 10 p.m. At her office, she's booked back-to-back appointments, between which she accommodates walk-ins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco insurance brokers like Tracht are logging extra hours to sign up new enrollees for Covered California in 2018. These enrollment numbers, which \u003ca href=\"https://coveredcanews.blogspot.com/2018/01/covered-california-announces-continued.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">surpass last year's numbers\u003c/a>, are strong — despite actions by President Trump and Congressional Republicans that have weakened the Affordable Care Act (ACA). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tracht runs a \u003ca href=\"http://storefronts.coveredca.com/agent-signage/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covered California \"Storefront,\"\u003c/a> a permanent location open to walk-in traffic with Covered California signage. The \"Storefront\" designation also means her office is prominently listed on the health care exchange website. Tracht says that's how most of her clients find her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I'd advertised in a local magazine in Spanish,\" Tracht said, \"A couple people came because of the magazine.\" But Tracht realized she could save her advertising money, because Covered California was promoting the health care coverage for her. \"They're everywhere,\" she said. \"The TV, the radio, the newspapers.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Trump Administration cut advertising budgets for the ACA, Covered California officials boosted their own marketing budget, to more than $100 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_362588\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-362588 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Monica Tracht used to advertise her health insurance business in a local, Spanish language magazine. But she's found she no longer needs to. Her clients find her through Covered California's own marketing efforts.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2018/01/RS29076_mon2-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monica Tracht used to advertise her health insurance business in a local, Spanish language magazine. But she's found she no longer needs to. Her clients find her through Covered California's own marketing efforts. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Marie Crinnion had an appointment with Tracht the day before the deadline. Crinnion is currently enrolled in\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003ca href=\"https://www.medi-cal.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Medi-Cal,\u003c/a> a government insurance program for low-income people, but thinks she will no longer qualify this year because her income will increase. Crinnion's mother died recently and now, Crinnion will collect rent from a property she inherited. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I looked online for an actual person to be able to talk to, because my insurance situation is changing and it’s a little complicated,\" Crinnion said. \"I wanted to be able to explain it to a live person and get advice.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Crinnion wants to avoid a lapse in coverage because she has chronic immune problems and is partially blind. After going over her options with Tracht for a half hour, she learned her income will be too high this year to qualify for any insurance subsidies offered through Covered California. Crinnion felt she'd get a better deal by shopping outside of the Covered California exchange. She was especially interested in some of the individual plans offered by a local organization, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cchphealthplan.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chinese Community Health Plan\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In many other states, where consumers are using the federally-run marketplace, enrollment ended on Dec. 15. The Trump Administration shortened the enrollment period on the federal exchange from three months to six weeks. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But all states will be affected by another new change to the ACA -- the Congressional tax bill, which removed the penalty for not having health insurance, starting in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tracht said some consumers were a bit confused about the different deadlines, but said no one had questions about whether the penalty was still in effect. It is for 2018. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California officials are trying to accommodate last-minute sign-ups. Although the official deadline is January 31st, if consumers have started an application before midnight, but are struggling to complete it, they \"will be allowed to finish the process on Thursday or Friday with a certified enroller,\" according to James Scullary, a spokesman for Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who complete applications by February 2 will have coverage beginning on March 1.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Californians have until Jan. 31 to buy a health plan through the state’s health exchange, \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/%E2%80%8E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covered California\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite ongoing uncertainty around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on a national level, the state's insurance marketplace, Covered California, is recording higher enrollment numbers this year when compared to the same time last year. The instability around the ACA is due to several factors, including Republican attempts to repeal and replace the bill, a shortened, six-week enrollment period in other states (California decided to keep the standard three-month enrollment), and the recent passage in Congress of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/12/15/571258698/chart-how-the-new-version-of-the-republican-tax-bill-would-affect-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax reform bill\u003c/a>, which removed the law's penalty for people who failed to buy health coverage. That coverage \"mandate\" is still in effect this year, but will expire starting in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED spoke to Covered California's executive director, Peter V. Lee, who emphasized that despite these challenges, his program remains solid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Can people still sign up for health insurance through Covered California? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Peter V. Lee:\u003c/strong> We're in the very end of open enrollment. Many people are confused because in much of the country open enrollment ended Dec. 15. We’re open through Jan. 31 -- the end of the month. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anyone that doesn't have insurance should come to our website and check it out. \u003c/span>Three-quarters of those eligible don't know (that they're eligible).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Click on “\u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/find-help/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">find help near me\u003c/a>,” and you can find a local insurance agent. They're always going to be free. We have people that speak Cantonese, Spanish, and they all speak insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Right, it feels like another language. You released numbers this past Monday showing how many people enrolled for the very first time, and those numbers are up from this time last year. Why do you think that is?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> This last year has been sort of crazy -- a lot of roller-coaster effects. We've done everything we can to have things be stable for consumers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the reasons we've seen more people sign up is it's cheaper for many people. About 1.1 million of California consumers get financial help, which lowers their premiums. For them, their health care costs went \u003cem>down\u003c/em> 10 percent. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For those for whom it's not cheaper, which means they don't get a subsidy, it may be on average 10 percent more expensive than last year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We're out there pounding the pavement, we're running ads, we're getting the word out through social media, through radio and through TV. People are getting the word out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the fifth year for open enrollment, and at this point we've become a pretty well-known brand in California. People are used to hearing about us and they come back.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What percentage of people on Covered California get subsidies?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> There's two numbers. First, the individual market has about 2.5 million people. Half of them buy direct from their health plans. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can only get a subsidy if you buy from us. So at Covered California about 85 percent of the people that sign up with us get a subsidy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You released a report on Jan. 18 predicting that individual insurance markets in all states would see rate hikes in 2019 between 16 and 30 percent. And you called it a \"roller coaster for consumers.\" How will that impact California in 2019?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> First, that projection is for next year. I want to be really clear that for Californians shopping now that get subsidies, their rates went \u003cem>down\u003c/em> in 2018. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But nationally there's removal of the tax penalty [for not buying insurance]. Projections are that some healthier people will drop out of buying insurance. On average, that would increase premiums in California probably eigh,t percent on top of underlying health care costs. So we might see premiums go up next year by 15 percent in California. In other states, it could go up 30 percent or more. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is your plan for keeping Covered California afloat in the future?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> Number one: Covered California is totally afloat. The worst case is, and this is bad, there might be a few hundred thousand fewer Californians with health insurance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The penalty being there, or not being there, isn't the glue that holds the Affordable Care Act together. We're here for the long haul and we operate like a business. We've got hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves. We use zero state funds, and zero federal funds. So we're a going proposition. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The issue for 2019 is what this means for people that get no subsidies. They will be saying, “Holy mother of God, I got a 15 percent rate increase!\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What would you like to add?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> This last year, there were interminable attempts to repeal and replace [the Affordable Care Act]. Didn't happen.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> One of the things that I am most surprised by is how much the health care debate has changed from six years ago before the Affordable Care Act. People took for granted that we could be in a world where, if you had diabetes or asthma or cancer, you could be denied getting health care forever. No one wants to go back to those days. That's a huge change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Californians have until Jan. 31 to buy a health plan through the state’s health exchange, \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/%E2%80%8E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covered California\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite ongoing uncertainty around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on a national level, the state's insurance marketplace, Covered California, is recording higher enrollment numbers this year when compared to the same time last year. The instability around the ACA is due to several factors, including Republican attempts to repeal and replace the bill, a shortened, six-week enrollment period in other states (California decided to keep the standard three-month enrollment), and the recent passage in Congress of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/12/15/571258698/chart-how-the-new-version-of-the-republican-tax-bill-would-affect-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax reform bill\u003c/a>, which removed the law's penalty for people who failed to buy health coverage. That coverage \"mandate\" is still in effect this year, but will expire starting in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED spoke to Covered California's executive director, Peter V. Lee, who emphasized that despite these challenges, his program remains solid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Can people still sign up for health insurance through Covered California? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Peter V. Lee:\u003c/strong> We're in the very end of open enrollment. Many people are confused because in much of the country open enrollment ended Dec. 15. We’re open through Jan. 31 -- the end of the month. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anyone that doesn't have insurance should come to our website and check it out. \u003c/span>Three-quarters of those eligible don't know (that they're eligible).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Click on “\u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/find-help/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">find help near me\u003c/a>,” and you can find a local insurance agent. They're always going to be free. We have people that speak Cantonese, Spanish, and they all speak insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Right, it feels like another language. You released numbers this past Monday showing how many people enrolled for the very first time, and those numbers are up from this time last year. Why do you think that is?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> This last year has been sort of crazy -- a lot of roller-coaster effects. We've done everything we can to have things be stable for consumers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the reasons we've seen more people sign up is it's cheaper for many people. About 1.1 million of California consumers get financial help, which lowers their premiums. For them, their health care costs went \u003cem>down\u003c/em> 10 percent. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For those for whom it's not cheaper, which means they don't get a subsidy, it may be on average 10 percent more expensive than last year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We're out there pounding the pavement, we're running ads, we're getting the word out through social media, through radio and through TV. People are getting the word out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the fifth year for open enrollment, and at this point we've become a pretty well-known brand in California. People are used to hearing about us and they come back.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What percentage of people on Covered California get subsidies?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> There's two numbers. First, the individual market has about 2.5 million people. Half of them buy direct from their health plans. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can only get a subsidy if you buy from us. So at Covered California about 85 percent of the people that sign up with us get a subsidy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You released a report on Jan. 18 predicting that individual insurance markets in all states would see rate hikes in 2019 between 16 and 30 percent. And you called it a \"roller coaster for consumers.\" How will that impact California in 2019?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> First, that projection is for next year. I want to be really clear that for Californians shopping now that get subsidies, their rates went \u003cem>down\u003c/em> in 2018. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But nationally there's removal of the tax penalty [for not buying insurance]. Projections are that some healthier people will drop out of buying insurance. On average, that would increase premiums in California probably eigh,t percent on top of underlying health care costs. So we might see premiums go up next year by 15 percent in California. In other states, it could go up 30 percent or more. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is your plan for keeping Covered California afloat in the future?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> Number one: Covered California is totally afloat. The worst case is, and this is bad, there might be a few hundred thousand fewer Californians with health insurance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The penalty being there, or not being there, isn't the glue that holds the Affordable Care Act together. We're here for the long haul and we operate like a business. We've got hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves. We use zero state funds, and zero federal funds. So we're a going proposition. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The issue for 2019 is what this means for people that get no subsidies. They will be saying, “Holy mother of God, I got a 15 percent rate increase!\"\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What would you like to add?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Lee:\u003c/strong> This last year, there were interminable attempts to repeal and replace [the Affordable Care Act]. Didn't happen.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> One of the things that I am most surprised by is how much the health care debate has changed from six years ago before the Affordable Care Act. People took for granted that we could be in a world where, if you had diabetes or asthma or cancer, you could be denied getting health care forever. No one wants to go back to those days. That's a huge change.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Health Giant Sutter Destroys Evidence In Crucial Antitrust Case Over High Prices",
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"content": "\u003cp>Sutter Health intentionally destroyed 192 boxes of documents that employers and labor unions were seeking in a lawsuit that accuses the giant Northern California health system of abusing its market power and charging inflated prices, according to a state judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/sutter-nov-13-order.pdf\">ruling this week\u003c/a>, San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow said Sutter destroyed documents “knowing that the evidence was relevant to antitrust issues. … There is no good explanation for the specific and unusual destruction here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karnow cited an internal email by a Sutter employee who said she was “running and hiding” after ordering the records destroyed in 2015. “The most generous interpretation to Sutter is that it was grossly reckless,” the judge wrote in his 12-page ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter, which has 24 hospitals and nearly $12 billion in annual revenue, said the destruction was a regrettable mistake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers and policymakers across the country are closely watching this legal fight amid growing concern about the financial implications of industry consolidation. Large health systems are gaining market clout and the ability to raise prices by acquiring more hospitals, outpatient surgery centers and physician offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s stunning what Sutter did to cover up incriminating documents in this case,” said Richard Grossman, the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer representing a class of more than 1,500 employer-funded health plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2014, a grocery workers’ health plan sued Sutter and alleged it was violating antitrust and unfair competition laws. The plaintiffs began requesting documents related to contracting practices, such as “gag clauses” that prevent patients from seeing negotiated rates and choosing a cheaper provider and “all-or-nothing” terms that require every facility in a health system to be included in insurance networks \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter disputes the broader allegations in the lawsuit over its market conduct and said its charges are in line with its competitors’.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge said that in 2015 \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLtEtJgW7no\">Melissa Brendt\u003c/a>, Sutter’s chief contracting officer in the managed-care department, and an assistant general counsel, Daniela Almeida, authorized Brendt’s executive assistant to destroy 10 years’ worth of managed-care documents going back to 1995. The company earlier had scheduled the documents to be destroyed in 2035 — 20 years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive assistant, Sina Santagata, testified in a deposition she wasn’t aware of any other time in her 17 years at Sutter when the managed-care department destroyed records held in storage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/sutter-nov-13-order.pdf\">Nov. 13 ruling\u003c/a> against Sutter, the judge singled out an email by Santagata as “particularly noteworthy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive assistant emailed Brendt, the chief contracting officer, on July 30, 2015, after sending the order to destroy the records. She wrote, “I’ve pushed the button … if someone is in need of a box between 3/15/95 & 11/23/05 … I’m running and hiding. … ‘Fingers crossed’ that I haven’t authorized something the FTC will hunt me down for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces antitrust laws in health care to prevent hospitals, drugmakers and other industry players from engaging in anti-competitive behavior that could harm consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santagata testified that she was being “sarcastic” in her email, and Sutter told the judge that the FTC reference was just a “joke.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karnow saw no humor in it. “There are infinite topics for jokes, and the choice of this one is strong evidence” in the plaintiffs’ favor, he wrote in his order Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of his sanctions against Sutter, the judge ordered the health system to examine \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/plaintiffs-motion-for-sutter-sanctions.pdf\">email\u003c/a> backup tapes covering 2002 through 2005 to search for documents on some of the same topics as the destroyed records. Also, Karnow said he will consider a plaintiffs’ motion for issuing jury instructions that are adverse to Sutter in light of the document destruction. The trial is scheduled for June 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The record shows that Sutter’s conduct was more than just an inadvertent error,” Karnow wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter spokeswoman Karen Garner said the incident was a “mistake made as part of a routine destruction of old paper records” and the Sacramento-based health system disclosed the error as soon as it was discovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regret that as part of a routine archiving process we failed to preserve some boxes of decades-old hard-copy documents,” Garner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United Food and Commercial Workers and its Employers Benefit Trust initially filed the case against Sutter in 2014. The joint employer-union health plan represents more than 60,000 employees, dependents and retirees. The court certified the case as a class action in August, allowing hundreds of other employers and self-funded health plans to potentially benefit from the litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to its 24 hospitals, Sutter’s nonprofit health system has 35 surgery centers and more than 5,000 physicians in its network. It reported $11.9 billion in revenue last year and income of $554 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grossman, the plaintiffs’ counsel, said he welcomed the judge’s ruling. But he said much of the evidence is irreplaceable, particularly handwritten notes from negotiating sessions and meetings involving key Sutter executives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said those records covered a critical period in the early 2000s when there was a “sea change in Sutter’s contracting strategy” and it implemented provisions that insulated the health system from price competition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was groundbreaking in the industry,” Grossman said. “Until we address the anti-competitive behavior of entities like Sutter, we will not solve the problem of high costs in health care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiffs are seeking to recover hundreds of millions of dollars from Sutter from what it claims are illegally inflated prices. The lawsuit alleges that an overnight hospital stay at Sutter hospitals in San Francisco or Sacramento costs at least 38 percent more than a comparable stay in the more competitive Los Angeles market.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "\"Fingers crossed,\" a staffer wrote after destroying the documents. Sutter, which owns 24 hospitals, says the destruction was a mistake.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sutter Health intentionally destroyed 192 boxes of documents that employers and labor unions were seeking in a lawsuit that accuses the giant Northern California health system of abusing its market power and charging inflated prices, according to a state judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/sutter-nov-13-order.pdf\">ruling this week\u003c/a>, San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow said Sutter destroyed documents “knowing that the evidence was relevant to antitrust issues. … There is no good explanation for the specific and unusual destruction here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karnow cited an internal email by a Sutter employee who said she was “running and hiding” after ordering the records destroyed in 2015. “The most generous interpretation to Sutter is that it was grossly reckless,” the judge wrote in his 12-page ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter, which has 24 hospitals and nearly $12 billion in annual revenue, said the destruction was a regrettable mistake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Employers and policymakers across the country are closely watching this legal fight amid growing concern about the financial implications of industry consolidation. Large health systems are gaining market clout and the ability to raise prices by acquiring more hospitals, outpatient surgery centers and physician offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s stunning what Sutter did to cover up incriminating documents in this case,” said Richard Grossman, the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer representing a class of more than 1,500 employer-funded health plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2014, a grocery workers’ health plan sued Sutter and alleged it was violating antitrust and unfair competition laws. The plaintiffs began requesting documents related to contracting practices, such as “gag clauses” that prevent patients from seeing negotiated rates and choosing a cheaper provider and “all-or-nothing” terms that require every facility in a health system to be included in insurance networks \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter disputes the broader allegations in the lawsuit over its market conduct and said its charges are in line with its competitors’.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge said that in 2015 \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLtEtJgW7no\">Melissa Brendt\u003c/a>, Sutter’s chief contracting officer in the managed-care department, and an assistant general counsel, Daniela Almeida, authorized Brendt’s executive assistant to destroy 10 years’ worth of managed-care documents going back to 1995. The company earlier had scheduled the documents to be destroyed in 2035 — 20 years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive assistant, Sina Santagata, testified in a deposition she wasn’t aware of any other time in her 17 years at Sutter when the managed-care department destroyed records held in storage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/sutter-nov-13-order.pdf\">Nov. 13 ruling\u003c/a> against Sutter, the judge singled out an email by Santagata as “particularly noteworthy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive assistant emailed Brendt, the chief contracting officer, on July 30, 2015, after sending the order to destroy the records. She wrote, “I’ve pushed the button … if someone is in need of a box between 3/15/95 & 11/23/05 … I’m running and hiding. … ‘Fingers crossed’ that I haven’t authorized something the FTC will hunt me down for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces antitrust laws in health care to prevent hospitals, drugmakers and other industry players from engaging in anti-competitive behavior that could harm consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santagata testified that she was being “sarcastic” in her email, and Sutter told the judge that the FTC reference was just a “joke.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karnow saw no humor in it. “There are infinite topics for jokes, and the choice of this one is strong evidence” in the plaintiffs’ favor, he wrote in his order Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of his sanctions against Sutter, the judge ordered the health system to examine \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/plaintiffs-motion-for-sutter-sanctions.pdf\">email\u003c/a> backup tapes covering 2002 through 2005 to search for documents on some of the same topics as the destroyed records. Also, Karnow said he will consider a plaintiffs’ motion for issuing jury instructions that are adverse to Sutter in light of the document destruction. The trial is scheduled for June 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The record shows that Sutter’s conduct was more than just an inadvertent error,” Karnow wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter spokeswoman Karen Garner said the incident was a “mistake made as part of a routine destruction of old paper records” and the Sacramento-based health system disclosed the error as soon as it was discovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We regret that as part of a routine archiving process we failed to preserve some boxes of decades-old hard-copy documents,” Garner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The United Food and Commercial Workers and its Employers Benefit Trust initially filed the case against Sutter in 2014. The joint employer-union health plan represents more than 60,000 employees, dependents and retirees. The court certified the case as a class action in August, allowing hundreds of other employers and self-funded health plans to potentially benefit from the litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to its 24 hospitals, Sutter’s nonprofit health system has 35 surgery centers and more than 5,000 physicians in its network. It reported $11.9 billion in revenue last year and income of $554 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grossman, the plaintiffs’ counsel, said he welcomed the judge’s ruling. But he said much of the evidence is irreplaceable, particularly handwritten notes from negotiating sessions and meetings involving key Sutter executives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said those records covered a critical period in the early 2000s when there was a “sea change in Sutter’s contracting strategy” and it implemented provisions that insulated the health system from price competition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was groundbreaking in the industry,” Grossman said. “Until we address the anti-competitive behavior of entities like Sutter, we will not solve the problem of high costs in health care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiffs are seeking to recover hundreds of millions of dollars from Sutter from what it claims are illegally inflated prices. The lawsuit alleges that an overnight hospital stay at Sutter hospitals in San Francisco or Sacramento costs at least 38 percent more than a comparable stay in the more competitive Los Angeles market.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "California Fines Anthem $5 Million For Failing to Address Consumer Grievances",
"title": "California Fines Anthem $5 Million For Failing to Address Consumer Grievances",
"headTitle": "Kaiser Health News | State of Health | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>California’s managed-care regulator announced Wednesday it has fined insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross $5 million for repeatedly failing to resolve consumer grievances in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Department of Managed Health Care criticized Anthem, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, for systemic violations and a long history of flouting the law in regard to consumer complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anthem Blue Cross’ failures to comply with the law surrounding grievance and appeals rights are long-standing, ongoing and unacceptable,” said Shelley Rouillard, director of the Department of Managed Health Care. “Anthem knows this is a huge problem, but they haven’t addressed it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before this latest action, California had already fined Anthem more than $6 million collectively for grievance-system violations since 2002.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state said it identified 245 grievance-system violations during this latest investigation of consumer complaints at Anthem from 2013 to 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rouillard cited one example in which Anthem denied a submitted claim for an extensive surgical procedure, even though it had issued prior approval for the operation. Twenty-two calls contesting the denial — placed by the patient, the patient’s spouse, the couple’s insurance broker and the medical provider — failed to resolve the complaint. It was not until the patient sought help from the managed-care agency, more than six months after the treatment, that Anthem paid the claim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Anthem acknowledged there are some legitimate findings in the audit, but it strongly disagreed with the state’s assertion that the problems are “systemic and ongoing.” The company said it will contest the fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anthem has taken responsibility for errors in the past and has made significant changes in our grievance and appeals process, as well as investments in system improvements,” the company said. “We remain committed to putting the needs of our members first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthem Inc., based in Indianapolis, sells Blue Cross policies in California and 13 other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is known for having tough consumer protection laws on health coverage and for assisting policyholders when they exhaust their appeals with insurers. In other actions, the state has fined insurers for overstating the extent of their doctor networks and for denying patients timely access to mental health treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group in Santa Monica, Calif., said the regulatory response to these problems varies greatly by state. He singled out New York, Washington and Kansas as some of the states with good track records of holding health insurers accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The real problem is when states don’t act there is not a great avenue for the consumer. It’s very hard to bring legal action,” Court said. “Anthem definitely needed a wake-up call. But this will also send a message to other insurers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nationally, consumers continue to express their displeasure with health insurers over a wide range of issues, including denials for treatment, billing disputes and the lack of in-network doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Verified complaints related to health insurance and accident coverage rose 12 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year, totaling 53,680, according to data compiled by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The data only includes incidents in which state regulators confirmed there was a violation or error by the insurer involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Court and other advocates welcomed the significant fine in California and said this is just the latest example of Anthem’s failure to uphold basic consumer protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, state officials said that calls to Anthem’s customer service department often led to repeated transfers and that the company failed to follow up with enrollees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look at the history of Anthem and the penalties assessed over the years, they are definitely an outlier compared to other health plans,” Rouillard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the plans have some issues with grievances, but nothing to the degree we are seeing with Anthem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The managed-care department said a health plan’s grievance program is critical, so that consumers know they have the right to pursue an \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/FileaComplaint/IndependentMedicalReview(IMR).aspx#.Wgxw3mhSyUk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">independent medical \u003c/a>review or file a complaint with regulators if they are dissatisfied with the insurer’s decision. The grievance system can also help insurers identify systemic problems and improve customer service, state officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s independent medical review program allows consumers to have their case heard by doctors who are not tied to their health plan. The cases often arise when an insurer denies a patient’s request for treatment or a prescription drug.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, insurance company denials were overturned in nearly 70 percent of medical review cases and patients received the requested treatment, according to state officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s managed-care regulator announced Wednesday it has fined insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross $5 million for repeatedly failing to resolve consumer grievances in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Department of Managed Health Care criticized Anthem, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, for systemic violations and a long history of flouting the law in regard to consumer complaints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anthem Blue Cross’ failures to comply with the law surrounding grievance and appeals rights are long-standing, ongoing and unacceptable,” said Shelley Rouillard, director of the Department of Managed Health Care. “Anthem knows this is a huge problem, but they haven’t addressed it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before this latest action, California had already fined Anthem more than $6 million collectively for grievance-system violations since 2002.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state said it identified 245 grievance-system violations during this latest investigation of consumer complaints at Anthem from 2013 to 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rouillard cited one example in which Anthem denied a submitted claim for an extensive surgical procedure, even though it had issued prior approval for the operation. Twenty-two calls contesting the denial — placed by the patient, the patient’s spouse, the couple’s insurance broker and the medical provider — failed to resolve the complaint. It was not until the patient sought help from the managed-care agency, more than six months after the treatment, that Anthem paid the claim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Anthem acknowledged there are some legitimate findings in the audit, but it strongly disagreed with the state’s assertion that the problems are “systemic and ongoing.” The company said it will contest the fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anthem has taken responsibility for errors in the past and has made significant changes in our grievance and appeals process, as well as investments in system improvements,” the company said. “We remain committed to putting the needs of our members first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthem Inc., based in Indianapolis, sells Blue Cross policies in California and 13 other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is known for having tough consumer protection laws on health coverage and for assisting policyholders when they exhaust their appeals with insurers. In other actions, the state has fined insurers for overstating the extent of their doctor networks and for denying patients timely access to mental health treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group in Santa Monica, Calif., said the regulatory response to these problems varies greatly by state. He singled out New York, Washington and Kansas as some of the states with good track records of holding health insurers accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The real problem is when states don’t act there is not a great avenue for the consumer. It’s very hard to bring legal action,” Court said. “Anthem definitely needed a wake-up call. But this will also send a message to other insurers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nationally, consumers continue to express their displeasure with health insurers over a wide range of issues, including denials for treatment, billing disputes and the lack of in-network doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Verified complaints related to health insurance and accident coverage rose 12 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year, totaling 53,680, according to data compiled by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The data only includes incidents in which state regulators confirmed there was a violation or error by the insurer involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Court and other advocates welcomed the significant fine in California and said this is just the latest example of Anthem’s failure to uphold basic consumer protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, state officials said that calls to Anthem’s customer service department often led to repeated transfers and that the company failed to follow up with enrollees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you look at the history of Anthem and the penalties assessed over the years, they are definitely an outlier compared to other health plans,” Rouillard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All the plans have some issues with grievances, but nothing to the degree we are seeing with Anthem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The managed-care department said a health plan’s grievance program is critical, so that consumers know they have the right to pursue an \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/FileaComplaint/IndependentMedicalReview(IMR).aspx#.Wgxw3mhSyUk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">independent medical \u003c/a>review or file a complaint with regulators if they are dissatisfied with the insurer’s decision. The grievance system can also help insurers identify systemic problems and improve customer service, state officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s independent medical review program allows consumers to have their case heard by doctors who are not tied to their health plan. The cases often arise when an insurer denies a patient’s request for treatment or a prescription drug.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, insurance company denials were overturned in nearly 70 percent of medical review cases and patients received the requested treatment, according to state officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California Gov. Jerry Brown defied the drug industry Monday, signing the most comprehensive drug price transparency bill in the nation, one which will force drug makers to publicly justify big price hikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Californians have a right to know why their medical costs are out of control, especially when pharmaceutical profits are soaring,” Brown said. “This measure is a step at bringing transparency, truth, exposure to a very important part of our lives, that is the cost of prescription drugs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"background: white;margin: 0in 0in .25in 0in\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #222222\">Brown said the bill was part of a broader push toward correcting growing economic inequities in the U.S., and called on the pharmaceutical leaders “at the top” to consider doing business in a way that helps those with a lot less. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"background: white;margin: 0in 0in .25in 0in\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #222222\">“The rich are getting richer. \u003c/span>The powerful are getting more powerful,” Brown said. “So this is just another example where the powerful get more power and take more… We've got to point to the evils, and there's a real evil when so many people are suffering so much from rising drug profits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drug lobby fiercely opposed the bill, SB 17, hiring 45 firms to try to defeat it and spending $16.8 million on lobbying against the full range of drug legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new law will shine light into the mystery of how drugs are priced, requiring pharmaceutical companies to notify the state and health insurers anytime they plan to raise the price of a medication by 16 percent or more over two years. And, companies will have to provide justification for the increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation was supported by a diverse coalition, including labor and consumer groups, hospital groups and even health insurers, who agreed to share some of their own data under the bill. They will have to report what percentage of premium increases are due to drug prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Health coverage premiums directly reflect the cost of providing medical care, and prescription drug prices have become one of the main factors driving up these costs,” said Charles Bacchi, CEO of the California Association of Health Plans. “SB 17 will help us understand why, so we can prepare for and address the unrelenting price increases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drug companies criticized the governors move, saying the new law focuses too narrowly on just one part of the drug distribution chain and won't help consumers afford their medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is disappointing that Gov. Brown has decided to sign a bill that is based on misleading rhetoric instead of what’s in the best interest of patients,” said Priscilla VanderVeer, spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. “There is no evidence that SB 17 will lower drug costs for patients because it does not shed light on the large rebates and discounts insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers are receiving that are not always being passed on to patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Policy experts are clear that this law is part of a long game toward developing a stronger web of drug laws across the country. In that respect, it makes sense to start with the source of the drug prices: the drug makers themselves, said Gerard Anderson, a health policy professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who tracks drug legislation in the states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The manufacturers get most of the money – probably about three quarters or more of the money that you pay for a drug, and they're the ones that set the price initially,” he said. “So they are not the only piece of the drug supply chain, but they are the key piece to this.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California Gov. Jerry Brown defied the drug industry Monday, signing the most comprehensive drug price transparency bill in the nation, one which will force drug makers to publicly justify big price hikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Californians have a right to know why their medical costs are out of control, especially when pharmaceutical profits are soaring,” Brown said. “This measure is a step at bringing transparency, truth, exposure to a very important part of our lives, that is the cost of prescription drugs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"background: white;margin: 0in 0in .25in 0in\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #222222\">Brown said the bill was part of a broader push toward correcting growing economic inequities in the U.S., and called on the pharmaceutical leaders “at the top” to consider doing business in a way that helps those with a lot less. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"background: white;margin: 0in 0in .25in 0in\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #222222\">“The rich are getting richer. \u003c/span>The powerful are getting more powerful,” Brown said. “So this is just another example where the powerful get more power and take more… We've got to point to the evils, and there's a real evil when so many people are suffering so much from rising drug profits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drug lobby fiercely opposed the bill, SB 17, hiring 45 firms to try to defeat it and spending $16.8 million on lobbying against the full range of drug legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new law will shine light into the mystery of how drugs are priced, requiring pharmaceutical companies to notify the state and health insurers anytime they plan to raise the price of a medication by 16 percent or more over two years. And, companies will have to provide justification for the increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation was supported by a diverse coalition, including labor and consumer groups, hospital groups and even health insurers, who agreed to share some of their own data under the bill. They will have to report what percentage of premium increases are due to drug prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Health coverage premiums directly reflect the cost of providing medical care, and prescription drug prices have become one of the main factors driving up these costs,” said Charles Bacchi, CEO of the California Association of Health Plans. “SB 17 will help us understand why, so we can prepare for and address the unrelenting price increases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drug companies criticized the governors move, saying the new law focuses too narrowly on just one part of the drug distribution chain and won't help consumers afford their medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is disappointing that Gov. Brown has decided to sign a bill that is based on misleading rhetoric instead of what’s in the best interest of patients,” said Priscilla VanderVeer, spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. “There is no evidence that SB 17 will lower drug costs for patients because it does not shed light on the large rebates and discounts insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers are receiving that are not always being passed on to patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Policy experts are clear that this law is part of a long game toward developing a stronger web of drug laws across the country. In that respect, it makes sense to start with the source of the drug prices: the drug makers themselves, said Gerard Anderson, a health policy professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who tracks drug legislation in the states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The manufacturers get most of the money – probably about three quarters or more of the money that you pay for a drug, and they're the ones that set the price initially,” he said. “So they are not the only piece of the drug supply chain, but they are the key piece to this.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "California Frets Over Funding After Congress Misses Health Care Deadlines",
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"content": "\u003cp>More than a million California children get their health insurance from the Children's Health Insurance Program, also know as \"CHIP.\" Like they do with Medicaid, states split the costs for CHIP with the federal government. But Congress missed an Oct. 1 deadline to renew CHIP funding -- a lapse that many blame on the drawn-out effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That fight put other health care priorities on the back burner, and anxiety is growing about when -- or if -- Congress will reauthorize the money to pay for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What exactly is CHIP?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CHIP is a little-known program but very important. Everyone knows about Medi-Cal, which covers lots of low-income children (and many adults as well), but CHIP is for children whose parents make too much money to qualify them for Medi-Cal, but don't have insurance through their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It saddens me because, I mean, they're children. Children should not be politicized,\" said Dr. Porshia Mack, chief medical officer at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.tvhc.org/Home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center\u003c/a> in Hayward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of people agree with Mack. CHIP has never been a controversial program, unlike the Affordable Care Act. It's always had bipartisan support since its start in 1997. Everyone professes a desire to insure children, and kids are relatively cheap to insure, compared to adults and seniors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>So what happened?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congress simply missed the deadline to renew the funding. In September, the Senate decided to try yet again to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and it was so busy that CHIP was one of many programs that just didn't get voted on in time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, Congress is starting to discuss reauthorizing the money for CHIP, but some of the ideas include ratcheting down the funding amounts. In recent years, CHIP funding had gotten a financial boost from the Affordable Care Act. Right now, California's share of CHIP's costs amount to $364 million a year, but some of the new funding proposals being floated in Congress would increase California's CHIP contribution to $1.5 billion a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California's CHIP program does have enough money to keep going through the end of 2017, according to the state's Medicaid director, Mari Cantwell. If the federal funding does not come back by January, the state could face some difficult decisions. Cantwell said most children won't actually be kicked off of their insurance, but California would have to pay much more to move them into Medi-Cal plans to keep them insured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What else has been put on the back burner while Congress debated the Affordable Care Act?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were a number of health programs that also had funding deadlines of Sept. 30. One \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/congress-cold-shoulder-sends-shivers-through-community-health-centers/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">program\u003c/a> provides federal funding for community health clinics like Tiburcio Vasquez in Hayward. These are safety-net clinics that typically treat low-income people on Medi-Cal, and also provide a last resort for uninsured or undocumented people who have no other options. In California, the federal funding for these clinics came to $1.6 billion over the past five years. Clinic directors in California have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfccc.org/blog/2017/9/19/time-to-fight-back-against-graham-cassidy-repeal-bill-and-health-center-funding-cliff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vocal\u003c/a> about the importance of this money over the past few weeks, and are especially anxious now that the deadline has been missed. They're saying Congress really has to act soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What about the future of Obamacare itself? It seems to be very unclear about which direction it's heading.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The repeal efforts seem to have stopped for now, or at least for 2017. But there was also a separate bill to fix one of the chief problems plaguing Obamacare, and that has also been delayed. The bill would have stabilized the individual insurance markets in the states by locking in funding that the Trump administration has threatened to cut. As a result of the ongoing uncertainty, some insurance companies have dropped out of the markets, and some have raised premiums for 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some states are waiting to see if that bill gets passed, and there is \u003ca href=\"http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/353671-gop-willing-to-give-ground-on-obamacare-subsidies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movement\u003c/a> this week to revive it. But others have already announced that the premiums are going to increase. In Georgia, for example, premiums are set to go up by 50 percent for 2018 -- all because Congress hasn't yet fixed this funding gap. California still hasn't released the rates for Covered California plans for 2018, but they will have to do that soon, because open enrollment for 2018 starts on Nov. 1.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "A program that covers more than a million children is in funding limbo. Community clinics and Covered California are also waiting on Congress to take action. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>More than a million California children get their health insurance from the Children's Health Insurance Program, also know as \"CHIP.\" Like they do with Medicaid, states split the costs for CHIP with the federal government. But Congress missed an Oct. 1 deadline to renew CHIP funding -- a lapse that many blame on the drawn-out effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That fight put other health care priorities on the back burner, and anxiety is growing about when -- or if -- Congress will reauthorize the money to pay for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What exactly is CHIP?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CHIP is a little-known program but very important. Everyone knows about Medi-Cal, which covers lots of low-income children (and many adults as well), but CHIP is for children whose parents make too much money to qualify them for Medi-Cal, but don't have insurance through their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It saddens me because, I mean, they're children. Children should not be politicized,\" said Dr. Porshia Mack, chief medical officer at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.tvhc.org/Home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center\u003c/a> in Hayward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of people agree with Mack. CHIP has never been a controversial program, unlike the Affordable Care Act. It's always had bipartisan support since its start in 1997. Everyone professes a desire to insure children, and kids are relatively cheap to insure, compared to adults and seniors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>So what happened?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congress simply missed the deadline to renew the funding. In September, the Senate decided to try yet again to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and it was so busy that CHIP was one of many programs that just didn't get voted on in time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, Congress is starting to discuss reauthorizing the money for CHIP, but some of the ideas include ratcheting down the funding amounts. In recent years, CHIP funding had gotten a financial boost from the Affordable Care Act. Right now, California's share of CHIP's costs amount to $364 million a year, but some of the new funding proposals being floated in Congress would increase California's CHIP contribution to $1.5 billion a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California's CHIP program does have enough money to keep going through the end of 2017, according to the state's Medicaid director, Mari Cantwell. If the federal funding does not come back by January, the state could face some difficult decisions. Cantwell said most children won't actually be kicked off of their insurance, but California would have to pay much more to move them into Medi-Cal plans to keep them insured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What else has been put on the back burner while Congress debated the Affordable Care Act?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were a number of health programs that also had funding deadlines of Sept. 30. One \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/congress-cold-shoulder-sends-shivers-through-community-health-centers/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">program\u003c/a> provides federal funding for community health clinics like Tiburcio Vasquez in Hayward. These are safety-net clinics that typically treat low-income people on Medi-Cal, and also provide a last resort for uninsured or undocumented people who have no other options. In California, the federal funding for these clinics came to $1.6 billion over the past five years. Clinic directors in California have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfccc.org/blog/2017/9/19/time-to-fight-back-against-graham-cassidy-repeal-bill-and-health-center-funding-cliff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vocal\u003c/a> about the importance of this money over the past few weeks, and are especially anxious now that the deadline has been missed. They're saying Congress really has to act soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What about the future of Obamacare itself? It seems to be very unclear about which direction it's heading.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The repeal efforts seem to have stopped for now, or at least for 2017. But there was also a separate bill to fix one of the chief problems plaguing Obamacare, and that has also been delayed. The bill would have stabilized the individual insurance markets in the states by locking in funding that the Trump administration has threatened to cut. As a result of the ongoing uncertainty, some insurance companies have dropped out of the markets, and some have raised premiums for 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some states are waiting to see if that bill gets passed, and there is \u003ca href=\"http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/353671-gop-willing-to-give-ground-on-obamacare-subsidies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movement\u003c/a> this week to revive it. But others have already announced that the premiums are going to increase. In Georgia, for example, premiums are set to go up by 50 percent for 2018 -- all because Congress hasn't yet fixed this funding gap. California still hasn't released the rates for Covered California plans for 2018, but they will have to do that soon, because open enrollment for 2018 starts on Nov. 1.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Hepatitis C Drug’s Lower Cost Paves Way For Medicaid, Prisons To Expand Treatment",
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"content": "\u003cp>Valerie Green is still waiting to be cured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Delaware resident was diagnosed with hepatitis C more than two years ago, but she doesn’t qualify yet for the Medicaid program’s criteria for treatment with a new class of highly effective but pricey drugs. The recent approval of a less expensive drug that generally cures hepatitis C in just eight weeks may make it easier for more insurers and correctional facilities to expand treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drug, \u003ca href=\"https://www.mavyret.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mavyret\u003c/a>, is the first to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm570038.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">approved by the Food and Drug Administration\u003c/a> that can cure all six genetic types of hepatitis C in about two months in patients who haven’t previously been treated. Other approved drugs generally require 12 weeks to treat the disease and often aren’t effective for all types of hepatitis C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, Mavyret’s price tag of $26,400 for a course of treatment is significantly below that of other hepatitis C drugs whose sticker price ranges from about \u003ca href=\"https://www.macpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/High-Cost-HCV-Drugs-in-Medicaid-Final-Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$55,000 to $95,000\u003c/a> to beat the disease. Patients and insurers often pay less, however, through negotiated insurance discounts and rebates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It certainly stands to reason that the continual march downwards on cost would lead to continual opening up of criteria,” said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hepatitis C is a viral liver infection spread through blood that affects an estimated 3.5 million people in the United States. It can take years to cause problems. Many baby boomers who contracted it decades ago before blood was screened for the virus don’t realize they have it until they develop liver disease. In addition, the growing heroin epidemic is adding to the problem as people become infected by sharing contaminated needles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Direct acting antiviral” therapies like Harvoni, a once-a-day pill introduced in 2014 that generally cured hepatitis C in 12 weeks, are much more effective than earlier treatments that required weekly interferon injections and multiple daily pills for nearly a year. But the newer regimens came at a price: $94,500, in Harvoni’s case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Medicaid programs, which cover a high proportion of people with hepatitis C, \u003ca href=\"http://www.governing.com/news/headlines/how-some-state-medicaid-programs-limit-drugs-to-only-sickest-patients.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">balked at the high prices\u003c/a>, even with the 23 percent drug discount the programs typically receive. Many threw up roadblocks to limit drug approval until the disease was advanced. Some required people to be drug- and alcohol-free for six months or more before treatment would be approved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those moves prompted advocates to push for better access, in some cases \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/medicaid-private-insurers-begin-to-lift-curbs-on-pricey-hepatitis-c-drugs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filing suit\u003c/a> to force the programs to cover more people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Faced with a lawsuit in Delaware, the state Medicaid program began loosening up treatment criteria this year, and in January will \u003ca href=\"https://www.chlpi.org//wp-content/uploads/2016/06/DMMA-Prior-Authorization-Policy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">begin approving enrollees\u003c/a> regardless of the severity of their disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state joins more than a dozen others that no longer (or never did) restrict hepatitis C treatment based on disease severity, said Kevin Costello, director of litigation at Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, which has been a key player \u003ca href=\"https://www.chlpi.org/in-face-of-class-action-lawsuit-delaware-medicaid-removes-unlawful-restrictions-to-the-cure-for-the-hepatitis-c-virus/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in litigation in Delaware\u003c/a> and other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can’t happen soon enough, said Green, 58, who believes she contracted the disease 31 years ago when she suffered complications during childbirth and required a blood transfusion. Although her liver isn’t damaged, Green said, she’s suffered with abdominal and joint pain, weight loss and fatigue for decades, symptoms that doctors attribute to the hepatitis C virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a difficult fight for us Medicaid patients,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who are incarcerated \u003ca href=\"http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/35/10/1893.abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">face an even tougher battle\u003c/a> to get treatment for hepatitis C. Roughly 17 percent of prisoners are infected with hepatitis C, compared with about 1 percent of the general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prisons have a duty not to be deliberately indifferent to the medical needs of incarcerated people. Prisons don’t get the price discounts that the Medicaid programs have, and their budgets are fixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Administrators have to make do with what is there,” said Dr. Anne Spaulding, an associate professor at Emory University’s public health school who has worked as a medical director in corrections and published research on hepatitis C among prisoners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers in a handful of states are pursuing class action lawsuits to force prisons to provide hepatitis C treatment. Mavyret may make a difference, said David Rudovsky, a civil rights lawyer who’s litigating a class action lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone recognizes that it’s going to make it easier to cover people,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People with regular private insurance may face some obstacles to coverage of hepatitis C, but coverage is typically less problematic. For example, Mavyret is one of seven hepatitis C drugs that are included in the 2018 \u003ca href=\"http://lab.express-scripts.com/lab/insights/drug-options/2018-national-preferred-formulary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">national preferred formulary\u003c/a> by Express Scripts, which manages the pharmacy benefits for 83 million people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The benefit to patients and payers is the additional competition, which brings down costs across the class, thus resulting in greater access and affordability,” said Jennifer Luddy, director of corporate communications at Express Scripts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Please visit \u003ca href=\"http://khn.org/columnists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">khn.org/columnists\u003c/a> to send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> (KHN). KHN is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Valerie Green is still waiting to be cured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Delaware resident was diagnosed with hepatitis C more than two years ago, but she doesn’t qualify yet for the Medicaid program’s criteria for treatment with a new class of highly effective but pricey drugs. The recent approval of a less expensive drug that generally cures hepatitis C in just eight weeks may make it easier for more insurers and correctional facilities to expand treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drug, \u003ca href=\"https://www.mavyret.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mavyret\u003c/a>, is the first to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm570038.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">approved by the Food and Drug Administration\u003c/a> that can cure all six genetic types of hepatitis C in about two months in patients who haven’t previously been treated. Other approved drugs generally require 12 weeks to treat the disease and often aren’t effective for all types of hepatitis C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, Mavyret’s price tag of $26,400 for a course of treatment is significantly below that of other hepatitis C drugs whose sticker price ranges from about \u003ca href=\"https://www.macpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/High-Cost-HCV-Drugs-in-Medicaid-Final-Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$55,000 to $95,000\u003c/a> to beat the disease. Patients and insurers often pay less, however, through negotiated insurance discounts and rebates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It certainly stands to reason that the continual march downwards on cost would lead to continual opening up of criteria,” said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hepatitis C is a viral liver infection spread through blood that affects an estimated 3.5 million people in the United States. It can take years to cause problems. Many baby boomers who contracted it decades ago before blood was screened for the virus don’t realize they have it until they develop liver disease. In addition, the growing heroin epidemic is adding to the problem as people become infected by sharing contaminated needles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Direct acting antiviral” therapies like Harvoni, a once-a-day pill introduced in 2014 that generally cured hepatitis C in 12 weeks, are much more effective than earlier treatments that required weekly interferon injections and multiple daily pills for nearly a year. But the newer regimens came at a price: $94,500, in Harvoni’s case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Medicaid programs, which cover a high proportion of people with hepatitis C, \u003ca href=\"http://www.governing.com/news/headlines/how-some-state-medicaid-programs-limit-drugs-to-only-sickest-patients.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">balked at the high prices\u003c/a>, even with the 23 percent drug discount the programs typically receive. Many threw up roadblocks to limit drug approval until the disease was advanced. Some required people to be drug- and alcohol-free for six months or more before treatment would be approved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those moves prompted advocates to push for better access, in some cases \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/medicaid-private-insurers-begin-to-lift-curbs-on-pricey-hepatitis-c-drugs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filing suit\u003c/a> to force the programs to cover more people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Faced with a lawsuit in Delaware, the state Medicaid program began loosening up treatment criteria this year, and in January will \u003ca href=\"https://www.chlpi.org//wp-content/uploads/2016/06/DMMA-Prior-Authorization-Policy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">begin approving enrollees\u003c/a> regardless of the severity of their disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state joins more than a dozen others that no longer (or never did) restrict hepatitis C treatment based on disease severity, said Kevin Costello, director of litigation at Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, which has been a key player \u003ca href=\"https://www.chlpi.org/in-face-of-class-action-lawsuit-delaware-medicaid-removes-unlawful-restrictions-to-the-cure-for-the-hepatitis-c-virus/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in litigation in Delaware\u003c/a> and other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can’t happen soon enough, said Green, 58, who believes she contracted the disease 31 years ago when she suffered complications during childbirth and required a blood transfusion. Although her liver isn’t damaged, Green said, she’s suffered with abdominal and joint pain, weight loss and fatigue for decades, symptoms that doctors attribute to the hepatitis C virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a difficult fight for us Medicaid patients,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who are incarcerated \u003ca href=\"http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/35/10/1893.abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">face an even tougher battle\u003c/a> to get treatment for hepatitis C. Roughly 17 percent of prisoners are infected with hepatitis C, compared with about 1 percent of the general population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prisons have a duty not to be deliberately indifferent to the medical needs of incarcerated people. Prisons don’t get the price discounts that the Medicaid programs have, and their budgets are fixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Administrators have to make do with what is there,” said Dr. Anne Spaulding, an associate professor at Emory University’s public health school who has worked as a medical director in corrections and published research on hepatitis C among prisoners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers in a handful of states are pursuing class action lawsuits to force prisons to provide hepatitis C treatment. Mavyret may make a difference, said David Rudovsky, a civil rights lawyer who’s litigating a class action lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone recognizes that it’s going to make it easier to cover people,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People with regular private insurance may face some obstacles to coverage of hepatitis C, but coverage is typically less problematic. For example, Mavyret is one of seven hepatitis C drugs that are included in the 2018 \u003ca href=\"http://lab.express-scripts.com/lab/insights/drug-options/2018-national-preferred-formulary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">national preferred formulary\u003c/a> by Express Scripts, which manages the pharmacy benefits for 83 million people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The benefit to patients and payers is the additional competition, which brings down costs across the class, thus resulting in greater access and affordability,” said Jennifer Luddy, director of corporate communications at Express Scripts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Please visit \u003ca href=\"http://khn.org/columnists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">khn.org/columnists\u003c/a> to send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by \u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> (KHN). KHN is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California stands to lose billions in health care funding under the GOP’s latest plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, resulting in millions of Californians losing coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Graham-Cassidy legislation under discussion in the Senate would redistribute the funds now used to pay for the Affordable Care Act, effectively taking money from states that embraced all aspects of the law, like California, and redistributing it to other states, that didn't, like Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“For a state like California or a Massachusetts or a New York, exactly the states that might be most motivated to at least try to preserve the ACA coverage gains - those are the states that would face the deepest cuts to their federal resources,” said Aviva Aron-Dine, senior fellow at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbpp.org/\">Center on Budget and Policy Priorities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">The bill's Republican authors say redistributing the health funds is about fairness, and will give states more \"flexibility\" to redesign their own health systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">But health officials in California predict dire consequences if the measure were to pass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Simply stated, this proposal is the most devastating of the three federal health care proposals that we have evaluated this year,” top officials from the state Department of Health Care Services wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/graham_cassidy_impact_memo_dhcs_092217.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an analysis\u003c/a> released Friday. “If this amendment is adopted and becomes law, California will be faced with tens of billions of dollars in new costs [and] will require difficult decisions regarding the populations and benefits we choose to cover and how much we pay providers and plans for the services they provide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">By 2026, California would lose $85.7 billion in federal funds, and by 2027 it would lose $138.8 billion, according to the analysis. That could cause 6.7 million Californians to lose insurance coverage, according to \u003ca href=\"http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-gops-last-ditch-effort-to-repeal-the-affordable-care-act-is-the-worst-one-yet-for-california/\">estimates\u003c/a> from the The UC Berkeley Labor Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of those people are entrepreneurs or their employees. Under the Affordable Care Act in California, half a million self-employed entrepreneurs -- and a million employees who work for small businesses -- got health coverage because of the ACA, either through the expansion of Medi-Cal, or through a subsidized personal insurance plan on the state exchange, Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It would be very difficult for entrepreneurs and self employed folks to access some level of coverage,\" said Mark Herbert, California director for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.smallbusinessmajority.org/states/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Small Business Majority\u003c/a>. \"So it would be massively destabilizing to the ability of small employers to attract talent.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond that, there would be damaging ripple effects, Herbert added: \"There's no way that you can remove those sorts of dollars out of our local communities and not see some sort of economic impact on small businesses.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the Graham-Cassidy bill’s redistribution formula, several states that shunned the Affordable Care Act would get more money, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://avalere.com/expertise/life-sciences/insights/graham-cassidy-heller-johnson-bill-would-reduce-federal-funding-to-sta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study\u003c/a> by health consulting firm Avalare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Texas will get a windfall of $35 billion in health funding over the next ten years, more than any other state. State officials would get to decide how they want to spend that money. But advocates and analysts say more money for Texas doesn't necessarily guarantee an improved health care system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“Regardless of the size of the block grant, there's just no assurance that it would translate into good coverage, or coverage that's as affordable as what we have today,” said Stacey Pogue with the \u003ca href=\"http://bettertexasblog.org/2017/09/harmful-medicaid-cutaca-repeal-bill-resurfaces-senate/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Center for Public Policy Priorities \u003c/a>in Austin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">Texas already has the highest number of uninsured folks, and Pogue says the state just doesn't have the infrastructure in place to expand coverage to more people. It didn't expand Medicaid in 2014, which was optional under the ACA, and the state didn't set up its own exchange, like California did with \"Covered California.\" Texans who wanted subsidized insurance plans had to use the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, which meant Texas had less flexibility when it came to regulating insurers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“There's no planning and no thought put into, 'How would we create affordable coverage for low-income Texans?\" Pogue said, \"Unlike the 31 states that have expanded Medicaid, have done some central planning. And Texas would be starting from scratch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">It would also take a lot of political will to make sure the state is actually expanding health care, Pogue added, and that motivation has been lacking among state lawmakers for years. In order to get the block grant, states would need to create a workable health infrastructure by 2020. For comparison, it took Massachusetts four years to set up its pre-Obamacare statewide insurance market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“We are very concerned,” said Stacy Wilson, president of the Children's Hospital Association of Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson said this pot of money from Cassidy-Graham wouldn't solve chronic problems with Medicaid, 70 percent of which covers children. Wilson explained that's because the federal government would pay a fixed amount per person, under a per capita cap. That formula locks in how much the state gets per Medicaid enrollee, no matter how much treatment those enrollees need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“We have very low per-capita costs already, and we get locked into that forever,” Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">A conservative policy group in Texas, \u003ca href=\"https://www.texaspolicy.com/press_release/detail/tppf-statement-on-graham-cassidy-health-care-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Texas Public Policy Foundation\u003c/a>, is also not happy about the bill, but their concern is that it doesn't go far enough to repeal Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act redistributes money from states that worked hard to implement Obamacare and gives it to states that refused Obamacare funding. ",
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"description": "The Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act redistributes money from states that worked hard to implement Obamacare and gives it to states that refused Obamacare funding. ",
"title": "A Tale of Two States: California Loses and Texas Wins Under GOP Health Plan | KQED",
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"headline": "A Tale of Two States: California Loses and Texas Wins Under GOP Health Plan",
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"nprByline": "\u003cstrong>April Dembosky\u003c/strong>, KQED and \u003cstrong>Ashley Lopez\u003c/strong>, KUT",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California stands to lose billions in health care funding under the GOP’s latest plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, resulting in millions of Californians losing coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Graham-Cassidy legislation under discussion in the Senate would redistribute the funds now used to pay for the Affordable Care Act, effectively taking money from states that embraced all aspects of the law, like California, and redistributing it to other states, that didn't, like Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“For a state like California or a Massachusetts or a New York, exactly the states that might be most motivated to at least try to preserve the ACA coverage gains - those are the states that would face the deepest cuts to their federal resources,” said Aviva Aron-Dine, senior fellow at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbpp.org/\">Center on Budget and Policy Priorities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">The bill's Republican authors say redistributing the health funds is about fairness, and will give states more \"flexibility\" to redesign their own health systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">But health officials in California predict dire consequences if the measure were to pass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Simply stated, this proposal is the most devastating of the three federal health care proposals that we have evaluated this year,” top officials from the state Department of Health Care Services wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://californiahealthline.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/graham_cassidy_impact_memo_dhcs_092217.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an analysis\u003c/a> released Friday. “If this amendment is adopted and becomes law, California will be faced with tens of billions of dollars in new costs [and] will require difficult decisions regarding the populations and benefits we choose to cover and how much we pay providers and plans for the services they provide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">By 2026, California would lose $85.7 billion in federal funds, and by 2027 it would lose $138.8 billion, according to the analysis. That could cause 6.7 million Californians to lose insurance coverage, according to \u003ca href=\"http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-gops-last-ditch-effort-to-repeal-the-affordable-care-act-is-the-worst-one-yet-for-california/\">estimates\u003c/a> from the The UC Berkeley Labor Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of those people are entrepreneurs or their employees. Under the Affordable Care Act in California, half a million self-employed entrepreneurs -- and a million employees who work for small businesses -- got health coverage because of the ACA, either through the expansion of Medi-Cal, or through a subsidized personal insurance plan on the state exchange, Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It would be very difficult for entrepreneurs and self employed folks to access some level of coverage,\" said Mark Herbert, California director for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.smallbusinessmajority.org/states/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Small Business Majority\u003c/a>. \"So it would be massively destabilizing to the ability of small employers to attract talent.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond that, there would be damaging ripple effects, Herbert added: \"There's no way that you can remove those sorts of dollars out of our local communities and not see some sort of economic impact on small businesses.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the Graham-Cassidy bill’s redistribution formula, several states that shunned the Affordable Care Act would get more money, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://avalere.com/expertise/life-sciences/insights/graham-cassidy-heller-johnson-bill-would-reduce-federal-funding-to-sta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study\u003c/a> by health consulting firm Avalare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Texas will get a windfall of $35 billion in health funding over the next ten years, more than any other state. State officials would get to decide how they want to spend that money. But advocates and analysts say more money for Texas doesn't necessarily guarantee an improved health care system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“Regardless of the size of the block grant, there's just no assurance that it would translate into good coverage, or coverage that's as affordable as what we have today,” said Stacey Pogue with the \u003ca href=\"http://bettertexasblog.org/2017/09/harmful-medicaid-cutaca-repeal-bill-resurfaces-senate/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Center for Public Policy Priorities \u003c/a>in Austin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">Texas already has the highest number of uninsured folks, and Pogue says the state just doesn't have the infrastructure in place to expand coverage to more people. It didn't expand Medicaid in 2014, which was optional under the ACA, and the state didn't set up its own exchange, like California did with \"Covered California.\" Texans who wanted subsidized insurance plans had to use the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, which meant Texas had less flexibility when it came to regulating insurers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“There's no planning and no thought put into, 'How would we create affordable coverage for low-income Texans?\" Pogue said, \"Unlike the 31 states that have expanded Medicaid, have done some central planning. And Texas would be starting from scratch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">It would also take a lot of political will to make sure the state is actually expanding health care, Pogue added, and that motivation has been lacking among state lawmakers for years. In order to get the block grant, states would need to create a workable health infrastructure by 2020. For comparison, it took Massachusetts four years to set up its pre-Obamacare statewide insurance market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“We are very concerned,” said Stacy Wilson, president of the Children's Hospital Association of Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson said this pot of money from Cassidy-Graham wouldn't solve chronic problems with Medicaid, 70 percent of which covers children. Wilson explained that's because the federal government would pay a fixed amount per person, under a per capita cap. That formula locks in how much the state gets per Medicaid enrollee, no matter how much treatment those enrollees need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">“We have very low per-capita costs already, and we get locked into that forever,” Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-style: inherit;font-weight: inherit\">A conservative policy group in Texas, \u003ca href=\"https://www.texaspolicy.com/press_release/detail/tppf-statement-on-graham-cassidy-health-care-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Texas Public Policy Foundation\u003c/a>, is also not happy about the bill, but their concern is that it doesn't go far enough to repeal Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "In the Battle Against Hepatitis C, the VA Takes the Lead",
"title": "In the Battle Against Hepatitis C, the VA Takes the Lead",
"headTitle": "State of Health | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>Junius Wilson likes to dress up when he goes in for his appointments at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.va.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Veterans Affairs\u003c/a> in Martinez. On a recent visit, the 67-year-old wore a black felt fedora and a sport coat. On his lapels, he wore a handful of military medals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"All these are medals from Vietnam,\" he said. \"The three stars are for warriors ... this one's national defense.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson's wife, Shelly Baker, sat beside him. She nudged him to show off one medal, which hung from a violet ribbon: a Purple Heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson got that one because he was shot in the foot diving for cover during battle. He was in the infantry in South Vietnam and saw a lot of combat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wilson, 67, isn't here for that. He's come for a monthly consultation with a specialized VA nurse who oversees his hepatitis C treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VA has implemented an aggressive effort to screen and treat all veterans under their care for the virus. Hepatitis C experts and advocates have praised the VA for its proactive approach, and say it should be a model for other government health programs, and even private insurers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While about 1 percent of the U.S. population is infected with hepatitis C, veterans who use the VA have higher rates, 4.8 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Vietnam-era veterans like Wilson have an even higher rate, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24682941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">studies\u003c/a>, VA data and physicians. Not all Vietnam veterans use the VA for health care, but among those who do, 7.5 percent have tested positive for the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's unclear why, but there are several theories. One is simply the demographic overlap between Vietnam veterans and baby boomers. Members of the baby-boom generation have Hepatitis C infection rates five times higher than the average American. Hepatitis C, which is blood-borne, wasn't even identified as a distinct virus until 1989, and the baby boomers grew up in an era when blood wasn’t screened, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(16)30002-0/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">before disposable needles were common in medical settings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some attribute the higher rate of Hepatitis C in Vietnam veterans to the injections they received before deploying: Troops sent to Vietnam were often vaccinated assembly-line style, with something called a jet injector. Instead of a needle, a jet injector uses high pressure to force a vaccine through the skin. Later, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11427278\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">research\u003c/a> showed that older versions of the device could \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000744.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">transmit\u003c/a> a hepatitis virus from person to person, and it's no longer used in the military. While it is impossible to know if jet injectors spread the hep C virus, the VA has said it is \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.hepatitis.va.gov/provider/policy/military-blood-exposures.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">biologically plausible\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others point out that some veterans of this conflict used intravenous drugs while in Vietnam, or after returning to the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hepatitis C is passed through the blood. About 3.5 million Americans have the virus, and it's believed that half of them do not know it. After the discovery of the virus in 1989, screening of the blood supply didn't begin until 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The virus can lurk silently for years, slowly damaging the liver until symptoms appear, like pain, nausea and yellow skin. It kills \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0504-hepc-mortality.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more Americans\u003c/a> than all other infectious diseases combined, including HIV. In 2014, the death toll reached an all-time high of 19,659.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_361111\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-361111 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"VA pharmacist Diana Ruiz demonstrates how the VA tracks the status of veterans who have or had Hepatitis C.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">VA pharmacist Diana Ruiz demonstrates how the VA tracks the status of veterans who have or had Hepatitis C. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The VA's push to find -- and cure -- every patient with the virus began three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This became feasible only when new hepatitis C medications came to market in late 2013. The new generation of drugs was a huge improvement over previous treatments. The older drugs required shots that were injected into the stomach, and the medications could have severe side effects: flulike symptoms and even mental health problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VA nurse Susan Bertilacchi-Green does not miss those days. A decade ago, the cure rate she observed from those older drugs was about 30 percent, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That was then,\" she said. \"Now, we have new medications that are nearly 100 percent effective. They have little to no side effects. You can be treated in as little as eight weeks, and there's no shots anymore.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2014, the VA has cured 96,000 patients of hepatitis C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vietnam veteran Roman Walden is one of them. He thinks he got the virus while injecting heroin in Vietnam, a habit that continued when he returned home to Oakland. Years ago, he tried treatment on the old drugs, but had to stop due to serious side effects. When the new drugs came out, he was hesitant to try treatment again. But with reassurance from Bertilacchi-Green, and other veterans who'd been cured, he yielded. This time, the treatment worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_361112\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-361112\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-800x613.jpg\" alt=\"Vietnam veteran Roman Walden has a renewed sense of life after being successfully cured of Hepatitis C. \" width=\"800\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-800x613.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-160x123.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-768x588.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-1020x781.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-1180x904.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-960x735.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-240x184.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-375x287.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-520x398.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718.jpg 1560w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vietnam veteran Roman Walden has a renewed sense of life after being successfully cured of hepatitis C. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"I was really amazed at that,\" he said. \"But then what really got me was how much it cost, and that made me feel like the president of the United States. They were spending this much money on me?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hepatitis C drugs have become notorious for their high cost. The wholesale price for a course of treatment can be over $100,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Walden, that high price actually prompted him to take himself more seriously. He said the expense felt like an investment in him by the VA. After years on and off drugs, and in and out of jail, Walden, now 62, said he’s finally changing for the better. He said he no longer drinks or uses drugs, and is volunteering in hospitals, playing drums for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exorbitant prices of the new hepatitis C medications have led other health plans to hold off on treating every patient. Medi-Cal, for example, gives treatment priority to patients that show evidence of liver damage, or those who could spread the virus, like active drug users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the VA initially also had \"treatment priorities,\" this policy changed in 2016, after Congress stepped up with \u003ca href=\"https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/includes/viewPDF.cfm?id=2762\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">billions in funding\u003c/a>, and pharmaceutical companies released new versions of drugs that were more competitively priced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, the VA will treat \u003cem>anyone\u003c/em> with any level of veterans benefits. For the veterans, the treatment is usually free. Some have a small co-pay for the entire course of treatment, with $33 as the maximum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health officials say hepatitis C could be eliminated as a public health risk by 2030, but it will happen only if other health plans copy the VA’s lead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the VA in Martinez, Bertilacchi-Green concludes the visit by showing Junius Wilson and his wife, Shelly Baker, his latest lab tests. Even though he still has a month to go on his medication, the virus is already undetectable in his blood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson and Baker smile at one another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're happy,\" Baker said. \"We still need him around for a long time.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Additional reporting by Carrie Feibel.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Junius Wilson likes to dress up when he goes in for his appointments at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.va.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Veterans Affairs\u003c/a> in Martinez. On a recent visit, the 67-year-old wore a black felt fedora and a sport coat. On his lapels, he wore a handful of military medals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"All these are medals from Vietnam,\" he said. \"The three stars are for warriors ... this one's national defense.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson's wife, Shelly Baker, sat beside him. She nudged him to show off one medal, which hung from a violet ribbon: a Purple Heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson got that one because he was shot in the foot diving for cover during battle. He was in the infantry in South Vietnam and saw a lot of combat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wilson, 67, isn't here for that. He's come for a monthly consultation with a specialized VA nurse who oversees his hepatitis C treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The VA has implemented an aggressive effort to screen and treat all veterans under their care for the virus. Hepatitis C experts and advocates have praised the VA for its proactive approach, and say it should be a model for other government health programs, and even private insurers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While about 1 percent of the U.S. population is infected with hepatitis C, veterans who use the VA have higher rates, 4.8 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Vietnam-era veterans like Wilson have an even higher rate, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24682941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">studies\u003c/a>, VA data and physicians. Not all Vietnam veterans use the VA for health care, but among those who do, 7.5 percent have tested positive for the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's unclear why, but there are several theories. One is simply the demographic overlap between Vietnam veterans and baby boomers. Members of the baby-boom generation have Hepatitis C infection rates five times higher than the average American. Hepatitis C, which is blood-borne, wasn't even identified as a distinct virus until 1989, and the baby boomers grew up in an era when blood wasn’t screened, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(16)30002-0/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">before disposable needles were common in medical settings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some attribute the higher rate of Hepatitis C in Vietnam veterans to the injections they received before deploying: Troops sent to Vietnam were often vaccinated assembly-line style, with something called a jet injector. Instead of a needle, a jet injector uses high pressure to force a vaccine through the skin. Later, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11427278\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">research\u003c/a> showed that older versions of the device could \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000744.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">transmit\u003c/a> a hepatitis virus from person to person, and it's no longer used in the military. While it is impossible to know if jet injectors spread the hep C virus, the VA has said it is \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.hepatitis.va.gov/provider/policy/military-blood-exposures.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">biologically plausible\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others point out that some veterans of this conflict used intravenous drugs while in Vietnam, or after returning to the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hepatitis C is passed through the blood. About 3.5 million Americans have the virus, and it's believed that half of them do not know it. After the discovery of the virus in 1989, screening of the blood supply didn't begin until 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The virus can lurk silently for years, slowly damaging the liver until symptoms appear, like pain, nausea and yellow skin. It kills \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0504-hepc-mortality.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more Americans\u003c/a> than all other infectious diseases combined, including HIV. In 2014, the death toll reached an all-time high of 19,659.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_361111\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-361111 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"VA pharmacist Diana Ruiz demonstrates how the VA tracks the status of veterans who have or had Hepatitis C.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26624_IMG_7129-qut-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">VA pharmacist Diana Ruiz demonstrates how the VA tracks the status of veterans who have or had Hepatitis C. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The VA's push to find -- and cure -- every patient with the virus began three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This became feasible only when new hepatitis C medications came to market in late 2013. The new generation of drugs was a huge improvement over previous treatments. The older drugs required shots that were injected into the stomach, and the medications could have severe side effects: flulike symptoms and even mental health problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>VA nurse Susan Bertilacchi-Green does not miss those days. A decade ago, the cure rate she observed from those older drugs was about 30 percent, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That was then,\" she said. \"Now, we have new medications that are nearly 100 percent effective. They have little to no side effects. You can be treated in as little as eight weeks, and there's no shots anymore.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2014, the VA has cured 96,000 patients of hepatitis C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vietnam veteran Roman Walden is one of them. He thinks he got the virus while injecting heroin in Vietnam, a habit that continued when he returned home to Oakland. Years ago, he tried treatment on the old drugs, but had to stop due to serious side effects. When the new drugs came out, he was hesitant to try treatment again. But with reassurance from Bertilacchi-Green, and other veterans who'd been cured, he yielded. This time, the treatment worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_361112\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-361112\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-800x613.jpg\" alt=\"Vietnam veteran Roman Walden has a renewed sense of life after being successfully cured of Hepatitis C. \" width=\"800\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-800x613.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-160x123.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-768x588.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-1020x781.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-1180x904.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-960x735.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-240x184.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-375x287.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718-520x398.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2017/09/RS26628_IMG_7004-qut-e1505974615718.jpg 1560w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vietnam veteran Roman Walden has a renewed sense of life after being successfully cured of hepatitis C. \u003ccite>(Laura Klivans/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"I was really amazed at that,\" he said. \"But then what really got me was how much it cost, and that made me feel like the president of the United States. They were spending this much money on me?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hepatitis C drugs have become notorious for their high cost. The wholesale price for a course of treatment can be over $100,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Walden, that high price actually prompted him to take himself more seriously. He said the expense felt like an investment in him by the VA. After years on and off drugs, and in and out of jail, Walden, now 62, said he’s finally changing for the better. He said he no longer drinks or uses drugs, and is volunteering in hospitals, playing drums for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exorbitant prices of the new hepatitis C medications have led other health plans to hold off on treating every patient. Medi-Cal, for example, gives treatment priority to patients that show evidence of liver damage, or those who could spread the virus, like active drug users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the VA initially also had \"treatment priorities,\" this policy changed in 2016, after Congress stepped up with \u003ca href=\"https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/includes/viewPDF.cfm?id=2762\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">billions in funding\u003c/a>, and pharmaceutical companies released new versions of drugs that were more competitively priced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, the VA will treat \u003cem>anyone\u003c/em> with any level of veterans benefits. For the veterans, the treatment is usually free. Some have a small co-pay for the entire course of treatment, with $33 as the maximum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health officials say hepatitis C could be eliminated as a public health risk by 2030, but it will happen only if other health plans copy the VA’s lead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the VA in Martinez, Bertilacchi-Green concludes the visit by showing Junius Wilson and his wife, Shelly Baker, his latest lab tests. Even though he still has a month to go on his medication, the virus is already undetectable in his blood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson and Baker smile at one another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're happy,\" Baker said. \"We still need him around for a long time.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Amid Uncertainty Over Health Care, Covered California Appeals to Insurers' Bottom Lines",
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"content": "\u003cp>With ongoing uncertainty around the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the board that oversees California's health care marketplace took action to stabilize the exchange on Thursday. Their goal was to convince insurance companies to continue offering health plans through \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Covered California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee praised California's overall success as a health care marketplace, but cautioned that the exchange faces significant challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We think this open enrollment’s going to be the most challenging since year one,\" Lee said. \"We’re dealing with the most federal uncertainty we’ve ever had.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee is referring to Congress's attempts to repeal the ACA, and the Trump administration's threats not to pay subsidies to insurance companies, as required under the health care law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meeting, the board unanimously adopted two new resolutions they believe will maintain market stability. \u003ca href=\"http://board.coveredca.com/meetings/2017/08-17/2017-2019%20QHP%20Issuer%20Contract%20Amendment%20Resolution%20(2017-36).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The first\u003c/a> updates contracts between Covered California and insurance companies, allowing insurers who lose money in 2018 to increase profit margins in the following three years in order to recoup losses. Alternatively, if companies make unforeseen profits because of national uncertainty, those profits would go to reducing premiums in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email, a spokesperson for Blue Shield of California, one of the exchange's providers, said the company \"supports Covered California’s program to address the pricing uncertainty and will participate to add stability in the market.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://board.coveredca.com/meetings/2017/08-17/Fiscal%20Year%202017-18%20Budget%20Revision%20(Resolution%202017-37).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The second resolution\u003c/a> increases Covered California's marketing and outreach budget by over $5 million. Marketing helps convince consumers, especially healthy ones, to sign up for plans. A mix of healthy and sick participants allows health care marketplaces to maintain lower premiums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, the board announced it would delay a decision about whether to further increase 2018 premiums until Sept. 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"QtimBtKZJz3HyH4ttMNqWM3dVsZyKIDx\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those increases could be necessary to make up for the insurance companies' financial losses, if the federal government withholds subsidies designed to decrease costs for low-income consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board hopes that by the end of September it will better understand what will happen to the Affordable Care Act and how that will impact California.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>With ongoing uncertainty around the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the board that oversees California's health care marketplace took action to stabilize the exchange on Thursday. Their goal was to convince insurance companies to continue offering health plans through \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Covered California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee praised California's overall success as a health care marketplace, but cautioned that the exchange faces significant challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We think this open enrollment’s going to be the most challenging since year one,\" Lee said. \"We’re dealing with the most federal uncertainty we’ve ever had.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee is referring to Congress's attempts to repeal the ACA, and the Trump administration's threats not to pay subsidies to insurance companies, as required under the health care law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meeting, the board unanimously adopted two new resolutions they believe will maintain market stability. \u003ca href=\"http://board.coveredca.com/meetings/2017/08-17/2017-2019%20QHP%20Issuer%20Contract%20Amendment%20Resolution%20(2017-36).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The first\u003c/a> updates contracts between Covered California and insurance companies, allowing insurers who lose money in 2018 to increase profit margins in the following three years in order to recoup losses. Alternatively, if companies make unforeseen profits because of national uncertainty, those profits would go to reducing premiums in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email, a spokesperson for Blue Shield of California, one of the exchange's providers, said the company \"supports Covered California’s program to address the pricing uncertainty and will participate to add stability in the market.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://board.coveredca.com/meetings/2017/08-17/Fiscal%20Year%202017-18%20Budget%20Revision%20(Resolution%202017-37).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The second resolution\u003c/a> increases Covered California's marketing and outreach budget by over $5 million. Marketing helps convince consumers, especially healthy ones, to sign up for plans. A mix of healthy and sick participants allows health care marketplaces to maintain lower premiums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, the board announced it would delay a decision about whether to further increase 2018 premiums until Sept. 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those increases could be necessary to make up for the insurance companies' financial losses, if the federal government withholds subsidies designed to decrease costs for low-income consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board hopes that by the end of September it will better understand what will happen to the Affordable Care Act and how that will impact California.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "CBO: If Trump Cuts Payments To Insurance Companies, It Will Cost Taxpayers",
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"content": "\u003cp>If President Trump decides to cut off payments to insurance companies called for under the Affordable Care Act, it's going to cost him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, more accurately, it's going to cost taxpayers — about $194 billion over 10 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost is \"eye-poppingly large,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.umich.edu/FacultyBio/Pages/FacultyBio.aspx?FacID=nbagley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nicholas Bagley\u003c/a>, a professor of health law at the University of Michigan. \"This single policy could effectively end up costing 20 percent of the entire bill of the ACA.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deficit figure comes from the Congressional Budget Office, which on Tuesday released an \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/reports/53009-costsharingreductions.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">estimate\u003c/a> of the budget impact of ending what's known as cost-sharing reduction payments. Those are payments the federal government makes to insurance companies to reimburse them for the discounts on copays and deductibles that they're required by law to give to low-income customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reports also say premiums for benchmark plans sold on the Affordable Care Act exchanges will rise about 20 percent next year and about 25 percent by 2020. The cost to consumers, however, would stay the same or even decline, because the premium increases would be offset by tax credits, which we explain further below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Trump threatened repeatedly to cut off the payments, which he's called \"bailouts,\" during the unsuccessful effort by Senate Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, the president has remained mute on the topic, and insurers have been \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/01/540656651/trumps-tweets-threaten-to-destabilize-insurance-markets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">left to wonder\u003c/a> whether they will receive a check this month for the discounts they paid out in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bagley says there's no good policy reason to cut off the payments. \"If you can cover roughly the same number of people for about $200 billion less, why wouldn't you want to do that?\" he asks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cutting the cost-sharing payments ends up costing the government more because insurance companies say they will raise rates in response. Under the Affordable Care Act, people with lower incomes who buy insurance on the exchanges get a tax credit, so their costs remain stable as a share of their income. That means that when premiums rise, those government subsidies rise as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CBO says for people with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, the out-of-pocket cost of insurance would remain about the same because of the bigger tax credits. For those with incomes between 200 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level, the cost to buy insurance could actually get cheaper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, about \u003ca href=\"https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/mediareleasedatabase/fact-sheets/2016-fact-sheets-items/2016-06-30.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">85 percent\u003c/a> of people who bought Obamacare insurance got a tax credit, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The CBO analysis makes clear that ending cost-sharing subsidies would be a perfect example of cutting off your nose to spite your face,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/person/larry-levitt/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Larry Levitt\u003c/a>, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. \"Premiums would rise, and the government would end up spending more in the end through tax credits that help people pay their premiums.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CBO report confirms earlier analyses, including \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/the-effects-of-ending-the-affordable-care-acts-cost-sharing-reduction-payments/\">this one\u003c/a> by Kaiser and \u003ca href=\"http://health.oliverwyman.com/transform-care/2017/05/impact_defunding_CSR_payments.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this one\u003c/a> from the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, that suggested eliminating the cost-sharing payments could make policies \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/05/16/528584408/trump-refusal-to-bail-out-insurers-might-end-up-making-policies-cheaper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cheaper\u003c/a> for some individuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some insurers may decide to leave the ACA markets altogether if the subsidies were to disappear \"because of the substantial uncertainty about the effects of the policy on average health care costs,\" the CBO says. The agency estimates about 5 percent of the population would not have access to insurance through the ACA markets next year if Trump ends the payments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the agency says insurers would come back over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://law.wlu.edu/faculty/emeritus-faculty/tim-jost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Timothy Jost\u003c/a>, a professor emeritus of health care law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, says that picture may be a bit too rosy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the CBO assumes that state insurance commissioners will allow insurance companies to set premiums in ways that would be most advantageous to them, thereby ensuring they continue to sell policies on the Obamacare exchanges. But that may not happen, Yost warns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"CBO assumes that things will work out rationally, and there will be a smooth landing,\" he says. \"It could be much more chaotic than that.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services extended the deadline for insurance companies to decide what health plans to offer on the Obamacare exchanges and what to charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost-sharing payments have been at the center of a political battle over the Affordable Care Act since before President Trump took office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>House Republicans opposed to the health law sued then-President Barack Obama, saying the payments were illegal because Congress hadn't appropriated money for them. A judge agreed but allowed the administration to continue making the payments during an appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that Trump is in the White House, and Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have failed, many Republicans are urging the president to continue the payments rather than undermine the health care markets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=CBO+Predicts+Rise+In+Deficit+If+Trump+Cuts+Payments+To+Insurance+Companies&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The Congressional Budget Office estimates that ending what's known as cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers will raise the deficit $194 billion over 10 years.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If President Trump decides to cut off payments to insurance companies called for under the Affordable Care Act, it's going to cost him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, more accurately, it's going to cost taxpayers — about $194 billion over 10 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost is \"eye-poppingly large,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.law.umich.edu/FacultyBio/Pages/FacultyBio.aspx?FacID=nbagley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nicholas Bagley\u003c/a>, a professor of health law at the University of Michigan. \"This single policy could effectively end up costing 20 percent of the entire bill of the ACA.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deficit figure comes from the Congressional Budget Office, which on Tuesday released an \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/reports/53009-costsharingreductions.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">estimate\u003c/a> of the budget impact of ending what's known as cost-sharing reduction payments. Those are payments the federal government makes to insurance companies to reimburse them for the discounts on copays and deductibles that they're required by law to give to low-income customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reports also say premiums for benchmark plans sold on the Affordable Care Act exchanges will rise about 20 percent next year and about 25 percent by 2020. The cost to consumers, however, would stay the same or even decline, because the premium increases would be offset by tax credits, which we explain further below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Trump threatened repeatedly to cut off the payments, which he's called \"bailouts,\" during the unsuccessful effort by Senate Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, the president has remained mute on the topic, and insurers have been \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/01/540656651/trumps-tweets-threaten-to-destabilize-insurance-markets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">left to wonder\u003c/a> whether they will receive a check this month for the discounts they paid out in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bagley says there's no good policy reason to cut off the payments. \"If you can cover roughly the same number of people for about $200 billion less, why wouldn't you want to do that?\" he asks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cutting the cost-sharing payments ends up costing the government more because insurance companies say they will raise rates in response. Under the Affordable Care Act, people with lower incomes who buy insurance on the exchanges get a tax credit, so their costs remain stable as a share of their income. That means that when premiums rise, those government subsidies rise as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CBO says for people with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, the out-of-pocket cost of insurance would remain about the same because of the bigger tax credits. For those with incomes between 200 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level, the cost to buy insurance could actually get cheaper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, about \u003ca href=\"https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/mediareleasedatabase/fact-sheets/2016-fact-sheets-items/2016-06-30.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">85 percent\u003c/a> of people who bought Obamacare insurance got a tax credit, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The CBO analysis makes clear that ending cost-sharing subsidies would be a perfect example of cutting off your nose to spite your face,\" says \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/person/larry-levitt/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Larry Levitt\u003c/a>, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. \"Premiums would rise, and the government would end up spending more in the end through tax credits that help people pay their premiums.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CBO report confirms earlier analyses, including \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/the-effects-of-ending-the-affordable-care-acts-cost-sharing-reduction-payments/\">this one\u003c/a> by Kaiser and \u003ca href=\"http://health.oliverwyman.com/transform-care/2017/05/impact_defunding_CSR_payments.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this one\u003c/a> from the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, that suggested eliminating the cost-sharing payments could make policies \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/05/16/528584408/trump-refusal-to-bail-out-insurers-might-end-up-making-policies-cheaper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cheaper\u003c/a> for some individuals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some insurers may decide to leave the ACA markets altogether if the subsidies were to disappear \"because of the substantial uncertainty about the effects of the policy on average health care costs,\" the CBO says. The agency estimates about 5 percent of the population would not have access to insurance through the ACA markets next year if Trump ends the payments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the agency says insurers would come back over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://law.wlu.edu/faculty/emeritus-faculty/tim-jost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Timothy Jost\u003c/a>, a professor emeritus of health care law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, says that picture may be a bit too rosy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the CBO assumes that state insurance commissioners will allow insurance companies to set premiums in ways that would be most advantageous to them, thereby ensuring they continue to sell policies on the Obamacare exchanges. But that may not happen, Yost warns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"CBO assumes that things will work out rationally, and there will be a smooth landing,\" he says. \"It could be much more chaotic than that.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services extended the deadline for insurance companies to decide what health plans to offer on the Obamacare exchanges and what to charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost-sharing payments have been at the center of a political battle over the Affordable Care Act since before President Trump took office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>House Republicans opposed to the health law sued then-President Barack Obama, saying the payments were illegal because Congress hadn't appropriated money for them. 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"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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