State of Health Blog from KQED News

A new study finds that insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

What does that mean for you?

It could increase premiums for at least some Americans.

If you are uninsured, or you buy your policy directly from an insurance company, you should pay attention. Continue reading →

Clinic director Fred Bauermeister has watched them pass through his doors for decades: chronically ill, uninsured men, women and children, who have delayed medical care because they are in the country illegally.

Now, though, the prospect of a political deal over immigration reform may, after many years, bring health benefits to millions of undocumented people. Continue reading →

While President Obama’s health care overhaul turns three on Saturday, many states are scrambling to get everything ready for the full rollout of the Affordable Care Act on January 1. California may have been the first state of pass legislation to set up a marketplace, and the legislature has done a lot of work since. But there’s still a lot left to do — and fast.

To bring you up to date, three major sets of bills are before the legislature in its ACA special session. (Six bills total; Assembly and Senate have their own versions of three proposals). Continue reading →

Saturday marks three years since the signing of the federal Affordable Care Act, and state health officials have been celebrating by touting the benefits of the health overhaul law.

On Thursday, the nonprofit group Health Access released a report that determined more than one million Californians have been able to get coverage through new options provided under the ACA. Those residents include adults with low incomes, people with pre-existing health conditions, and young people who can stay on their parent’s insurance plan until the age of 26.
Continue reading →

OK, this is not as much fun as “7 Ways to Lose Weight,” but given that a new national poll this week showed that a majority of Americans don’t understand how the health care overhaul (AKA: Obamacare) will impact them, it seemed like it was time to take a quiz.

It’s just 10 questions. Go! Continue reading →

Immediately following the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act, the head of California’s Health Benefit Exchange laid out his vision for revolutionizing the health insurance market.

“We know buying insurance is really complicated. We want to make it as easy as buying a book on Amazon,” said Peter Lee, executive director of the California Health Benefit Exchange. Continue reading →

Kimberley Macgregor, a bookkeeper at a Ralphs in Burbank, says it’s almost impossible to stay up to date on her health benefits.

She flips through a glossy pamphlet featuring an array of fruits and vegetables and a woman in meditation that explains her company’s wellness program. Continue reading →

The Brown Administration has laid out two options for expanding California’s Medi-Cal health insurance program, and county governments don’t seem to like either one.

For decades, California’s counties have been charged with providing health care for people who fall through the health insurance cracks – that is, adults who earn too much money to be eligible for Medi-Cal coverage, but still can’t afford an insurance plan. So county governments have a lot at stake as California decides whether or not to implement the Affordable Care Act’s optional Medicaid expansion. Continue reading →

My father, sister and I sat in the near-empty Chinese restaurant, picking at our plates, unable to avoid the question that we’d gathered to discuss: When was it time to let Mom die?

It had been a grueling day at the hospital, watching — praying — for any sign that my mother would emerge from her coma. Three days earlier she’d been admitted for nausea; she had a nasty cough and was having trouble keeping food down. But while a nurse tried to insert a nasogastric tube, her heart stopped. She required CPR for nine minutes. Even before I flew into town, a ventilator was breathing for her, and intravenous medication was keeping her blood pressure steady. Hour after hour, my father, my sister and I tried talking to her, playing her favorite songs, encouraging her to squeeze our hands or open her eyes. Continue reading →

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Set on a gritty corner of Oakland’s International Boulevard, the nonprofit Street Level Health Project offers free checkups to patients who speak a total of 22 languages, from recent Mongolian immigrants seeking a doctor to Burmese refugees in need of a basic dental exam.

It also provides a window into one of the challenges for state officials who are trying to implement the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care overhaul. Continue reading →