Author: Chris Richard

ACA Offers Critical Support for Foster Kids

Before the ACA became law, California extended Medi-Cal coverage for former foster children until their 21st birthdays. In Los Angeles County, that deadline meant some 1,500 former foster youth lost their health coverage each year. Statewide estimates set the number at up to 5,000 youths a year. Now, the ACA guarantees access to health care services for former foster youth until age 26, just like other young people who can stay on their parents’ private insurance plans until that age.

A Quiet Revolution in Primary Care

Amidst the furor over last year’s failed attempt to ease a shortage of primary-care physicians by letting nurse practitioners operate without direct doctor supervision, a more modest piece of California legislation is quietly taking effect.

A Dozen California Hospitals Among Most Expensive in U.S.

When a doctor sees a patient at Olympia Hospital in Los Angeles for a routine, 15-minute consultation, the hospital typically bills Medicare about $1,100 for the service. Two miles away, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center bills the government just under $200 for the same kind of visit.

Community Rebels Against Laws Restricting Gardening

Three months ago, residents of a South Los Angeles neighborhood and activists from throughout Southern California engaged in civil disobedience. Their act of defiance: planting tomatoes, corn, chilis, marigolds and other plants in curbside gardens along a whole block of 58th Street.

Covered California in Translation

Understanding the Affordable Care Act can be a challenge for health-policy experts, let alone for the thousands of Californians seeking to sign up for health insurance. Imagine trying to decipher the process if your only language were Singhalese.

Cuts to Medi-Cal Threaten Access to Care

As the state Department of Health Care Services prepares to accept an estimated 1.1 million newly-eligible people into Medi-Cal, California is reducing its payments to many doctors and pharmacies who accept the state insurance by at least 10 percent

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