The California department that runs the state’s low-income health program released updated rules last week that spell out how far patients may need to travel to see a doctor. Medi-Cal managed-care health plans, which cover more than a quarter of Californians, will be required to have primary-care doctors within 10 miles or 30 minutes from patients’ homes.
People who rely on Medi-Cal for their health insurance are finding it difficult to get critical care because the state’s reimbursement rates to doctors are unreasonably low, a new lawsuit alleges. While the problem affects all age groups, older Californians find it especially
Too few Californians have access to mental health care, and the problem exacerbates inequities in the state. Low-income residents and people of color end up bearing the brunt of this health inequity.
Samuel Raymond Curtis is very familiar with hospital stays. For the past two years, the 58-year-old homeless man who suffers from problems related to a hernia has been in and out of hospitals in Ventura County more times than he can count. Each time he got treated and released back onto the streets, he said. It wasn’t long before his health started deteriorating again. “I’d
One of California’s most substantial voices to weigh in on the consequences of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act wasn’t a consumer activist, politician or economist. It was the state’s health insurance exchange. Almost immediately after Donald Trump was sworn in as President, Covered California started issuing a series of reports detailing how the state’s residents would either lose their insurance or be left
Children on the autism spectrum are at far higher risk of drowning than other children, but both the cost of swimming lessons and the fact that there are too few specialized swim instructors make it difficult for many children with autism to learn to swim.
Though the Senate Republicans’ revised health bill includes additional funding compared to the previous version, health advocates say it would still have a devastating effect on low-income Californians.
California is one of several states that prepared for health care reform for years before the Affordable Care Act rolled out in 2014. A new study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research suggest that the early rollout has had some striking results.
Should patients in rural California have to drive four times as far to see a neurologist as someone who lives in Los Angeles? Should your access to health care depend on your zip code?
After a lifetime of bullying by schoolmates, co-workers and society at large, some LGBTQ seniors are forced to share a room with homophobic or transphobic companions. Same-sex couples are sometimes separated.