In summary California families who have long sought sweeping reforms to the state’s mental health care system are feeling confident about Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to pursue a bond order and update the mental health services law. Guest comment written by Randall Hagar Randall Hagar is a policy advisor and legislative advocate for the Psychiatric Physicians Alliance of California. He helped draft both the California Mental Health Insurance Parity Act and the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Act, also known as Laura’s Law. Gov. Gavin Newson’s announcement in the spring to radically…
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Welfare: while the United States tightens labor rules, California plans to loosen them
In summary State lawmakers want to relax CalWORK’s work requirements so people keep their cash benefits. Congressional debt limit agreement could curb that. Just as Republicans in Congress are moving to tighten work requirements for people on welfare, California lawmakers are moving to do the opposite. Included in a recent state Assembly budget proposal, and in a bill approved by the Assembly Wednesday, is a plan to redo CalWORKs, the federally funded cash assistance program that requires beneficiaries to work or look for work using an approved business list. Under…
Read MoreHow to Keep Your Family’s Medical Benefits – California Health Care Foundation
A Medi-Cal renewal form can be difficult to understand, especially for people who primarily speak a language other than English. Typical forms include 15 or more pages of questions about living household members, tax return status, income, health coverage, and financial assets. Photo: Claudia Boyd-Barrett This story originally appeared in the California Health Report and was produced in partnership with News for Chinese, which published a Chinese-language version. Kelly Ko of Freemont stared at the stack of paper. He had arrived in the mail, from the local government, in a…
Read MoreCollaborative Agreements in Health Care – California Health Care Foundation
A variety of non-merger collaborative arrangements have proliferated in recent years. Compared to traditional mergers and acquisitions, collaboration agreements preserve a certain degree of operational and financial autonomy of the contracting parties. State and federal oversight of healthcare partnership agreements is complex and rapidly evolving. This short issue describes the partnership agreements, examines their potential effects in California, and highlights some of the complexities of overseeing them. Below is a summary of the key points of the brief: Collaboration agreements exist on an integration continuum. The key element in identifying…
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