Millions of Californians still don't have health insurance. Undocumented people don't qualify for Obamacare benefits, and many others still find coverage too expensive. Leaburn Alexander, a 53-year-old night janitor at a hotel near San Francisco International Airport, is among the latter.
With millions of their patients newly insured because of health care reform, community health centers, once viewed as providers of last resort, are remaking themselves as providers of choice.
An ocean view and a smoothie bar do not have any bearing on the quality of health care being delivered by doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a simple way to compare hospitals?
What’s the price of a human life? In this part of our series “At the Crossroads: The Rise of Hepatitis C and The Fight To Stop It,” we'll tell you what value health economists put on human life.
As the number of California Medicaid enrollees signing up for coverage has grown, the number of doctors hasn't always been able to meet the demand for care. The problem has been especially acute among Chinese-Americans, many of whom struggle to find physicians willing to see them.
With Obamacare's second season of open enrollment underway, advocates remain focused on signing up the remaining uninsured. In California, the uninsured rate is projected to drop to 6 percent by 2019. But getting it much lower will require creative new strategies.
Is Obamacare really at risk now that Republicans have taken the Senate? The core of the law will likely survive, thanks to the presidential veto power. Still, sections of it could be pruned away by the legislature. Here are a few possibilities the media has highlighted.
Health care super-users are often chronically ill, alone and with limited incomes. They typically need the medical skills of a trained health-care professional, but also the listening, counseling and support offered by social workers and clergy.
Proposition 46, the California ballot measure backed by plaintiffs’ attorneys and opposed by physicians, was soundly defeated by a 2-to-1 margin. The fact that Proposition 46 was a bundle trying to be all things to all patient safety advocates was probably its downfall.
California mirrors the country's rising rate of C-section births — up by 50 percent in 10 years. That worries experts, who say the procedure carries added costs and risks. But data-driven efforts are underway in the state to turn the tide, with some notable early success.
