Health care costs could soar by nearly $200 a month for more than 1,300 local community college employees. That's because their health care plan is experiencing cash-flow problems. The State Center Community College District participates in a self-funded insurance plan known as the EdCare Group. In essence, it means the...
Health Care, Immigration Top Issues at Democrats' 1st Debate
MIAMI — Ten Democrats railed against a national economy and a Republican administration they argued exist only for the rich as presidential candidates debated onstage for the first time in the young 2020 season, embracing inequality as a defining theme in their fight to deny President Donald Trump a second...
California Lawmakers Revive a Big Piece of Obamacare
SACRAMENTO — The California Legislature voted Monday to tax people who refuse to buy health insurance, bringing back a key part of former President Barack Obama's health care law in the country's most populous state after it was eliminated by Republicans in Congress. The tax now heads to Democratic Gov....
California May Take Bold Step to Insure Undocumented. Too Pricey or About Time?
As California moves closer than ever to offering free health care to low-income, undocumented adults — at a potential cost of $1 billion — battle lines are being drawn about who should benefit and who ultimately will pay the price. On the surface, the arguments are familiar, with supporters insisting...
Joe Biden Reverses Position on Federal Dollars for Abortions
ATLANTA — After two days of intense criticism, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden reversed course Thursday and declared he no longer supports a long-standing congressional ban on using federal health care money to pay for abortions. "If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no...
Poll: Some Younger Workers View Aging Workforce Negatively
CHICAGO — Some younger workers aren't particularly thrilled to see a rising share of older Americans forgo retirement and continue working, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found that workers under the age of 50 were significantly more likely to...
Federal Lawsuit Filed to Block Alabama’s New Abortion Ban
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal lawsuit filed Friday asks a judge to block an Alabama law that outlaws almost all abortions, the most far-reaching attempt by a conservative state to seek new restrictions on the procedure. The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed the lawsuit on behalf of...
California Considers Health Care for Immigrants in US Illegally
SACRAMENTO — Lilian Serrano's mother-in-law had lots of stomach problems, but she always blamed food. Doctors at a San Diego-area clinic suspected Genoveva Angeles might have cancer, but they could not say for sure because they did not have the equipment to test for it and Angeles, who had been...
Walters: Demography Is California’s Destiny
Who first declared that “demography is destiny” is uncertain, but that doesn’t detract from the aphorism’s validity—and what’s happening in California right now proves it. The state Department of Finance released one of its periodic reports on California population trends this month, revealing that while we’re very close to 40...
Sticker Shock: Trump Takes Aim at ‘Surprise Medical Bills’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will begin a push Thursday to fight health care sticker shock by limiting "surprise medical bills," the unexpected charges faced by insured patients when a member of a health care team that treated them is not in their insurer's network. Senior administration officials told The...