The L.A. Care Health Plan announced today that it is the largest public health plan in the nation, providing health insurance to more than one million low-income Los Angeles residents. L.A. Care celebrates its 15-year anniversary this year and has enrolled almost 200,000 new members since 2008's economic plunge. more ›

A health insurance company announced this week that it was deciding to give back — to its policyholders. Blue Shield of California said that it was giving back $283 million to nearly 2 million policyholders in California, according to the Los Angeles Times. more ›

Beginning in 2014, millions of uninsured Californians will be eligible for Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor, under President Obama's controversial healthcare overhaul. L.A. County is setting the stage for this massive revamping. more ›

Grocery workers negotiating for a better health care plan have rejected a proposal by the management of Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons. Supermarket chains may come back with a better offer, the Orange County Register Reports. If not, union members could decide to give immediate notice to strike and then walk out 72 hours later. more ›

Ballots are being cast today and tomorrow by unionized grocery workers from the big local chains and a strike could be authorized as a result. "Depending on the outcome of this vote, a strike could happen as early as next week," notes ABC7. The issue remains the employees' health care plan, and its monthly cost. more ›

That threat of a 39% rate hike won't happen after all, or at least for now. Anthem Blue Cross withdrew their application to raise rates today after their reasoning to raise them was found to be flawed (its parent company yesterday also posted a 51 percent increase in profits in the first quarter of 2010). more ›

As California's largest for-profit health insurer comes under fire for raising premiums an average of 25%--up to 39% for some--the state's Insurance Commissioner yesterday released findings that the company has broken the law at least 700 times. more ›

The US Senate convened today -- the day before Christmas -- and passed the Senate's version of the famed health insurance reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This bill will move into conference committee with the House of Representatives' version of the bill in January, before finall passage (Previous discussion of this week's Senate events here). It is not a common occurrence to meet the day before Christmas. The last time the Senate held a roll call on Christmas Eve was in the year 1895, when Senators lifted a ban on government officers who had joined the Confederacy from serving in the post-Civil War military. Below are other interesting facts about the Senate. more ›

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives (D-CA) has been a strong supporter of the Public Option as a critical piece of President Obama's health care reform proposal. For more information on the public option, check out this video and chart. This past week, many politicians are weakening their stances on the public option as a result of pressure from special interests. But Speaker Pelosi marked a line in the sand at an event this week. Check out this video of some of her remarks. more ›

Since Californians overwhelmingly rejected his propositions last week in the special election, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released his latest budget plan detailing $5.5 billion in cuts from a deficit estimated to be $24.3 billion by July 1 (that's higher than the $21.3 billion that was touted in the last few weeks). more ›

Last week the fifth and final White House Regional Forum on Health Reform took place at the California Endowment in downtown Los Angeles. Speakers included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes, Childrens Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman, and the event was moderated by Dr Mehmet Oz who appears regularly on the Oprah show. A preselected audience shared personal stories, and some questions were chosen from those submitted at the Obama administration's Health Reform site. more ›

Brooklyn indie rockers Pela were supposed to play Spaceland back on March 8, but a few days before, frontman Billy McCarthy was injured while playing a gig in Chicago, forcing them to cancel the rest of their tour. more ›

On Wednesday, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo announced that the city was suing Anthem Blue Cross for alleged illegal cancelations of health plan coverage. Then, on Thursday, the Schwarzenegger administration had an announcement of their own: thousands of rescinded plans of sick Californians will be investigated. It is considered to be the state's boldest move yet on issue, according to the LA Times. more ›