After hearing oral arguments on the cases last week, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday issued two decisions on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for specified occupational groups set forth by the Biden-Harris Administration. Below, we highlight these decisions: Vaccine Mandate for Large Employers The Supreme Court struck down the vaccine-or-test mandate for employers with 100 or…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has updated comprehensive preventive care and screening guidelines for women and for infant, children, and adolescents. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), certain group health plans and insurers must provide coverage with no out-of-pocket costs for preventive…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on Saturday issued updated guidance for health care workers and emergency medical services personnel to help address staffing shortages in care delivery systems. Under the new guidance, health care works and emergency medical services personnel who test positive for COVID-19 and are asymptomatic may return to work immediately…
Read More »This week, amid record spikes in COVID-19 cases nationwide, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a series of actions to support full-time in-person instruction in K-12 schools. These actions include: Sending Five Million No-Cost Point-of-Care Tests Per Month to Schools – The Biden-Harris Administration will distribute five million free, rapid tests to schools each month to help…
Read More »The Biden-Harris Administration announced this week that it is requiring health insurance companies and group health plans to cover the cost of over-the-counter (OTC), at-home COVID-19 tests, enabling individuals with private health insurance coverage to obtain tests for free beginning January 15, 2022. The new coverage requirement will allow beneficiaries to purchase tests online or…
Read More »Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday issued Executive Order N-3-22 to provide staffing flexibility for schools to support continued safe, in-person instruction for students. The Governor’s order addresses barriers that delay the hiring of qualified short-term substitute teachers, permit substitute teachers to have their assignments extended, and provide additional flexibility to support retired teachers who have…
Read More »On Saturday, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-2-22 establishing consumer protections against price gouging on at-home COVID-19 tests. The order comes as the state and nation continues to grapple with significant surges in COVID-19 cases, largely due to the omicron variant. The order prohibits sellers from increases prices on COVID-19 home test kits by…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published a study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID) showing that influenza vaccination protected children against serious flu illness even when they were infected with a flu virus that was antigenically different from the vaccine virus. According to the CDC, this reinforces the benefit…
Read More »The California State Senate and Assembly this week continued to ramp up its activities, including by receiving the Governor’s 2022-23 proposed budget. Lawmakers responded to the Newsom Administration’s “California Blueprint,” applauding key investments such as Medi-Cal expansion and climate change mitigation. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon commended the Governor on his proposal and expressed support for…
Read More »Yesterday, California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) issued their summary of the Governor’s 2022-23 budget that is released to assist the Legislature as they begin their budget deliberations. In their analysis, the LAO noted the following top issues about next year’s proposed budget: They believe the budget’s multiyear revenue projections are reasonable, but the Governor’s new…
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