July 20, 2018 Edition
Registration for the 2018 CHEAC Annual Meeting remains open until September 1, 2018. This year’s annual meeting will be held from October 17 – October 19 and will provide local health department professionals representing a wide variety of disciplines throughout California with networking and learning opportunities.
For attendees coming to Sacramento on Tuesday, October 16, rooms at still available at the Hyatt Regency. However, CHEAC has met its room block for Tuesday night and the discounted room rate is no longer available; rooms will be offered on Tuesday night at the Hyatt’s prevailing room rate. Rooms are still available at CHEAC’s discounted rate for Wednesday and Thursday nights. Members are encouraged to stay at the Hyatt Regency as all conference programming will occur at this location.
If the Hyatt’s prevailing rate for the night of Tuesday, October 16 is an issue for jurisdictions, nearby hotels, including the Sterling Hotel, the Best Western Plus Sutter House, the Holiday Inn Express Sacramento Convention Center, and the Residence Inn by Marriott, are offering a discounted government rate for a Tuesday night stay.
More information on this year’s CHEAC Annual Meeting, including registration, is available here.
Covered California on Thursday announced an expected average 8.7 percent increase in individual market health insurance premiums in 2019. Covered California noted, however, that consumers will likely be able to avoid any increase in premiums if they switch to the lowest cost plan within the same coverage tier.
Thursday’s announcement described how federal policy actions, namely the decision to eliminate the individual mandate penalty, will raise costs for the federal government and all consumers in the individual and employer-sponsored health insurance markets. As such, the expected 2019 rate increase is nearly double what it would have been if Congress had not eliminated in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual mandate. The repeal of the individual mandate added between 2.5 and 6 percentage points to individual market rates.
Despite the rate increase, all 11 insurers currently operating in the exchange will return for the 2019 coverage year. Covered California indicated a strong and stable marketplace as the state heads into its sixth year. The 2019 rate increase proposal now heads to state regulators for final review. For more information, including regional rate changes, the full Covered California announcement is available here.
The Orange County Health Care Agency and the Butte County Public Health Department were recently featured in the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) Accreditation Works! Series. The 2018 Accreditation Works! Series features success stories, best practices, and first-hand testimonials from health departments throughout the U.S. about the benefits of national accreditation to departments and communities. Additional information is available from PHAB here. Orange County’s feature is available here and Butte County’s feature is available here.
The California State Association of Counties (CSAC) will be holding a webinar on Wednesday, July 25 from 10:00 am to 11:00 am to discuss funding included in the recently-enacted state budget for local governments and entities to combat homelessness. The webinar will detail how local governments can access these resources, how funds may be used, and how local governments can leverage the funding for short-term and long-term housing and supportive services. Additional information and registration is available here.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Dental Association (ADA) Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention will be holding a webinar on Tuesday, July 31 from 9:00 am-10:00 am PDT on “Why Patients Need to Know About the Oral Health Effects of Tobacco.” More information and registration are available here.