About Kassie Williams
The Source Roundup: December 2025 Edition
Kassie Williams December 1, 2025
Healthcare Prices and Payments UnitedHealthcare Pays Optum Providers More Than Non-Optum Providers Health Affairs Daniel R. Arnold, Brent D. Fulton Optum has a history of increasing market power through aggressive acquisitions of healthcare services and has been accused of using that market power to impede provider competition for financial gain. UnitedHealthcare and Optum are parts of the same company, with UnitedHealthcare serving as the insurance arm, and Optum providing healthcare services. In 2024, Optum, which includes a variety of smaller entities such as a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and software […]
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2025 California Healthcare Legislative Recap: Key Bills Enacted and Vetoed
Kassie Williams November 8, 2025
October 12 marked the deadline for the California Governor to sign or veto legislation passed during the 2025 California legislative session, so we now know the fate of this year’s healthcare legislation. Much of the session’s efforts were focused on ensuring support of Californians in the face of massive federal cuts to social programs, Los Angeles wildfires, a potential budget deficit of over $12 billion, and the state’s highly publicized push to get Proposition 50 passed, which will redraw Congressional district maps. Lawmakers introduced an ambitious slate of bills aimed […]
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California Legislature Sends OCHA Authority Legislation to the Governor
Kassie Williams October 8, 2025
Update – On October 11, the Governor signed AB 1415, and it was subsequently chaptered by the Secretary of State, making it California law. In May, The Source shared information about Assembly Bill 1415 and Senate Bill 351, bills introduced in February 2025 as part of the state’s ongoing efforts to regulate private equity healthcare transactions and costs. After four amendments, AB 1415 has been enrolled and sent to Governor Newsom’s desk. The early draft of the bill sought to cast a wide net by thoroughly expanding definitions of terms […]
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California Enacts Changes Via Healthcare Omnibus Trailer Bill
Kassie Williams September 8, 2025
The final California state budget bill, SB 101, passed in June 2025, allocates more than $321 billion in state spending. Lawmakers worked to close a $12 billion deficit through a mix of solutions, including delays, sunsets, and fund transfers. While the budget was heavily debated, the Governor’s administration defended the approach as necessary to maintain critical services in the face of federal funding cuts under the Trump Administration. Following the enactment of SB 101, attention quickly turned to the accompanying trailer bills, which also carry consequential policy changes through modifications […]
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Recent Developments in the California Law Revision Commission Review of State Antitrust Law
Kassie Williams August 22, 2025
In 2022, the California legislature passed Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 95, mandating the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) study specific topics relating to antitrust law and its enforcement. The bill made legislative findings that included “[t]he idea that America has a monopoly problem is now beyond dispute”, “California should be uniquely sensitive to the threat of market concentration”, and “[n]o California statute deals expressly with monopolization or attempted monopolization by one giant company”. The Resolution directed the CLRC to study three topics: (1) Whether the law should be revised to […]
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California’s Final 2025-2026 Budget Requires Significant Compromises
Kassie Williams July 15, 2025
In January, Governor Newsom released his proposed budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year with hopes of a strong fiscal position and a surplus for California that has not been seen in recent years. However, in the face of multiple federal and state spending decisions, the final budget bill signed on June 27, 2025, although balanced, as required in California, is comprised of several solutions to close a $12 billion deficit. Governor Newsom cited the Trump Administration’s funding cuts as the main culprit for this deficit, also noting significant financial drawbacks […]
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Governor Newsom’s May Revision to the California 2025-2026 State Budget
Kassie Williams June 9, 2025
On May 14, Governor Newsom released the May revision to the initial 2025-2026 California budget proposal that was released in January. The May Revise proposes a total expenditure of $321.9 billion, representing a $300 million decrease from the January estimate. Despite a projected surplus in the January budget, changing national economic conditions and increased expenditure growth (especially in Medi-Cal) have resulted in a $12 billion deficit in the updated budget. In 2024, the budget’s $45 billion deficit was anticipated to take two years to balance, but in January, following hopeful […]
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Hearings on California’s Continued Efforts to Expand Private Equity in Healthcare Oversight – AB 1415 and SB 351
Kassie Williams May 3, 2025
The 2025–2026 legislative session has produced two major regulatory oversight bills regarding private equity in healthcare. SB 351, introduced by Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D) on February 12, 2025, and currently set for its second hearing, focuses on strengthening California’s ban on the corporate practice of medicine. Similarly, AB 1415, authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D), seeks to expand the authority granted to the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) in monitoring healthcare transactions. Below we discuss the intricacies of each bill, the potential impact on the state’s healthcare market, and […]
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The Source Roundup: April 2025 Edition
Kassie Williams April 1, 2025
Market Consolidation and Merger Review The Forgotten Anti-Monopoly Law: The Second Half of Clayton Act Section 7 (Texas Law Review) Robert H Lande, John M Newman, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter The authors of this article analyze the second prong of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits mergers that “tend to create a monopoly.” In comparison to the well-known first prong that seeks to “substantially lessen competition,” the second prong is posited to wield more statutory power as it does not contain a requirement for a certain degree of harm […]
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The Source Roundup: February 2025 Edition
Kassie Williams February 1, 2025
Healthcare Pricing Can Public Option Plans Improve Affordability? Insights From Colorado (Health Affairs Forefront) Roslyn Murray, Christopher M. Whaley In the face of individuals and families unable to afford increasing insurance premiums due to lack of healthcare insurance competition, a variety of states are considering offering public option plans, commonly for ACA Exchange plans. These plans seek to provide coverage with low premiums by means of capped prices for those who do not meet Medicare or Medicaid requirements nor receive private coverage through employment. The article describes Colorado’s effective public […]
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