March, 2011 Janet Nguyen was appointed to the CalOptima board by county supervisors on Jan. 25, 2011. She took her seat in March 2011, when Supervisor John Moorlach’s appointment expired. See: Could Supervisor Nguyen’s CalOptima votes be conflicts? October 5, 2011 After criticizing a controversial restructuring plan for CalOptima, the county’s $1.3-billion managed health care agency, county supervisors want to know just what the agency does. They’ve asked Health Care Agency officials to report by midmonth on the agency. Supervisors generally are reluctant to serve on the CalOptima board, yet the agency has a budget as large as the county’s transportation agency’s board, on which all supervisors have a permanent seat. Nguyen triggered a political firestorm after proposing an ordinance to appoint health care providers, such as hospitals, to the board instead of members from nonprofit organizations. CalOptima officials and the nonprofits protested. Nguyen also sought to give herself a permanent seat on the panel by proposing that the supervisor whose district has the most CalOptima members — historically Nguyen’s 1st District in central Orange County — have a permanent seat on the board. See: CalOptima Faces Potential Shakeup Behind the Battle Over CalOptima Reconstructing CalOptima’s Past

October 31, 2011 Nguyen said dramatic alterations to CalOptima’s nine-member governing board were needed immediately because of the many complaints she’d received since January, when she became the supervisors’ CalOptima representative. Yet records show CalOptima received only five complaints during the past four months relayed by the county’s top elected officials from their constituents, a spokeswoman said. See: Where Are CalOptima Complaints? May 2, 2012 The Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday filled four open seats on the CalOptima board of directors, including two campaign contributors to Supervisor Janet Nguyen, the driving force behind remake the board. The two contributors were Dr. Viet Van Dang, a Westminster ophthalmologist, and Ellen Anh, executive director of the Buena Park nonprofit Korean Community Services. Anh, who has donated $1,350 to Nguyen’s campaign, was approved unanimously for the seat reserved for a group that represents county residents who participate in the federal and state-financed program. Dang, who gave the supervisor’s campaign $500 last fall, was approved on a 3-2 vote with supervisors John Moorlach and Shawn Nelson, voting no. He will fill the seat designated for a doctor in current practice. The five Republican supervisors also voted unanimously to appoint GOP activist Steve Knoblock to represent the general public on the board. Knoblock, a real estate lawyer, is a former member of the San Clemente City Council and a former alternate to the local county Republican Central Committee, who began his career as an aide to former Supervisor Larry Schmidt. See: Supervisors Name New CalOptima Board Members January 25, 2013 CalOptima, the public health plan for the poor that serves one of three children in Orange County, “appears to be imploding,” the grand jury wrote in a report released Friday that puts the blame on a majority of the Board of Supervisors. CalOptima’s leadership “has been decimated by the departure of 16 senior executives” over the past 18 months, the report says. See: CalOptima Burns While Majority of Supervisors Fiddle O.C. health plan for poor ‘appears to be imploding,’ grand jury says OC Grand Jury Issues Scathing Report on CalOptima Nguyen, Grand Jury Clash On CalOptima CalOptima Selects Members to Respond to Grand Jury Janet Nguyen: An incomplete critique of CalOptima

January 25, 2014 Federal officials Friday ordered CalOptima, Orange County’s health plan for low-income and disabled residents, to immediately halt enrollment of elderly patients into its 16,000-member OneCare program, citing a “serious threat to the health and safety” of participants. See: CalOptima Slammed By U.S. Audit

February 2017 County Supervisor Andrew Do wants to be the next board chair at CalOptima, saying he will guide the county’s healthcare program for low-income, elderly and disabled residents through the expected challenges of major nationwide changes to health care. The current 10-member CalOptima board has been in place just six months. It includes two county supervisors (Lisa Bartlett is currently the other) as a result of a years-long scandal involving former Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who is now a state senator. Do — who won a special election for the First District supervisorial seat in 2015 after Nguyen stepped down to assume her state Senate seat, and then won re-election last year — would be the first supervisor to serve as board chair. He has repeatedly said he wants the current board to be independent and ready to publicly debate issues. See: Supervisor Do Wants to Lead CalOptima Board June 29, 2016 For the second time in five years, the Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday changed the board of directors of CalOptima, the $3.2 billion health plan for low income, elderly and disabled residents, and solidified the medical industry’s control. The new, nine-member board, which begins work in August, will have three members with ties to hospitals, three doctors, two county supervisors and one representative of a community clinic. The Supervisors voted unanimously for each of the seven new board members, selected from 15 finalists, with no discussion of individual qualifications.

October 11, 2017 California Governor Jerry Brown has effectively killed efforts by Orange County supervisors to take control of the board of CalOptima, the county’s $3.4 billion health plan for low income and elderly residents. Last Wednesday, Brown signed Senate Bill 4, which was introduced by State Sen. Tony Mendoza of Artesia and enshrines the existing makeup of the CalOptima board in state law, effectively blocking local attempts to restructure the board. The bill, which takes effect immediately, is a rebuke of an attempt by county supervisors this summer to assert control over the board by restructuring it to include all five supervisors, instead of the two who currently serve. See: Gov. Brown Kills OC Supervisors Takeover Attempt of CalOptima