KPCC: With Obamacare, Americans Seek More Preventive Cardiovascular Care
Americans are getting more preventive cardiovascular care since the Affordable Care Act went into effect, according to a UCLA study published Monday. ...The study found that since the Affordable Care Act reduced out-of-pocket costs for preventive care, more people are getting screenings for diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. (Faust, 11/20)

Modesto Bee: If You Have A Cough It Might Not Be The Flu. Valley Fever Cases On The Rise In Merced County, Data Shows
If you have flu-like symptoms, like cough, fever or difficulty breathing, that are lasting more than two weeks, state and Merced County health officials think you should ask your health provider about valley fever. There’s been an increase of valley fever cases reported this year in Merced County and the rest of the state, according to data from the California Department of Public Health, but health officials can’t explain why. (Velez, 11/19)

In other public health news —

Orange County Register: What Is Legionnaires’ Disease, Who Is At Risk And What Do Cooling Towers Have To Do With It?
A recent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Anaheim has sickened 15 people, including 11 who visited Disneyland. ...Here’s what you need to know about the outbreak, which is being investigated by the county’s health department, along with the California Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies. (Bharath, 11/17)

Capital Public Radio: How To Donate Healthy, Useful Foods To Your Local Food Bank
It’s nearly Thanksgiving, and food banks are working hard to collect staples that will last Sacramento-area families through the holidays. But they’d like do-gooders to think twice about what they’re donating. (Caiola, 11/17)

Los Angeles Times: Tijuana Cosmetic Surgery Clinic Under Scrutiny In Downey Woman’s Death
Irma Saenz told family members she was going to Tijuana for the day. But she didn't tell them what for: The 51-year-old Downey resident had scheduled a liposuction procedure at a cosmetic surgery clinic. Four days later, Saenz was in a coma when an ambulance brought her across the border, her relatives said. She died on Nov. 11, nearly two weeks later, at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, after her family made the decision to take her off life support. (Dibble, 11/18)

In other news from across the state —

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Local Nursing Homes Agree To Pay Up To $6.9 Million To Settle Kickback And Fraud Allegations
Four San Diego nursing homes have agreed to pay up to $6.9 million to settle civil allegations that employees paid kickbacks for referrals and submitted fraudulent bills to government healthcare programs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday. The nursing homes, all owned by Los Angeles-based Brius Management Co., were accused of paying kickbacks to hospital staffers in violation of anti-kickback laws, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. (Cook, 11/16)

Sacramento Bee: They Reported Sex Harassment In State Jobs And Found ‘Retaliation Is Alive And Well’
As the topic of sexual harassment bubbles to the surface inside California state government, and lawmakers promise reforms, former workers who say they experienced such treatment paint a grim picture of how their cases were handled. Plaintiffs who have sued the state over sexual harassment describe a kind of David-and-Goliath ordeal that, in hindsight, wasn’t altogether worth the lost sleep, strained marriages, health problems, broken work relationships, harrowing interviews and fractured careers. (Lundstrom and Koseff, 11/20)

The Mercury News: California’s New Cannabis Rules: No Drone Deliveries Or Pot-Laced Shrimp
The good news was that California voters last year passed Prop. 64, legalizing recreational marijuana and opening up a mutlibillion-dollar market for folks making their living off of pot. The other news came this week, as state regulators released rules governing this burgeoning industry. (May and Edwards Staggs, 11/17)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: As Detainees Are Held For Longer Periods, Concerns About Medical Care Grow
Some San Diego immigration attorneys have growing concerns that clients held at Otay Mesa Detention Center are not receiving adequate medical care. Lengthy confinement by the Trump administration, they say, exacerbates the issue. The detention center has a history of allegations of negligent care, particularly when medical needs required follow up outside the facility. (Morrissey, 11/17)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Palomar Health To Double Size Of Psych Stabilization Unit
With its total number of psychiatric beds on locked wards declining, Palomar Health is poised to double the size of a special unit that provides short-term care for those with mental health emergencies. The inland North County hospital operator announced last week that it will partner with a private developer to create a new building next to the emergency department of Palomar Medical Center in west Escondido to house a crisis stabilization unit with enough room for 16 patients, replacing an eight-patient unit which opened in downtown Escondido in July 2016. (Sisson, 11/17)

Politico: Obamacare Mandate Repeal May Not Deliver Predicted Blow
Repealing Obamacare's individual mandate might not be the devastating blow to health insurance markets that supporters of the law fear. Because the tax penalty for not having insurance is far less costly than what many Americans would have to pay for coverage, many have chosen to take the fine. Eliminating it, therefore, might not radically change behavior — or fulfill the dire predictions of spiking premiums and vast increases in uninsured people that economists, health providers and politicians once predicted. (Haberkorn and Demko, 11/20)

The Hill: Study Finds Less Coverage Loss From Repealing ObamaCare Mandate
A new report from Standard & Poor’s predicts less savings and coverage loss from repealing ObamaCare’s individual mandate compared to the most commonly-used estimate. The study from S&P finds that repealing the mandate, as Senate Republicans are proposing in their tax-reform bill, would result in three to five million more uninsured people and $60 billion to $80 billion in savings over 10 years. That estimate is far less than the more commonly-used Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates, which predict 13 million more uninsured people and $338 billion in savings over the same period. (Sullivan, 11/17)

The New York Times: Will Cutting The Health Mandate Pay For Tax Cuts? Not Necessarily
Alexia Manon Senior is 27 and healthy — the type of person who might be most tempted to forgo health insurance if Republicans enact a tax bill that repeals the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most Americans have coverage or pay a penalty. But Ms. Manon Senior, a graduate student in Miami, said she would hold tight to her coverage, at least as long as she keeps getting nearly $5,000 a year in government subsidies to pay for most of it. (Zernike and Goodnough, 11/19)

The Associated Press: White House Open To Striking Health Provision From Tax Bill
The White House says it's willing to strike a health-care provision from Senate legislation to cut taxes and overhaul the tax code if the provision becomes an impediment to passing one of President Donald Trump's top legislative priorities. The provision would repeal a requirement that everyone in the U.S. have health insurance or pay a fine, but has emerged as a major sticking point for Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, whose vote the White House needs. Collins said Sunday that the issue should be dealt with separately. (11/20)

The Hill: Collins: Pass Bipartisan ObamaCare Bills Before Mandate Repeal
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Sunday that she wants two bipartisan ObamaCare bills to pass before the Senate takes up a tax bill that repeals the health law’s individual mandate. Collins, a key swing vote on the tax bill, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that she did not think the mandate repeal should be in the tax bill, but she indicated she thinks the rise in premiums from repealing the mandate could be mitigated if two other bills passed first. (Sullivan, 11/19)

The Hill: Murkowski Signals She Can Support Tax Bill — If Alexander-Murray Is Part Of Package
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is signaling she can support the repeal of ObamaCare’s mandate in the Senate tax bill if Congress also passes a bill to stabilize individual health insurance markets. “I think that there is a path and I think the path is a reasonable path,” Murkowski told Roll Call, highlighting how she could vote for the legislation. (Roubein, 11/17)