- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- Insured But Still In Debt: 5 Jobs Pulling In $100K A Year No Match For Medical Bills
- Sacramento Watch 1
- Flurry Of Health Movement In California, Other Blue States May Act As 'Test Balloons' For Wider Marketplace
- Covered California & The Health Law 1
- Deadline Rushes Closer For Consumers To Sign Up For Health Plans Through Covered California
- Public Health and Education 2
- Following California's Deadliest Fire, CEO Of Troubled PG&E Steps Down
- Ventura Officials Scramble To Contact Thousands Of Patients Over Possibly Ineffective Vaccines
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Insured But Still In Debt: 5 Jobs Pulling In $100K A Year No Match For Medical Bills
An Arizona couple played by the rules and bought employer-provided health insurance. But after they had a baby last year, their out-of-pocket hospital costs and doctors’ bills climbed to more than $12,000 — and medical debt now threatens their new family. (JoNel Aleccia, )
More News From Across The State
With a divided Congress, there may not be much forward progress on health care issues at a national level, but states led by Democratic lawmakers are already taking steps to fulfill campaign promises for more expanded options. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced ambitious health plans last week spanning from reshaping how prescription drugs are paid for to taking steps toward a single-payer system.
The Associated Press:
Democrats Roll Out Big Health Care Proposals In The States
Riding the momentum from November's elections, Democratic leaders in the states are wasting no time delivering on their biggest campaign promise — to expand access to health care and make it more affordable. The first full week of state legislative sessions and swearings-in for governors saw a flurry of proposals. (1/12)
Governing:
Can California and NYC Afford Their Near-Universal Health-Care Plans?
Can a city or a state afford near-universal health care? New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and California's newly sworn-in governor, Gavin Newsom, think so. ... Cost is the No. 1 concern for those opposed to universal health care. They worry that covering everyone will come at the expense of other services as well as mounting debt for the government. ... But health policy experts say resource-rich governments like California and New York have strong enough revenues to cover the cost of expanding health care to segments of the population who fall through the cracks. California is projected to have a budget surplus of $15 billion this year, according to the state's Legislative Analyst Office. New York City ended fiscal 2018 with a $2.6 billion budget surplus, according to the city's comptroller. (Charles, 1/10)
The New York Times:
California Adds Its Clout To States Battling High Drug Prices
Gavin Newsom dived into the highly charged debate over prescription drug prices in his first week as California’s governor, vowing action on a topic that has enraged the public but has proved resistant to easy fixes. His idea: Find strength in numbers. Within hours of taking office on Monday, Mr. Newsom signed an executive order proposing a plan that would allow California to directly negotiate with drug manufacturers. (Thomas, 1/11)
Capital Public Radio:
Gavin Newsom Wants More Bathrooms For Kindergartners
Before Gavin Newsom can reach his audacious goal of universal preschool, California will first have to get to full-day kindergarten. And full-day kindergarten means having to build a lot more classrooms with little adjacent toilets to meet all those 5-year-olds’ bladder needs. (Lin, 1/13)
LAist:
LA County Cities Could Have Funds Withheld Under Newsom's New Housing Plan
Local governments within Los Angeles County, including the city of L.A., might see some of their transportation funding withheld if they fail to meet housing goals mandated by the state. California's new governor, Gavin Newsom, threw out that surprising proposal during a briefing Thursday on his first budget plan. (McCarthy, 1/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Gov. Newsom Angers No One With Budget, Puts Off Big Fights For Another Day
The $209 billion fiscal blueprint has plenty to delight his progressive backers, but the new governor also worked to avoid enraging more fiscally conservative Californians. Newsom leavened his calls for social measures like boosting welfare checks and providing health care for more undocumented immigrants with plans to pay off the state’s debts, boost California’s budget reserves and make a down payment on closing the public pension shortfall. (Wildermuth, 1/12)
Covered California & The Health Law
Deadline Rushes Closer For Consumers To Sign Up For Health Plans Through Covered California
The deadline is Tuesday for consumers to get coverage for this year starting Feb. 1.
Los Angeles Times:
Tuesday Is The Last Day To Sign Up For Covered California Health Plan Program
Officials from state health exchange Covered California are ramping up efforts to enroll people in health coverage as the deadline to sign up looms. Tuesday is the last day to enroll in a health plan in California, two weeks earlier than the end-of-the-January deadline set in previous years. People who sign up for plans now will begin their coverage Feb. 1. (Karlamangla, 1/14)
Orange County Register:
Deadline To Enroll For Health Care Coverage In California Is Jan. 15
Lee said the number of people buying insurance through Covered California has dropped, with enrollment down about 10 percent from last year, largely because Congress did away with the individual mandate requiring everyone to purchase health insurance or pay a tax penalty. “A vast majority of people are still signing up,” Lee said. “On the margin, some healthy people are thinking about rolling the dice and seeing what happens.” (Bharath, 1/11)
Ventura County Star:
Covered California Deadline Comes Early
Covered California officials say about 29,000 uninsured people in a metropolitan area including Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Ventura are eligible for coverage. As of September, nearly 36,000 Ventura County residents were already enrolled in the program. (1/11)
Trump's Rules Easing Health Law's Contraception Mandate Blocked In 13 States And D.C.
Judge Haywood Gilliam limited the scope of the ruling to the plaintiffs, led in part by California, rejecting their request that he block the rules nationwide. The changes would have allowed more employers to opt out of providing no-cost contraceptive coverage to women by claiming religious objections.
The Associated Press:
Judge Blocks Trump Birth Control Coverage Rules In 13 States
A U.S. judge in California on Sunday blocked Trump administration rules, which would allow more employers to opt out of providing women with no-cost birth control, from taking effect in 13 states and Washington, D.C. Judge Haywood Gilliam granted a request for a preliminary injunction by California, 12 other states and Washington, D.C. The plaintiffs sought to prevent the rules from taking effect as scheduled on Monday while a lawsuit against them moved forward. (1/13)
The New York Times:
Judge Blocks Trump’s Attempt To Roll Back Birth Control Mandate
The plaintiffs, he wrote, had done enough to bolster their claim that the religious exemption and the moral exemption sought by the Trump administration were “not in accordance with” the Affordable Care Act. After Judge Gilliam blocked the initial rules, the Trump administration appealed. Last month the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court’s ruling but limited the injunction’s scope. With that ruling in mind, Judge Gilliam made clear that the preliminary injunction he granted on Sunday bars enforcement in only the states that sued. (Stevens, 1/14)
Politico:
Judge Freezes Trump Administration Contraception Rule
The new rules mark the Trump administration's second attempt to narrow the Obamacare-related requirement that employers must provide FDA-approved contraception in the employee health plan at no cost. The first attempt was halted in 2017 after courts found the administration tried to make the change without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in. Houses of worship and closely-held private companies with religious objections are currently exempted from the birth control coverage mandate; the Trump administration is seeking to make the exemptions much broader. (Ollstein and Colliver, 1/13)
NPR:
Judge Blocks Trump Birth Control Policy In 13 States And D.C
"The law couldn't be clearer — employers have no business interfering in women's healthcare decisions," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement applauding the ruling. "Today's court ruling stops another attempt by the Trump Administration to trample on women's access to basic reproductive care." (Schwartz, 1/14)
Following California's Deadliest Fire, CEO Of Troubled PG&E Steps Down
Investigators have been probing whether the power giant’s equipment ignited the deadly Camp Fire at the end of last year. Geisha Williams has run the company since March 2017.
The Wall Street Journal:
CEO Of PG&E Steps Down Amid California Wildfire Crisis
PG&E Corp. said Sunday that Chief Executive Geisha Williams was stepping down as the company grapples with the growing political and financial fallout of its role in helping spark California wildfires. (Blunt and Gold, 1/13)
Los Angeles Times:
PG&E Chief Executive Geisha Williams Leaves As Utility Readies For Possible Bankruptcy
"While we are making progress as a company in safety and other areas, the board recognizes the tremendous challenges PG&E continues to face,” said board Chairman Richard C. Kelly, in the statement. “We believe John is the right interim leader for the company while we work to identify a new CEO. Our search is focused on extensive operational and safety expertise, and the board is committed to further change at PG&E.” (1/13)
Ventura Officials Scramble To Contact Thousands Of Patients Over Possibly Ineffective Vaccines
Vaccines need to be kept within a certain temperature range to remain effective. Ventura officials are urging anyone who may have been effected to get new shots.
Ventura County Star:
Why Vaccines And Medicines For 23,000 People May Not Have Worked
The odyssey that led to the Ventura County Health Care Agency’s jarring December announcement that as many as 23,000 flu shots, vaccinations and treatments may have been neutralized because drugs were too cold started with the discovery that many of the medicines were warm to the touch. In October 2017, county pharmacy leaders worried that many vaccines and other medicines were being disposed of because they were warming to room temperatures during their delivery from Ventura County Medical Center to a network of agency-affiliated clinics sprawled across the county. (Kisken, 1/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Ventura County Administered Thousands Of Vaccines That May Not Have Worked
Ventura County officials are scrambling to contact thousands of patients who received vaccines that may have been ineffective because county workers stored them at the wrong temperature. Approximately 23,000 patients who got shots at county clinics between October 2017 and November 2018 need to be revaccinated, county officials said. But so far, fewer than 5% of those affected have returned to get their shots, raising questions about how protected residents will be from this year’s flu season as well as other disease outbreaks. (Karlamangla, 1/11)
In other public health news —
Ventura County Star:
Ventura County Flu Season: Three Deaths Reported So Far
Three people have died in flu-linked deaths in Ventura County so far this flu season, but the surge of illness appears far less deadly than last year’s record onslaught. Ventura County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin said two of the deaths involved people under the age of 65 but declined to offer other details. He cited the privacy of the people involved. The first fatality was in October and the other two were in December. (Kisken, 1/11)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Measles Case In L.A. County Is Confirmed And Others May Have Been Exposed, Health Officials Say
Health officials are warning that shoppers and diners in Los Angeles County may have been exposed to measles in late December. Officials confirmed one case of measles in a person who visited several locations in Malibu, Pasadena and Santa Monica while infectious. There is no longer any risk of infection at those establishments, because measles spreads when the sick person coughs or sneezes around others, officials say. (Karlamangla, 1/13)
Emergency Care Unit Designed Specifically For Seniors Opens At UC San Diego Health
The 11 new patient rooms inside the accredited geriatric wing are equipped with sound-absorbing walls and ceilings and a variable lighting system that reflects the actual time of day. The beds are also more comfortable, and patients will be treated by a team of doctors with specific geriatric experience.
KPBS:
Senior Emergency Unit Opens In UCSD La Jolla Hospital
A new emergency unit specially designed for patients 65 and older at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla is working to provide a higher level of care and a more dignified experience. ...The 11 new patient rooms inside the accredited geriatric wing are equipped with sound-absorbing walls and ceilings and a variable lighting system that reflects the actual time of day. (Murphy, 1/11)
In other news from across the state —
Los Angeles Times:
Costa Mesa Unveils Proposal For ‘Bridge Shelter’ For The Homeless; City Council To Review Next Week
After months of scouring the city for a suitable site and vetting more than 30 different properties, Costa Mesa officials unveiled a proposal Friday night to open a new homeless shelter in the Westside. The recommended plan calls for purchasing a 12,000-square-foot office building at 1040 W. 17th St. and renovating the property into what the city refers to as a “bridge shelter.” (Money, 1/11)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Delano Regional Agrees To Join Adventist Health
Delano Regional Medical Center has agreed to become part of Adventist Health Central California, pending regulatory approval. The move announced Friday would fold 156-bed Delano Regional, operated by Central California Foundation for Health since 1992, into a much larger nonprofit organization with hospitals, clinics and other resources in 80 communities across the West Coast and Hawaii. The addition of Delano Regional would also restack Kern County's highly competitive hospital market. Adventist's primary competitor in Bakersfield, San Francisco-based Dignity Health, has three local hospitals: Bakersfield Memorial and Mercy Hospital's downtown and southwest Bakersfield locations. (Cox, 1/11)
Sacramento Bee:
WellSpace Buys 3 Sacramento County Clinics From Golden Shore Health
WellSpace Health is working to acquire three medical clinics in Sacramento County from Golden Shore Medical Group, according to leaders of the two companies, in an effort to assure uninterrupted care for 19,000 local residents and employment security for 77 health-care workers. Golden Shore has been locked in a contract dispute over pricing with managed-care insurer Molina Healthcare, said Golden Shore owner and CEO Dr. J. Mario Molina, and the insurer had filed paperwork with the California Department of Managed Health Care that sought to transfer all of Golden Shore’s patients to other providers in its network on Jan. 31. (Anderson, 1/11)
Ventura County Star:
Thousand Oaks Man Offers Thanks For Blood That Saved His Life
Without the blood and platelets, Tyler Bacon would have died. It’s neither complicated nor nuanced. It’s as real as the acute myeloid leukemia diagnosed in Bacon’s blood more than two years ago. If donors hadn’t bared their arms, hadn’t made the long trek to the UCLA Blood & Platelet Center, the onetime pro basketball player from Thousand Oaks wouldn’t have a shot at his goal of dunking a basketball at age 40. ...Every year, leaders of the UCLA blood center track down otherwise confidential information and, with the permission of the participants, reunite donors with the person who benefited from their blood and platelets. (Kisken, 1/11)
Dwindling Funds Strain Already-Stressed Native American Health System As Shutdown Continues
Native American tribes rely heavily on federal assistance for basic services such as health care, so the shutdown is hitting them harder than others. Tribal members say they can't get referrals for specialty care from the Indian Health Service if their conditions aren't life-threatening. Meanwhile, California food banks brace for influx of hungry people affected by shutdown.
The Associated Press:
Shutdown Puts Strain On Hundreds Of Native American Tribes
Fallout from the federal government shutdown is hurting Native Americans as dwindling funds hamper access to health care and other services. The pain is especially deep in tribal communities with high rates of poverty and unemployment, where one person often supports an extended family. The effects were being felt far and wide. (1/12)
Politico:
Billions In Food Stamp Payments To Come Early Because Of Shutdown
After raising alarm that the food-stamp program could run out of funding for February, the Trump administration announced this week that it had come up with a way to bankroll more than $4.8 billion in benefits next month — with just one catch: Benefits for the nearly 39 million people enrolled in the program must be paid out by Jan. 20, weeks earlier than usual. (Bottemiller Evich, 1/11)
The California Health Report:
Food Banks Brace Themselves For Influx Of Hungry People Amid Shutdown
As the partial government shutdown hurtles toward a fourth week, organizations that help California’s food insecure are scrambling to prepare for potential disruptions to the nation’s food stamp program. This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would work with states to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funded through the end of February. That means CalFresh, California’s name for the food stamp program, is safe for now. But food banks across the state, and the food pantries they serve, remain on edge amid concerns the shutdown could last even longer. (Boyd-Barrett, 1/14)
The Washington Post:
Americans Blame Trump And GOP Much More Than Democrats For Shutdown, Post-ABC Poll Finds
By a wide margin, more Americans blame President Trump and Republicans in Congress than congressional Democrats for the now record-breaking government shutdown, and most reject the president’s assertion that there is an illegal-immigration crisis on the southern border, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. (Clement and Balz, 1/13)
NPR:
Child Care: 1 More Way Some Federal Workers Struggle During Shutdown
At 10 o'clock in the morning, Austin Lanham should be working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center routing satellite communication. But with the partial federal government shutdown, he's not working, deadlines are slipping, he's not getting paid and the preschool his two sons go to is shut down because it's on NASA's property. "Now I'm just a full-time stay at home dad," he says. That's the case with many federal child care centers in the Washington D.C. region and with some around the country. (Madden, 1/14)
VA Setting Stage For Biggest Transformation Of The Veterans' Medical System In A Generation
The proposed guidelines would allow veterans more choice is seeking care outside the troubled VA system. Although, proponents of the switch say that it can help with wait times, critics say it will strain the private sector and increase costs for taxpayers.
The New York Times:
V.A. Seeks To Redirect Billions Of Dollars Into Private Care
The Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing to shift billions of dollars from government-run veterans’ hospitals to private health care providers, setting the stage for the biggest transformation of the veterans’ medical system in a generation. Under proposed guidelines, it would be easier for veterans to receive care in privately run hospitals and have the government pay for it. Veterans would also be allowed access to a system of proposed walk-in clinics, which would serve as a bridge between V.A. emergency rooms and private providers, and would require co-pays for treatment. (Steinhauer and Philipps, 1/12)
In other national health care news —
The Associated Press:
Huge Migrant Teen Detention Camp In Texas Shutting Down
The nonprofit running what once was the largest U.S. detention camp housing migrant teenagers said the last children left the facility Friday. The tent city in Tornillo, Texas, is shutting down, and all tents and equipment will be removed from the site by the end of January, said Krista Piferrer, spokeswoman of BCFS Health and Human Services. (1/11)
Politico:
Trump Wants To Bypass Congress On Medicaid Plan
The Trump administration is quietly devising a plan bypassing Congress to give block grants to states for Medicaid, achieving a longstanding conservative dream of reining in spending on the health care safety net for the poor. Three administration sources say the Trump administration is drawing up guidelines on what could be a major overhaul of Medicaid in some states. Instead of the traditional open-ended entitlement, states would get spending limits, along with more flexibility to run the low-income health program that serves nearly 75 million Americans, from poor children, to disabled people, to impoverished seniors in nursing homes. (Pradhan and Diamond, 1/11)
The New York Times:
Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take A Brain Surgeon To Decipher Them.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, responding to a new Trump administration order to begin posting all hospital prices, listed a charge of $42,569 for a cardiology procedure described as “HC PTC CLOS PAT DUCT ART.” Baptist Health in Miami helpfully told consumers that an “Embolza Protect 5.5” would cost them $9,818 while a “Visceral selective angio rad” runs a mere $5,538. On Jan. 1, hospitals began complying with a Trump administration order to post list prices for all their services, theoretically offering consumers transparency and choice and forcing health care providers into price competition. (Pear, 1/13)
The Hill:
Booker Tries To Shake Doubts About Pharmaceutical Ties Ahead Of 2020
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is trying to overcome doubts that he is too close to the pharmaceutical industry ahead of an expected presidential campaign. The progressive criticism of Booker reached a crescendo in early 2017 when he voted against a budget amendment calling for importing drugs from abroad. (Sullivan, 1/13)
The New York Times:
The Flu Is Widespread In The U.S., And It’s Not Too Late To Get Vaccinated
The flu season is going strong. About six million to seven million people in the United States have come down with the illness so far, with half of them sick enough to have seen doctors, according to estimates released on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 69,000 to 84,000 ended up in the hospital during the period from Oct. 1, 2018 through Jan. 5. (Grady, 1/11)
The New York Times:
Memorial Sloan Kettering Curbs Executives’ Ties To Industry After Conflict-Of-Interest Scandals
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, one of the world’s leading research institutions, announced on Friday that it would bar its top executives from serving on corporate boards of drug and health care companies that, in some cases, had paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Hospital officials also told the center’s staff that the executive board had made permanent a series of reforms designed to limit the ways in which its top executives and leading researchers could profit from work developed at Memorial Sloan Kettering, a nonprofit with a broad social mission that admits about 23,500 cancer patients each year. (Thomas and Ornstein, 1/11)