Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
College Won’t Be Fun If You’re Not Healthy. Some Advice About Health Insurance
As you enter college this fall, health insurance may not be at the top of your mind. But it’s important to have coverage if you have a chronic condition or if something unexpected happens. Luckily, college students have several options. (Bernard J. Wolfson, )
Good morning! An 11-judge federal appeals court panel in San Francisco hears a challenge to the Trump administration's abortion funding rule. And California-based Juul faces a federal criminal investigation. More on those headlines below, but first here are your top California health news stories of the day:
California's Highway Funding Threatened By Trump Administration: In the latest dispute between the state and federal governments, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler writes to the California Air Resources Board, stating that the state's "worst air quality in the United States" jeopardizes the state's highway funds. Wheeler says California has until Oct. 10 to submit a backlog of "incomplete" implementation plans for improving air quality. California Gov. Gavin Newsom characterizes the letter as political: “The White House has no interest in helping California comply with the Clean Air Act to improve the health and well-being of Californians. This letter is a threat of pure retaliation." Full coverage of this story is reported by Michael Wilner of The Sacramento Bee and Coral Davenport of The New York Times.
Enrollment In Covered California Drops Without Auto-Enrollment: A new JAMA Internal Medicine study finds that Californians who lose the option to automatically re-enroll in an Affordable Care Act exchange plan are less likely to maintain insurance coverage than those that can enroll automatically. Read more on the findings in this Modern Healthcare story by Shelby Livingston.
Where Are The Empty Treatment Beds?: The many barriers to accessing mental health services can confound patients and health officials alike. San Francisco is trying to tackle one of those difficulties -- the lack of treatment beds -- with an online tool that will show which of the region's hundreds of treatment programs have openings at any given time. “It will answer the question, ‘Where are the treatment beds, and what do I need to get into one of those?’” says Dr. Anton Nigusse Bland, the city’s director of mental health reform. “People need to know when these resources are available.” Read the story in The San Francisco Chronicle story by Trisha Thadani.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
San Jose Mercury News:
Many California Teens Say They Don’t Know Where To Find, Can’t Afford Mental Health Services
According to a study released this spring, many young Californians don’t know where to find mental health services and don’t think they can afford it if they could find it. Earlier this year, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, in partnership with California’s Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission, surveyed 485 Californians, ages 13 to 24, about mental health, access to mental health services, and what they’d like to see in that area in California. The resulting report, “California Youth Mental Health: Understanding Resource Availability and Preferences,” was released May 28. (Yarbough, 9/23)
East Bay Times:
Here’s What 4 California School Districts Did To Reduce The Number Of Students Contemplating Suicide
In four such school districts in Southern California, the number of students who contemplated suicide fell dramatically when the districts partnered with local government agencies and nonprofits to educate students, their teachers and others on campuses about warning signs and how to help those in crisis. About 70% of the state’s 1,026 school districts give their students the California School Climate, Health, and Learning Surveys (CalSCHLS), which are meant to gauge how many ninth- and 11th-graders and students in non-traditional high schools have considered suicide, as well as poll their experiences with drugs, bullying, whether they’ve seen a weapon on campus, and more. (Yarbrough, 9/23)
San Diego Union-Times:
Data: Deaths By Suicide, Fentanyl And Drownings Up In San Diego County In 2018
Deaths in San Diego County caused by the ultra-deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl skyrocketed between 2016 and 2017, jumping more than 155 percent, and continued to climb last year, according to new data released Monday by the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office. Data from the Medical Examiner’s 2018 annual report also showed that suicides continued to rise last year while homicides were down slightly, from 106 to 102. But the leading cause of death among cases investigated by the Medical Examiner’s Office was accidental overdoses involving illegal drugs, misused or illegally obtained prescription drugs and alcohol, of which there were 577 last year. (Riggins, 9/23)
Capital Public Radio:
How Brain Scans Are Used In Suicide Research
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month — an opportunity to have conversations about mental health and suicide to get at solutions and reduce the stigma around the topic. We’re starting with a look at new research that is using brain scans to potentially develop precision treatments for suicidal thoughts. (Ruyak, 9/23)
San Diego Union-Times:
In California, Jails Are Now The Mental Health Centers Of Last Resort
Almost one in three San Diego County jail inmates is prescribed medication to treat mental illness, making Sheriff Bill Gore one of the most prolific providers of behavioral health services in the region. Last year alone, Gore spent more than $5.6 million on pharmaceutical drugs for the 5,600 or so people behind bars on any given day — approximately $1,000 per inmate, or one-fifth of the sheriff’s entire budget for medical, dental, psychiatric and other contracted health care services. (Davis and McDonald, 9/20)
USA Today:
Migrant Children Held By The Obama Administration Still Suffering 5 Years Later
Lawsuits have alleged children held by the Border Patrol are deprived of their rights and treated inhumanely. An inspector general's report concluded that some migrant children would suffer mental trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. For the tens of thousands of children who arrived this year, the long-lasting effects may not have surfaced yet. (Gonzalez, 9/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Early Power Shut-Offs Are New Reality As California Enters Peak Wildfire Season
Russ Brown and other emergency officials in Yuba County have been trying to get the word out. Charge your medical equipment and phone batteries now.
Make sure you have enough nonperishable food to last a few days. Because when the hot winds start blowing, the power to your house may be shut off. (Wigglesworth and Serna, 9/23)
The North Bay Business Journal:
Baby Cuddling Is Serious Business At Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital
One thing will make veteran real estate developer Larry Wasem drop everything and head to Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital. It’s an on-call job with no pay. And it’s a far cry from his decades-long work as managing partner at Airport Business Center, which has numerous properties throughout Sonoma County. It’s the opportunity to cuddle an inconsolable baby in the neonatal intensive care unit. (Sarfaty, 9/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Laguna Beach Settles With Homeless Advocacy Group, Avoiding Prospective Lawsuit
The city of Laguna Beach has reached a settlement with Orange County Catholic Worker, a nonprofit that provides food and aid to the poor, avoiding prospective litigation against the city on behalf of its homeless population. The settlement, approved Monday by U.S. District Judge David Carter, calls on the city to work with trained personnel to offer available shelter placement; assess the needs of people with disabilities to provide appropriate placement and reasonable accommodations; and ensure that the number of beds available at the city-funded homeless shelter — the 45-bed Alternative Sleeping Location at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road — doesn’t fall beneath 60% of the city’s unsheltered individuals identified in the countywide 2019 Point in Time count. (Nguyen, 9/23)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Sutter Embarks On $173 Million Expansion Of Santa Rosa Hospital
Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital last week broke ground on a $173 million hospital expansion and renovation intended to relieve crowding in a hospital that has seen rapid growth in the number of patients it treats since it opened only five years ago. The expansion, scheduled to be completed by September 2022, will greatly increase the number of beds and reduce the reliance on neighboring medical centers, said Mike Purvis, the hospital’s CEO. (Espinoza, 9/20)
Los Angeles Times:
A Divided 9th Circuit Could Uphold Trump's New Abortion Referral Rule
A federal appeals court appeared divided along party lines Monday on whether to uphold a new Trump administration rule that denies federal family planning money to clinics that refer patients for abortions. During a hearing in San Francisco, an 11-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether to reinstate preliminary injunctions issued by three district judges against the new rule. Seven of the judges chosen randomly for the panel are Republican appointees, including two new judges Trump placed on the court. Four of the judges were appointed by Democrats. (Dolan, 9/23)
NPR:
At U.N., Trump Administration Professes 'No International Right To An Abortion'
The Trump administration is calling on U.N. member nations to oppose efforts to promote access to abortion internationally, a move immediately criticized by reproductive rights groups seeking greater access to the services globally. At a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar spoke on behalf of the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries stating that abortion is not an international human right. (McCammon, 9/23)
The Washington Post:
Abortion Restrictions Are Costing States Millions Of Dollars — In Fees For The Other Side
In the past four years, taxpayers in states trying to restrict abortion access have paid almost $10 million in attorney fees for abortion providers. That price tag is likely to keep growing as more abortion restrictions are challenged, including three in federal courts today. In an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade, these states are passing laws that severely limit or prohibit abortion, hoping that the courts will uphold them. But when, instead, those new laws are thrown out, the state has to pay the legal expenses for the abortion advocates. That puts taxpayers in the position of having to pay for the attorneys on both sides of abortion battles that often last for years. (Keating, 9/23)
The Washington Post:
Planned Parenthood’s Woman In Hollywood
[Caren] Spruch is the rare person in the abortion rights movement for whom the past few years represent a long-awaited breakthrough in addition to a series of terrifying setbacks. She’s Planned Parenthood’s woman in Hollywood — or, in official terms, its director of arts and entertainment engagement. She encourages screenwriters to tell stories about abortion and works as a script doctor for those who do (as well as those who write about any other area of Planned Parenthood’s expertise, such as birth control or sexually transmitted infections). It’s a role she slipped into sideways, but one that now seems to be increasingly welcome in Hollywood. (Caplan-Bricker, 9/23)
The New York Times:
How Anti-Vaccine Sentiment Took Hold In The United States
As millions of families face back-to-school medical requirements and forms this month, the contentiousness surrounding vaccines is heating up again, with possibly even more fervor. Though the situation may seem improbable to some, anti-vaccine sentiment has been building for decades, a byproduct of an internet humming with rumor and misinformation; the backlash against Big Pharma; an infatuation with celebrities that gives special credence to the anti-immunization statements from actors like Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey and Alicia Silverstone, the rapper Kevin Gates and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And now, the Trump administration’s anti-science rhetoric. (Hoffman, 9/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Federal Prosecutors Conducting Criminal Probe Of Juul
Federal prosecutors in California are conducting a criminal probe into e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, escalating law-enforcement scrutiny of the startup. The investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office of the Northern District of California is in its early stages, the people said. The focus of the probe couldn’t be learned. (Maloney, 9/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
‘The Bells Start Going Off.’ How Doctors Uncovered The Vaping Crisis.
Children’s Hospital officials and Wisconsin health authorities considered the vaping threat serious enough to merit public announcement. On July 25, they held a news conference and issued an alert warning about vaping-associated lung illness. The notice started a chain of events that prompted doctors, nurses and health authorities to recognize they had hundreds of similar patients. Once authorities began to issue warnings about a new lung illness, doctors saw its shadow everywhere. In Illinois, a doctor who saw the warning from Wisconsin health authorities reached out for help. Likewise, a doctor at a Utah hospital system, told by a colleague about the alerts, notified her state’s health agency about patients. (Abbott, 9/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Dick Durbin, Longtime Anti-Smoking Advocate, Turns Sights On Vaping
Five days before the Trump administration moved to ban the sale of fruit- and candy-flavored vaping products, acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner Norman E. “Ned” Sharpless received a sharply worded letter from Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.). The message: if Dr. Sharpless didn’t move to ban the flavored products in 10 days, Mr. Durbin would publicly demand his resignation. ... Close observers say Mr. Durbin’s persistence on the issue, along with mounting evidence of death and illness associated with vaping, has long been pivotal in advancing safety issues related to tobacco and nicotine. (Burton, 9/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Drugmakers, Worried About Losing Pricing Power, Are Lobbying Hard
Worried drugmakers are stepping up efforts to blunt proposals in Washington that they view as some of the most serious threats to their pricing power in recent years. Pharmaceutical industry trade organizations and outside groups are spending millions of dollars on advertisements attacking the proposals, which would peg drug prices in the U.S. to prices paid overseas and force companies to pay rebates if a drug’s price increases by more than the rate of inflation. For instance, one trade group’s radio ad decries “foreign price controls” imposed by European bureaucrats. (Loftus, 9/23)
Stat:
The Democrats Shepherding Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Bill Have Taken Plenty Of Campaign Cash From Pharma
The fate of Nancy Pelosi’s sweeping drug pricing bill rests in the hands of lawmakers who received more campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry than almost all other Democrats, according to a STAT review of campaign finance records. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who chairs the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, received $111,500 in contributions from pharmaceutical industry political action committees in the 2018 election cycle — fifth-most of any lawmaker, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Rep. Frank Pallone, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, received $98,500, good for ninth-most. (Facher, 9/24)
The Associated Press:
'You Are Failing Us': Plans, Frustration At UN Climate Talks
Scolded for doing little, leader after leader promised the United Nations on Monday to do more to prevent a warming world from reaching even more dangerous levels. As they made their pledges at the Climate Action Summit, though, they and others conceded it was not enough. And even before they spoke, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg shamed them over and over for their inaction: “How dare you?” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concluded the summit by listing 77 countries that committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, 70 nations pledging to do more to fight climate change, with 100 business leaders promising to join the green economy and one-third of the global banking sector signing up to green goals. (Borenstein, 9/24)
Politico:
White House Infighting Thwarts Movement On Guns
Competing factions inside the White House have stymied efforts to unite behind gun legislation, further delaying President Donald Trump from getting behind any plan. On one side is Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser, and Attorney General William Barr. Both are urging the president to back new firearms restrictions — including expanded background checks for gun sales ... On the other side, a group that includes Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son and an avid hunter, and a top aide to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, is telling Trump he risks losing support from his conservative base if he pushes too aggressively on new gun control legislation, they say. (Kumar and Levin, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Medicare Double Billed About 411,000 People Who Pay Part B Premiums Directly
Because of a processing error, about 411,000 seniors who pay for Medicare Part B directly through the system’s Easy Pay had their premiums deducted twice from their bank accounts, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Monday. Jade Tippett of Fort Bragg noticed the error on Friday when he looked at his credit union checking account and spotted two withdrawals for $135.50 each. (Pender, 9/23)
The Hill:
Warren Comes Under New Pressure Over Medicare For All And Higher Taxes
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is coming under increasing pressure from her 2020 rivals to spell out how she’d pay for her “Medicare for All” proposal. The pressure comes as Warren builds momentum in the presidential primary race and suggests she is likely to come under a harsher spotlight as other candidates seek to compete with her for the 2020 Democratic nomination. (Jagoda and Easley, 9/23)
Bloomberg:
Biden-Linked Firm Tests Messages To Undercut ‘Medicare For All’
A new poll by a firm linked to Joe Biden is testing messages designed to undercut support among Democrats for Medicare for All, one of the most contentious issues splitting the party’s top presidential contenders. The survey, commissioned by the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way, found that primary voters start off favoring the government-run health care system by a margin of 70% to 21%, but can be persuaded to oppose it. The study showed that Democrats are most swayed by the arguments that the program would impose a heavy cost on taxpayers and threaten Medicare for senior citizens. (Kapur, 9/23)
The Washington Post:
Biden’s Bungled Attack On Medicare-For-All
A confused reader passed along a tweet with a clip of these remarks. What was Biden talking about? After all, the Medicare-for-all plan advanced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) calls for eliminating premiums, deductibles and co-pays. Yet Biden suggests the plan would raise deductibles. Biden’s staff acknowledges that he misspoke, repeatedly, in this passage. (Kessler, 9/24)
Stateline:
On-Site Health Care Could Help Seniors Stay At Home
The nation’s older population is growing rapidly — it’s projected to nearly double by 2050. Many seniors want to stay in their homes, but when they grow older and more infirm, that isn’t always possible. Nor are there enough services — access to transportation and doctors, help managing medication — to make it easier for them to stay at home, according to a 2017 report by the Office of Policy Development and Research in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). (Wiltz, 9/24)
The Wall Street Journal:
Her Alzheimer’s Research Includes Her Husband
As a lifelong Alzheimer’s researcher, Dorene Rentz sees many brain scans with amyloid plaques, a telltale sign of the disease that ravages the brains and memories of its victims. But there’s one scan she’s unable to see: that of her husband, Ray Berggren. Never did she think that one day her 73-year-old husband would be part of a clinical trial she helped design, whose overall cognitive outcomes she will eventually help analyze. (Reddy, 9/23)
USA Today:
More Blood Pressure Medicines Recalled Over Possible Cancer-Causing Impurity
A recall of common blood pressure medication losartan has been expanded for a fifth time after manufacturer Torrent Pharmaceuticals found a possibly carcinogenic impurity in more batches of the drug, federal health officials said. Three additional lots of losartan potassium tablets and two additional lots of losartan potassium/hydrochlorothiazide tablets were under recall, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. (Miller, 9/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Her Alzheimer’s Research Includes Her Husband
As a lifelong Alzheimer’s researcher, Dorene Rentz sees many brain scans with amyloid plaques, a telltale sign of the disease that ravages the brains and memories of its victims. But there’s one scan she’s unable to see: that of her husband, Ray Berggren. Never did she think that one day her 73-year-old husband would be part of a clinical trial she helped design, whose overall cognitive outcomes she will eventually help analyze. (Reddy, 9/23)
California Healthline:
As Off-Label Use Spreads, Supplies Of Niche Drugs And Patients’ Patience Grow Short
Hospitals and clinics nationwide report a shortage of the medication, whose long manufacturing process starts with donated blood plasma. Often referred to as IVIG, intravenous immune globulin is used for a wide variety of medical conditions, beyond those for which it was first targeted — some treatments proven effective and some not. It is rich in antibodies, which are proteins that help fight off infection. With IVIG in short supply, hospitals are left to make tough choices about who receives it, setting up a type of triage, like that faced by Easton’s family, who find themselves caught in a gray area over which conditions qualify. (Appleby, 9/24)
The Washington Post:
For Some With Chronic Pain, The Problem Is Not In Their Backs Or Knees But Their Brain
More than 5,000 years after the Sumerians discovered they could quell aches with gum from poppies, medical science is still uncertain about who will develop chronic pain, how to prevent it and what to do when it occurs. The reasons the same insult to the body can leave one person with short-term discomfort and another with permanent misery have eluded researchers. "Chronic pain is incredibly complex,” said Benjamin Kligler, national director of the Integrative Health Coordinating Center at the Veterans Health Administration. “It is interwoven with all kinds of psychological, emotional and spiritual dimensions, as well as the physical. Honestly, the profession of medicine doesn’t have a terribly good understanding, overall, of that kind of complexity.” (Bernstein, 9/23)
The New York Times:
A Simple Regimen Can Prevent TB. Why Aren’t More People On It?
Tuberculosis struck 10 million people worldwide in 2017, killing 1.6 million of them — a toll greater than that of H.I.V., malaria, measles and Ebola combined. TB is the leading infectious killer around the globe; nearly 1.8 billion people are carrying the bacterium that causes the disease. The world is sorely in need of new ways to prevent TB, not just treat it. Drugs to stave off the infection do exist, but the monthslong regimens are difficult and people often do not finish the prescribed courses. (Mandavilli, 9/23)
NPR:
Doctors Without Borders Calls For More Transparency In Distribution Of Ebola Vaccine
Doctors Without Borders is accusing the World Health Organization of restricting the availability of the Ebola vaccine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dr. Isabelle Defourny, the group's director of operations, said in a statement Monday that at least 2,000 people could be receiving the vaccine each day, instead of the maximum of 1,000 who are vaccinated daily at present. She called for WHO to supply more vaccines to medical teams. (Zialcita, 9/23)
NPR:
Allergists Debate Anticipated FDA Approval Of A Peanut Allergy Drug
A panel of experts earlier this month recommended that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approve a new drug for children and teens with peanut allergies. The drug, called Palforzia, was developed by California startup Aimmune Therapeutics to be taken daily in a regimen known as oral immunotherapy. The therapy involves ingesting small doses of peanut protein, gradually increased over months, to blunt the immune system's overreaction to peanuts. When it's effective, patients can become biteproof — that is, able to withstand small amounts of peanut that would have previously caused possibly dangerous allergic reactions. (Landhuis, 9/23)