Latest California Healthline Stories
Arizona Governor Mulls Options for Cutting Medicaid Eligibility
On Monday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer met with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss options to mitigate the effect of her plan to drop 250,000 childless adults from the state’s Medicaid program. Brewer said the options do not necessarily include scaling back the cut. AP/KTAR.
Department of Public Health Director Horton Steps Down
In a memo to senior staff on Monday, California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Diana Dooley announced that Mark Horton would step down as director of the state’s Department of Public Health. Howard Backer, associate secretary for emergency preparedness at CHHS, became acting director of DPH on Tuesday. Efforts to reach Horton for comment were unsuccessful. Sacramento Business Journal.
Brown Releases Draft Bill To Place Temporary Tax Measure Before Voters
Gov. Brown has released a draft bill to place his tax proposal before California voters on a June ballot. The proposed ballot measure aims to generate about $12 billion to help avoid deeper cuts to health and human service services. Sacramento Bee‘s “Capitol Alert.”
California Still Spending Millions on Medically Incapacitated Inmates
Although a new law allows the state to grant medical parole to incapacitated inmates, no such inmates have received parole hearings yet. This year, California taxpayers are expected to pay more than $50 million to treat incapacitated inmates at non-prison hospitals. Los Angeles Times.
DOJ: Ruling Against Reform Should Not Halt its Rollout
This week, the Department of Justice sent a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson arguing that the 26 states in the multistate lawsuit challenging the federal health reform law should not have expected Vinson to halt implementation of the overhaul because the individual mandate applies to only 10 of the law’s 450 provisions. DOJ said that halting implementation would complicate the nation’s health care system because many overhaul provisions already have taken effect. The Hill‘s “Healthwatch.”
Opinion: Federal Budget Plan Hurts Calif. Health Centers
In a Sacramento Bee opinion piece, Carmela Castellano-Garcia — president and CEO of the California Primary Care Association — writes, “I am deeply concerned about proposed federal health care cuts.” She writes, “This budget plan contains billions of dollars in cuts and includes a $1.3 billion cut in health centers nationwide,” adding, “This is nearly a 50% cut in base funding and equals a loss of tens of millions of dollars to the health centers in California.” She concludes, “I want to make it clear to our congressional leaders that our health centers and our patients are united, and we will fight this effort to gut our funding.” Sacramento Bee.
Senate, House Approve Spending Measure That Would Cut Health Funds
On Wednesday, the Senate approved a continuing resolution that would allow the government to continue operating until March 18. The House on Tuesday approved the resolution, which includes $466 million in cuts to HHS. The measure now heads to President Obama. Washington Post‘s “2chambers” et al.
CDC: Hospital Central Line Infections Drop Significantly
A new CDC report finds that the number of reported central line infections in hospital intensive care units dropped from 43,000 in 2001 to 18,000 in 2009. The CDC report and Consumers Union attribute the 58% drop to targeted infection control efforts in hospitals. Meanwhile, CDC estimates dialysis facilities had about 37,000 central line infections in 2008. Roberta Mikles — a retired nurse and member of the California Department of Public Health advisory committee on health care-associated infections — said such infection control efforts have not been implemented at dialysis centers. California Watch
Report: Military Health Costs Climbed 300% Since 2001
The Department of Defense expects to spend $52.5 billion on health care in 2012, a 300% increase since 2001, according to a new report released by the Center for American Progress. The report — which found that health care will account for 10% of the department’s budget by 2015 — suggests ways DOD can reduce its health spending. CNN Money.
Medicaid Expansion To Cost States $118B by 2023, GOP Report Finds
A new report from Republicans on two legislative committees finds that the federal health reform law’s Medicaid expansion will cost states about $118 billion by 2023. The report conflicts with some previous analyses. The Hill‘s “Healthwatch,” PBS Newshour’s “The Rundown.”