Latest California Healthline Stories
House Committee Expected To Approve Medicaid Budget Cuts
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday is expected to adopt a fiscal year 2006 budget package that would cut about $11 billion from Medicaid, CongressDaily reports.
CDC Panel Recommends Hepatitis A, Whooping Cough Vaccinations
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday unanimously recommended to CDC that all U.S. children between the ages of one and two receive hepatitis A vaccinations and that all adults ages 19 to 65 receive booster shots for whooping cough, the New York Times reports.
Opponents of Parental Notification Measure Launch Television Ad
Opponents of Proposition 73 on Thursday will begin airing television commercials in select areas of the state that say passage of the initiative might lead to some teens ending pregnancies themselves or having illegal abortions, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Wal-Mart Proposal To Discourage Unhealthy Applicants Examined
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday examined how a recommendation in an internal Wal-Mart memo that the company discourage unhealthy job applicants to reduce health care costs “raises questions about how far employers can legally go in preferential hiring.”
Mammograms Lower Breast Cancer Death Rate, Study Finds
Mammograms contributed to between 28% and 65% of the sharp decrease in breast cancer deaths that occurred among U.S. women from 1990 to 2000, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the New York Times reports.
UCLA Cadaver Donation Program Will Be Allowed To Reopen
The University of California-Los Angeles “in the next few days” will be allowed to reopen its willed-body program, attorneys addressing the issue said on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Senate Finance Committee Approves $10B in Cuts to Medicaid, Medicare
The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday voted 11-9 along party lines to approve a fiscal year 2006 budget reconciliation package that would reduce Medicaid and Medicare spending by $10 billion over five years, CQ Today reports.
Senate Amendment Would End Use of SSN on Medicare Cards
The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved an amendment to the fiscal year 2006 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill (HR 3010) that would require CMS to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards to reduce the risk for identity theft, CQ HealthBeat reports.
Los Angeles County Supervisors Extend Navigant Contract at King/Drew Medical Center
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 3-2 to extend by six months the county’s current contract with Navigant Consulting to implement reforms at county-owned Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reports.
FDA Panel Opposes Long-Term Efficacy Studies for Psychiatric Drugs
An FDA advisory committee on Tuesday voted 12-0 to recommend against a requirement that pharmaceutical companies conduct long-term efficacy studies on some psychiatric medications before approval, the Wall Street Journal reports.