Latest California Healthline Stories
Massachusetts Governor Announces Proposal To Make Health Insurance Compulsory
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) on Tuesday in a Boston Herald opinion piece detailed a proposal to make health insurance compulsory, the Herald reports.
Many Doctors Included on List of Highest-Paid State Workers
Almost 2,000 state employees, including more than 600 state doctors, earned more than $132,000 last year, according to data from the Office of the Comptroller that the San Francisco Chronicle obtained.
Urgent Care Clinic Proposed for Site of Former San Jose Medical Center
San Jose city and county officials are considering acquiring the site of the former San Jose Medical Center to open an urgent care clinic in an effort to restore some health services downtown residents lost when SJMC closed in December 2004, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
State Fines Kaiser Permanente for Privacy Breach
The Department of Managed Health Care on Monday announced that it had issued a $200,000 fine against a division of Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente for storing personal patient information on a publicly accessible Web site, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Contra Costa Grand Jury Recommends Re-Evaluating Employee Contributions for Health Benefits
The Contra Costa County civil grand jury last week released a report urging the county to reduce the cost of health benefits for its employees, the Oakland Tribune reports.
GM Health Care Cost Problems Require Federal Intervention, Brownstein Writes
General Motor’s health care problems are “too big for GM and its workers to resolve alone,” columnist Ronald Brownstein writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece.
Bush Promotes New Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit in Minnesota
President Bush on Friday launched his “grassroots effort to educate people” about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit at an invitation-only event for about 400 people in Maple Grove, Minn., the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
Schwarzenegger Accepted Contributions From Cited Nursing Home Operator
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has accepted a total of $67,300 in campaign contributions from Emmanuel Bernabe, a nursing home operator who has been fined $285,000 by state regulators since Schwarzenegger became governor, according to campaign finance reports, the Los Angeles Times reports.
DOJ, Industry Attorneys To Meet With Kessler To Discuss Tobacco Trial
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who is presiding over the federal government’s civil racketeering lawsuit against several U.S. tobacco companies, is scheduled to meet with government and tobacco lawyers on Monday to discuss the Department of Justice’s proposed penalties against the industry and the status of the case, the Washington Post reports.
AMA Weighs Support for Moratorium on Direct-To-Consumer Drug Advertising
The American Medical Association during its annual meeting in Chicago on Sunday weighed whether to support proposed federal legislation that would impose a moratorium to delay direct-to-consumer drug advertising after drugs are approved by FDA, the Chicago Tribune reports.