Latest California Healthline Stories
Advocates Want To Make Sure Veterans’ Unique Needs Aren’t Lost As Congress Addresses Opioid Crisis
Veterans can have chronic pain and wounds from the war that need to be treated by opioids, but they are also twice as likely as nonveterans to die from an accidental opioid overdose. Advocates see Congress’ efforts to address the crisis as a good start, but warn that lawmakers still have blind spots when it comes to treating veterans. In other news, a program that allows veterans to seek care outside the VA, which President Donald Trump and other Republicans have championed, is falling behind in its implementation.
Rising health care costs are forcing otherwise financially secure Americans to make tough decisions about who in their family gets coverage. David and Maribel Maldonado’s struggles are highlighted in a Bloomberg series looking at the painful financial and medical trade-offs Americans are making just to get care.
New $350M Critical Care Facility Built To Withstand Earthquakes To Debut In Fremont
The facility’s state-of-the-art first floor emergency department is quadruple the size of Washington Hospital’s current one and can accommodate twice as many patients.
California Does Lead U.S. In Mass Shootings, But That’s Only Because So Many People Live There
Taking a closer look at the numbers show that the state has one of the nation’s lowest overall gun deaths per capita. Experts say that California’s tough gun laws have helped in that ranking. Meanwhile, a recent survey found that 1 in 4 Californians who own guns obtained their weapons without having to undergo a background check.
Air Quality Expected To Remain At Harmful Levels In Bay Area Possibly Into Next Week
According to the Air Quality Index, pollution levels between 150 and 200 are classified as “unhealthy” and serious enough that healthy people will suffer some ill effects from breathing the air. Much of the North and East Bay has been rated between 150 and 200 since Friday because of the fires.
President Donald Trump’s tweet that the state had to fix its “gross mismanagement of the forests” or face “no more Fed payments!” concerned some state leaders, but the on-the-ground response to requests for help have been fast, officials report.
Search Teams Scouring For Human Remains As Camp Fire Becomes Deadliest In California’s History
The death toll climbed over the past day to 42, surpassing the previous record. Hundreds still remain missing, and officials expect more grim news.
Although both Vitamin D and fish oil drugs have gained popularity recently, a massive study found that healthy people who take the supplements do not lower cancer rates nor do they reduce the rate of major cardiovascular events. Meanwhile, new guidelines recommend a more tailored approach to treating high cholesterol.
Menthol Cigarettes Could Be Banned As Part Of FDA’s Aggressive Crackdown On Tobacco Products
The menthol proposal is just one of several initiatives the FDA plans to announce sometime next week, including a ban on sales of most flavored e-cigarettes at retail stores and gas stations across the country. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has been vocal recently about his concerns that a boom e-cigarette industry is leading to an “epidemic” of young people vaping.
The Democrats have made it clear that they think “health care was on the ballot and health care won.” Now that they have some power in the House, here’s what some of their top priorities will likely be.