Latest California Healthline Stories
Flu Vaccine Shortage Prompts Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco Counties To Declare Emergencies
Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties on Tuesday declared local emergencies in light of the national influenza vaccine shortage, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Aventis, CDC Officials Announce Distribution Plan for Unshipped Flu Vaccine Doses
Aventis Pasteur this week will divert 22.4 million unshipped doses of the flu vaccine to areas that serve high-risk patients and areas with the most severe vaccine shortages, CDC officials said Tuesday, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
Lawmakers who oppose closing the trauma center at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center on Monday called for the resignation of Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Director Thomas Garthwaite, putting “the onus for King/Drew’s problems on the man who recommended closing the unit” and “intensifying the political battle over the hospital’s future,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Editorial, Opinion Piece Address Ballot Measure To Fund Mental Health Services
Two newspapers recently published an opinion piece and an editorial addressing Proposition 63, a measure on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot that would finance an expansion of mental health services through a 1% increase in the state personal income tax for state residents whose annual incomes exceed $1 million.
Weight-Loss Surgeries Can Restore Health for Obese Patients, Analysis Finds
Weight-loss surgeries can alleviate type 2 diabetes, lower cholesterol levels, reduce blood pressure and cure obstructive sleep apnea in severely obese patients, according to a new analysis of 136 studies published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Children’s Hospitals Campaign for Proposition 61
The Sacramento Bee on Wednesday examined children’s hospitals’ campaign in favor of Proposition 61, a bond measure on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot that would provide $750 million to pay for construction, expansion and equipment for children’s hospitals.
Boxer Television Advertisement Addresses Health Care Reform
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Tuesday as part of her re-election campaign began airing a television advertisement that “taps into a kitchen table issue — health care,” the Orange County Register reports.
Employer and employee responses to SB 2, a state law that will require some workers to provide health insurance to their employees or pay into a state fund to provide such coverage, could reduce the net effect of the mandate on the number of uninsured in the state, according to a Health Affairs report.
Advocates in Los Angeles have targeted a voter registration drive at the city’s estimated 6,000 to 8,000 homeless residents who might have an interest in two of the health-related initiatives on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Might Cover Erectile Dysfunction Treatments
The new Medicare prescription drug benefit scheduled to take effect in 2006 might include coverage of erectile dysfunction medications for men, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.