Latest California Healthline Stories
California Healthline Rounds Up Governor’s Recent Legislative Actions
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) recently acted upon several health-related bills.
Influenza Vaccine Supply Inadequate To Inoculate All at High-Risk, Federal Officials Say
Although a record 100 million doses of influenza vaccine will be available this flu season, the supply is inadequate to provide inoculations to the 185 million people who CDC recommends receive them, federal officials said at a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Some “prominent researchers” in the 1960s remained “reluctant to pinpoint smoking as a definite culprit in causing cancer” despite a 1959 report from the U.S. surgeon general that made the conclusion, according to a medical historian who testified on Monday for the Department of Justice in the trial of a lawsuit filed over allegations that several large U.S. tobacco companies violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, Reuters/Los Angeles Times reports.
In its Oct. 4 issue, BusinessWeek examined Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) “ambitious plan to make the Golden State more business-friendly,” which includes addressing “skyrocketing medical insurance” costs, one of state businesses’ “biggest concerns.”
FDA To Study Potential Link Between Antidepressants, Suicidal Thoughts in Adults
FDA officials plan to study antidepressants’ risks in adults following the release of clinical trial data showing that the drugs increase the risk of suicidal tendencies in children, the Wall Street Journal reports.
GAO Report Criticizes Bush Administration for Problems With Medicare PPO Demonstration Project
The Bush administration “improperly” allowed some private health insurers participating in a Medicare PPO demonstration project to limit beneficiaries’ choice of health care providers, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, the New York Times reports.
Bay Area Hospitals, Researchers Debate Privacy Policies for State Cancer Registry
Citing the medical privacy rule of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, at least 17 Bay Area hospitals have restricted the access of epidemiologists working on the state cancer registry to patient medical records, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Schwarzenegger Drug Discount Plan Would Result in Less Savings than Reimportation, Study Says
State residents would save more money by buying prescription drugs from Canada than they would under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) “alternative” drug discount program, according to a report released Monday by Democratic legislators and patient advocates, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Health insurance premiums paid by U.S. workers have increased at nearly three times the rate of average earnings since 2000, and the percentage of U.S. residents whose health care costs exceed a quarter of their earnings is on the rise, according to a new study conducted by the Lewin Group for Families USA, USA Today reports.
Editorials Address Ballot Measure To Fund Children’s Hospitals
Two newspapers recently published editorials addressing Proposition 61, a measure on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot that would provide $750 million for construction, expansion and equipment for children’s hospitals.