Latest California Healthline Stories
Health Care, Business Leaders Respond to Opinion Pieces Addressing Employer-Sponsored Coverage Law
The Sacramento Bee on Thursday featured letters to the editor responding to recent opinion pieces by columnist Daniel Weintraub on a law (SB 2) that would require some employers to provide health insurance to employees or pay into a state fund to provide such coverage.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers on Wednesday filed civil class-action suits in federal courts in eight states against roughly one dozen not-for-profit hospital systems, alleging that the institutions have violated their obligation as charities by overcharging uninsured patients, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Assembly Health Committee Approves Bill To Expand Genetic Disease Screening in Infants
The Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday passed a bill (SB 142) that would make infant screening for rare genetic disorders more comprehensive, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Senate, Assembly Health Committees Approve Bills To Facilitate Prescription Drug Reimportation
Legislation under consideration in the Legislature that would help facilitate the reimportation of lower-cost, U.S.-manufactured prescription drugs from Canada on Tuesday and Wednesday passed the Senate and Assembly health committees, which were “considered hurdles for the measures,” the Contra Costa Times reports.
Prescription Drugs Purchased From Canadian Online Pharmacies Pose Fewer Risks, GAO Report Finds
Prescription drugs purchased from Canadian online pharmacies “pose fewer risks” than drugs obtained from online pharmacies in other foreign countries and, in some instances, U.S.-based online pharmacies, according to a General Accounting Office report released Thursday in conjunction with a hearing on the matter before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
Lockyer Files Suit Against Safeway for Tobacco Sales to Minors
Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) on Wednesday filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that Safeway grocery stores sold tobacco to California minors “on numerous occasions” and did not take “adequate precautions” to prevent future sales despite state warnings, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Volunteers at Santa Monica Hospital Comfort Families, Ease Waits in the Emergency Department
The Los Angeles Times on Sunday profiled “Angels in the ER,” a group of more than 30 volunteers at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica who work with patients and their families during their time at the hospital emergency department.
AMA Votes Unanimously To Press HHS To Establish Full Disclosure On Drug Trials
About 540 American Medical Association members at the group’s annual meeting on Tuesday unanimously approved by voice vote a resolution urging HHS to create a national database for all clinical trials and their outcomes, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Effort To Ban Smoking in Vehicles With Young Children Revived
Supporters of a bill (AB 2997) that would require motorists to pay fines for smoking in vehicles with young children present have revived the measure after it was defeated last month, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports.
Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Card Offered by Independent Pharmacists
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday examined how a group representing some independent pharmacists is “taking aim at their sworn enemies, big pharmacy benefits managers” by offering a Community Care Rx card, a rival to the Medicare prescription drug discount card program.