Latest California Healthline Stories
AARP CEO Addresses New Medicare Law, Prescription Drug Reimportation
At a Kaiser Family Foundation forum Wednesday, AARP CEO Bill Novelli said that he would “try to keep his group out of the political back-and-forth over the merits” of the new Medicare law, Roll Call reports.
Report Finds Support for Some Form of Universal Health Care in State
Insurance companies, medical professionals and government officials favor some form of universal health care for California residents, according to a 150-page report compiled by consumer advocacy group Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Voters Approve Ballot Measure To Increase Alameda County Sales Tax To Fund Health Care Facilities
About 70.9% of Alameda County voters on Tuesday voted in favor of Measure A, which will increase the sales tax in Alameda County by half a cent to provide about $90 million annually for Alameda County Medical Center and other health care facilities, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Pesticide-Related Illnesses in California Increase Between 2001, 2002
Between 2001 and 2002, the number of people possibly sickened by pesticides in the state more than doubled from 616 to 1,316 cases, according to a report released last week by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Tenet Healthcare To Begin Program To Provide Discounts to Uninsured Patients
California-based Tenet Healthcare on Tuesday announced that next month it will begin implementing a program to offer “major discounts to all uninsured patients using its hospitals” at the beginning of April, the Miami Herald reports.
The passage of Propositions 57 and 58 demonstrates the “power of [Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R)] celebrity and salesmanship” and increases the governor’s clout in the battle over his “ambitious plan” to reform the state’s workers’ compensation system, the New York Times reports.
Alvarado Hospital Nurses Vote To Join California Nurses Association
Registered nurses at Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego on Monday voted to join the California Nurses Association, making it the seventh Tenet Healthcare hospital in the state to join the union in the past month, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Health Insurance Primary Source of Disagreement Between Employers and Unions, Opinion Piece Says
Health insurance is “the single issue most likely to cause friction between workers and companies all over the country in the coming months,” as evidenced by the five-month strike and lockout involving the United Food and Commercial Workers and four grocery store chains, Peter Hurtgen, the head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service who mediated the Southern Californian grocery store negotiations, writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece.
A measure on Tuesday’s ballot that would increase the sales tax in Alameda County by half a cent to provide about $90 million annually for Alameda County Medical Center and other health care facilities received approval from 69.6% of voters with more than 80% of precincts reporting, the Tri-Valley Herald reports.
Far fewer embryonic stem cell lines will be available for federally funded research than the number expected when President Bush in 2001 announced a policy limiting federally funded research to the 78 stem cell lines that had been created at that time, according to an unpublished NIH analysis, the Washington Post reports.