Latest California Healthline Stories
New York Times Profiles Nationwide Efforts to Improve Student Diets
The New York Times today reports on efforts nationwide to improve the diets of teenagers.
NPR Poll Finds ‘Affordable’ Health Care Costs, Medicare Rx Benefit Top Concerns Among Voters
NPR’s “Morning Edition” today gives the latest findings from a series of surveys conducted for NPR by two pollsters — Democrat Stan Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Republican Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies — on issues concerning U.S. voters.
State Prescription Drug Assistance Programs Reach Few Medicare Beneficiaries, Study Finds
State prescription drug assistance programs currently serve only 1.2 million, or 3%, of the nation’s 39 million Medicare beneficiaries, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study that concludes that a federal Medicare drug benefit is needed to fill the gaps left by these programs.
President Bush late last week urged Congress to pass a Medicare prescription drug benefit and allocate more money to health plans that participate in the Medicare+Choice program, the AP/Baltimore Sun reports.
Senate Commerce Committee Reports Online Privacy Bill; Future of Legislation in Question
The Senate Commerce Committee last Friday reported an online privacy bill (S 2201) that would protect personal information, including medical records, to the full Senate for consideration, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Bush administration should develop a strategy to “markedly decrease” new HIV infections in the United States and appropriate additional funding for domestic and international AIDS programs, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS wrote in a May 1 letter to President Bush, the Washington Times reports.
Studies Examine ‘Stubbornly High’ Birth Rate Among California Latina Teenagers
Several state organizations and schools have conducted studies to determine the reasons behind the “stubbornly high” teenage birth rate among Latinas, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Increasing Medicaid Costs Over the Last Two Years Lead to Budget Deficits in 40 States
Increased state Medicaid costs over the past two years have contributed to $40 billion in budget deficits in more than 40 states, despite improvements in the national economy, according to a survey conducted by the National Governors Association, the Washington Post reports.
Senate Passes Legislation to Allow Nurses to Prescribe Mifepristone
The Senate yesterday passed a bill (SB 1301) that would allow nurses and other health care providers who are not physicians to prescribe the “controversial” abortion pill mifepristone under a doctor’s supervision, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Until recently, telephone service representatives at three Kaiser Permanente call centers in Sacramento, San Jose and Vallejo were given financial bonuses if they reduced the amount of time they spent talking with each patient and limited the number of doctor’s appointments they scheduled, among other actions, the Los Angeles Times reports.