Latest California Healthline Stories
Bush Offers Economic Stimulus Plan with Medicaid Benefits
President Bush on Saturday proposed an economic stimulus plan that would offer Medicaid benefits for unemployed workers, the AP/Miami Herald reports.
Ventura County Examines Two Options for Residents with Mental Disabilities
Ventura County supervisors tomorrow will examine two proposals for housing people with mental illnesses, including a “scaled-down plan” for at least 51 people, the Los Angeles Times reports.
‘Promotoras’ Educates Peninsula Latinas About Reproductive Health
Planned Parenthood Golden Gate has launched a program that sends Spanish-speaking women into Latino neighborhoods to talk about birth control, cervical cancer and other reproductive health issues, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Rx Drug Industry Takes Steps to Block Michigan Formulary
The pharmaceutical industry took two “major” actions last week designed to head off Michigan’s plan to “compel” drug makers to lower the prices of their medications for Medicaid beneficiaries and participants in state-sponsored drug programs by creating a preferred list of drugs, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Maryland Lawmakers to ‘Thwart’ Sale of Carefirst to WellPoint
Maryland legislators opposed to the sale of not-for-profit insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield to California’s WellPoint Health Networks say they plan to “thwart” the deal “and force the health insurer to better protect the poor,” the Washington Post reports.
AMA Debates Offering Financial Incentives for Organ Donation
The American Medical Association’s council on ethical and judicial affairs yesterday debated “paying dying people and their families for vital organs,” the AP/New York Times reports.
Los Angeles Times Profiles Ventura County’s Needle-Exchange Program
The Los Angeles Times on Saturday profiled a needle-exchange program being run by the Rainbow Alliance in Ventura County.
Opinion Pieces Say Medicaid Cuts by Federal Government Will Greatly Harm California’s Safety Net
Two cuts in federal funding to California’s health system announced by the Bush administration last week will further strain the state’s 73 “safety net” hospitals, which are already “frayed by underfunding,” according to a Los Angeles Times editorial.
Opposition to Mental Health Parity Measure is Growing
Opposition to a Senate-passed measure that would expand the 1996 mental health parity law “is building” and could “hold up” negotiations on the fiscal year 2002 Labor-HHS appropriations bill.
Senate to Vote Monday on Temporary Human Cloning Ban
Senate Republicans yesterday won the right to introduce a legislative amendment that would impose a six-month moratorium on all human cloning research and activity, and the Senate is scheduled to vote on the amendment on Monday, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports.