Latest California Healthline Stories
San Francisco Supervisor Proposes Measure to Make City a Medical Marijuana ‘Sanctuary’
Following recent raids by federal agents on two California medical marijuana clubs, San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno has proposed legislation that would declare the city a medical marijuana “sanctuary” and would “urge” local, state and federal law enforcement officials to “refrain from enforcing and prosecuting anti-drug laws” prohibiting the use of medical marijuana, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Senate-Passed Parity Mental Health Bill Ignites Lobbying
The Senate last week passed an expanded version of a 1996 mental health parity law, legislation that has “touched off an intense lobbying campaign” on Capitol Hill, the New York Times reports.
Los Angeles-Area AIDS Healthcare Foundation Thrift Stores Offer Free HIV Testing
Out of the Closet, a Los Angeles-based chain of thrift stores funded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, began offering customers free HIV testing in 1997 and now has expanded the service to six of its 17 stores, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Ventura County Emergency Workers Hold Bioterrorism Response Drill
In a test designed to assess Ventura County’s ability to respond to a bioterrorist attack, more than 200 county police officers, firefighters and hospital workers trained in working with hazardous materials participated in a mock sarin gas attack yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Lawmakers May ‘Defer’ Medicare Rx Drug Benefit This Year
Several “crucial” lawmakers and health policy analysts say that Congress will likely “defer” the “long-sought, long-promised” Medicare prescription drug benefit “again” this year, the New York Times reports.
California Consumer Affairs Department to Debate Standards for Medical Provider Complaint Disclosure
Representatives from the Department of Consumer Affairs, along with consumer advocates and industry representatives, at a hearing today will debate giving consumers “greater access” to complaints filed against doctors, pharmacists and “scores of other licenced professionals,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
PacifiCare to Offer Plans with Lower Premiums, Higher Copays for Doctor Visits, Certain Hospitals
PacifiCare of California formally announced last Thursday that it will offer new health plans that “substantially” raise copayments for doctor visits and hospital procedures performed outside of “select” facilities in exchange for lower premiums, the Contra Costa Times reports.
New Anthrax Source Unlikely in New York City Death
Although the anthrax-related death of 61-year-old Kathy Nguyen, a Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital supply clerk, remains a “mystery,” New York City health officials are “growing more confident” that her case is an isolated one rather than the “harbinger of a new outbreak,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Current Hospital System Ill-Suited for Bioterrorism
As lawmakers and public health officials debate how much funding the nation’s health system needs to prepare for a large-scale bioterrorist attack, the New York Times reports that this effort will require more than money — “it will also [necessitate] a sea change in the way hospitals do business.
A Petaluma school board policy that permits students to leave school grounds without parental consent for “confidential medical services,” including STD treatment, birth control and abortions, is being challenged by parents and the newest member of the school board, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports.