Viewpoints: Prop 8 Ostensibly Seeks To Improve Dialysis Treatment But It Could End Up Hurting Patients

Los Angeles Times: Proposition 8 Isn't About Dialysis Care, It's About Punishing Non-Unionized Clinics. Vote No
If Proposition 8 were truly about improving dialysis care, it would take steps clearly and directly related to quality, such as increasing clinic inspections or boosting competition in the market. It does none of those things. Voters should reject it. (9/26)

The Mercury News: Initiative Would Endanger Dialysis Patients’ Lives
Proposition 8 would set severely low limits on what insurance companies are required to reimburse to dialysis clinics for treatments. These limits are arbitrary and would not cover the cost of providing high-quality care in a clinic. (Theodore Mazer, 9/25)

The Mercury News: Put Kidney Patient Care Above Corporate Profits
Dialysis is a multibillion-dollar industry that profits from the misfortune of patients with a life-threatening condition, and these corporations are reaping those massive profits at the expense of patient care. Proposition 8 will ensure that the priority in California swings away from the current profit-driven system to one in which patients get the quality care they need. (Megallan Handford, 9/25)

Sacramento Bee: Endorsement: Vote Yes On Prop. 4, Save A California Child’s Life
Faced with a choice of whether to provide children with access to top-notch hospitals or leave them and their families to fend for themselves, big-hearted Californians have shown time and again that they will gladly hand over their tax dollars — even in the midst of a recession. They should do so again this year by voting “yes” on Proposition 4 on the Nov. 6 ballot. (9/25)

Los Angeles Times: Vote Yes On Prop. 4 For Children's Hospitals
California voters are being asked this November to authorize more than $16 billion in state bonds to fund a range of infrastructure projects, such as wastewater treatment and homeless housing. The smallest of these measures is Proposition 4, which would tee up $1.5 billion in new borrowing to add capacity, improve safety and upgrade equipment at nonprofit or public children’s hospitals around the state. Many of these hospitals serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients, leaving them dependent on the state’s help to meet their construction needs. Voters have approved two similar measures before, in 2004 and 2008, and they should pass this one as well. (9/25)

Los Angeles Times: Why Don't Women Come Forward? Talking About Sexual Assault Is Excruciating And People Don't Want To Hear It
Does anyone remember how difficult it was to talk about sexual assault 40 years ago? I do.I was raped in 1978, four years before Christine Blasey Ford alleges she was assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh. I was 19, on summer break after my sophomore year at UC Santa Cruz, helping my sister move across the country. Our car broke down. After the mechanic fixed it, I went for a drink with him. It was night by then and my sister and I had rented a motel room. I drank a Scotch, he drank a beer. On our way back, he swerved his truck into a cornfield. We fought. He broke a bottle of beer and held the jagged glass up to my face. I thought I would die, or be cut and disfigured, so I gave in. Then, he said, “I wouldn’t be embarrassed to take you anywhere,” as if this were a date. (Gabrielle Selz, 9/26)

Los Angeles Times: Bummer About Your Medical Emergency, But Your Claim Is Denied Because You Didn't Call In Advance 
Of the many dubious reasons insurers use for denying claims, one of the most bizarre is telling a patient they neglected to obtain prior approval for treatment in the midst of a medical emergency. Because, of course, the first thing most people think of in a life-or-death situation is phoning some insurance company’s call center and jumping through bureaucratic hoops. (David Lazarus, 9/21)

Sacramento Bee: As Suicide Rates Rise, A Survivor Pleads For Action
The day last August that people in Sacramento’s restaurant and bar industry learned of Ben Moore’s death, his friends and colleagues gathered to toast and remember the bartender at Block Butcher and Low Brau, crying because he was gone and trying to understand what happened and why they had missed the signs. A month later, another Sacramento man attempted to die by his own hand. As his friends and colleagues around the world worked together to try to find him, as multiple law enforcement agencies in Northern California looked for him, as his son feared losing his father, as a woman tore herself apart in despair – trying to get him to choose life – that man had no idea who Ben Moore was. (Andre-Tascha Lamme, 9/21)

Fresno Bee: Fresno County Is Transforming How It Helps People With Mental Health Needs 
In partnership with many community leaders and organizations, the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health, under the leadership of Director Dawan Utecht and her team, is transforming the county’s mental health care delivery network. Here are just a few of the accomplishments over the last few years. (Lynne Ashbeck, 9/26)

Los Angeles Times: 'Screen Time' Is A Good Start To Curbing Our Smartphone Addiction, But Apple Needs To Do More
Screen Time, part of the operating system that iPhone owners began downloading last week, represents the biggest move yet by a technology company to encourage less use of a device, not more. That’s a good thing: According to data from a time-tracking app called Moment, Americans spend on average four hours a day — a quarter of our waking lives — staring at their smartphones.Screen Time, which is new with Apple’s iOS 12, automatically tracks how often you pick up your phone and how much time you spend on each app. It also allows you to set daily limits for time-sucks like social media, games, or streaming video. It’s a good start, but Apple could do more. A huge number of people need help creating better digital boundaries. (Catherine Price, 9/26)

Los Angeles Times: Now 90, Songwriter Burt Bacharach Is Doing Everything He Can To Stop School Shootings
The man who wrote that song “I Say a Little Prayer” and hundreds more — songs that are part of the soundtrack of your life and the whole force of his own — that man, Burt Bacharach, is now asking for a little prayer and a little support from his fellow Americans for a cause that has moved him to tears, and to music. He and songwriter Rudy Perez composed “Live to See Another Day.” It’s a plea that the mass shootings of schoolchildren be stopped. It’s a video that’s just out, and it was crafted, compellingly, in the hallways and classrooms of an empty school. Its lyrics, like “Our lives mean something more than pain,” are performed by two teenage singers. At the video’s end, it asks people to donate to the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, named for the school where 20 first-graders and six adults were murdered in 2012. (Patt Morrison, 9/26)

Sacramento Bee: The Next Big Move On Climate Change? Electric Buses
California’s climate and public health kryptonite is our addiction to cars, buses and trucks that burn fossil fuels. The California Air Resources Board has the opportunity to deploy our anti-kryptonite — electric buses. On Sept. 28, the board will discuss a proposed rule requiring California transit agencies to phase in zero-emission electric buses over the next two decades, with the goal of a statewide zero-emission bus fleet. That means as many as 11,000 electric transit buses by 2040. (Adrian Martinze, 9/21)

Sacramento Bee: Farm-To-Fork Is Paying Off In Sacramento 
Since the passage of our region’s Farm-to-Fork Capital resolution in 2012, community members and business leaders have championed the effort, improving the local economy, the health of our residents and long-term policy. The city and county passed ordinances in 2015 and 2017, respectively, to expand backyard farming, farm stands and urban agricultural education. (Tim Johnson and Amber K. Scott, 9/27)