Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Mourning Paradise: Collective Trauma In A Town Destroyed
The depth of psychological damage after the fire in Paradise, Calif., may depend on how much help residents are getting now. (Stephanie O'Neill Patison, )
Podcast: 'What The Health': Still More 'Medicare-For-All'
Sarah Kliff of Vox.com, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the latest version of a “Medicare-for-all” bill by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a presidential hopeful, and Democratic and Republican reactions to it. They also discuss the latest on congressional efforts to rein in drug prices and another state effort to expand Medicaid — but not exactly in the way voters wanted. Also, Rovner interviews Ceci Connolly of the Alliance of Community Health Plans. ( )
Happy Friday California! The "Medicare-for-all" issue continues to dominate intra-party debate among Democrats and, of course, 2020 campaign posturing. More on that in the National Roundup section below, but first, here are your top California health reads of the day:
Stanford Health Nurses Prepared To Walk: The union for 3,700 registered nurses working at two of the Bay Area's top-ranked hospitals voted yesterday to authorize a strike. The work stoppage at Stanford Hospital, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and other outpatient facilities could begin as early as April 21. Contract negotiations with Stanford Health Care management are stalled primarily over wages and workplace safety. This is a well-covered story by the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, the Bay Area News Group and Modern Healthcare.
Kamala Harris Targets Care Issues Impacting Pregnant Black Women: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a 2020 White House candidate, is one of several lawmakers trying to use their national platform to shine the spotlight on the ongoing maternal health crisis -- one that hits black women disproportionately. Harris proposes increased funding to train medical providers about how racial prejudice impacts patient care: “At the heart of it, it really is about implicit bias in the medical health profession,” she says. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
How Tesla And Its Doctor Made Sure Injured Employees Didn’t Get Workers’ Comp: In the Center for Investigative Reporting latest story on Tesla's handling of worker compensation cases, a former clinic employee at Access Omnicare clinic in Fremont, Calif. shares her experience's with the intense pressure the company leveraged. She says her boss “[Dr. Basil] Besh wanted to make certain that we were doing what Tesla wanted so badly,” she said. “He got the priorities messed up. It’s supposed to be patients first.” Read the full report by Reveal.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day. And have a healthy weekend.
More News From Across The State
LAist:
Black Maternal Health Week Begins Now. Here Are 11 Events Happening Around SoCal
To help protect black mothers, a national initiative called Black Maternal Health Week was created. It begins Thursday and there are events happening across the region. Before we get to the roundup of happenings, let's quickly review the progress that's been made locally for black infants. (Neely, 4/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Four Women Now Allege Pregnancy Discrimination At AC Transit
Three more women have joined a lawsuit against AC Transit alleging the public agency discriminated against female bus drivers during and after their pregnancies. In an amended complaint filed Monday in Alameda County Superior Court, Jada Edward, Javonne Knight and Christy Pullum joined Nikki McNaulty in claiming they were exposed them to carbon monoxide fumes, weren’t given adequate lactation accommodations and were forced to drive uncomfortably engorged. Without any modified work arrangements, the women said, they suffered stress and physical exhaustion and took unplanned, unpaid leaves of absence that sometimes left them without health coverage. (McBride, 4/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Fixing San Francisco’s Behavioral Health System Is Complicated — Here’s Why.
Something isn’t working within San Francisco’s behavioral health care system, city officials admit, but they don’t know exactly what’s wrong or what they need to do to fix it. The city spends nearly $400 million a year on those services, encompassing about 2,000 beds and more than 300 different programs. But while the Department of Public Health says it serves 30,000 people a year, San Francisco still finds itself with scores of mentally distressed people on its streets every day, often with nowhere to go that they find acceptable. (Thadani, 4/12)
The Wall Street Journal:
One Teenager Killed Himself. Six More Followed.
The country’s rising suicide rate, part of an increase in what has been dubbed “deaths of despair,” is hitting the youngest Americans hard. The overall suicide rate rose 26% between 2007 and 2017, the most recent year for government data, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For children ages 10 to 17, over the same period, the rate more than doubled. The most painful and perplexing cases sometimes happen in the same town, at the same school, on the same block. (Lovett, 4/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Fight Over Waterfront Homeless Shelter Shows Divisions In Diverse San Francisco District
The proposal to build the city’s largest Navigation Center on a 2.3-acre parking lot across from Piers 30-32 has inspired a bitter backlash from waterfront residents who fear the plan will turn their neighborhood into a dirty, dangerous place. Their opposition has been met with raw antipathy across the city, including from other waterfront residents who see the center as a moral imperative. (Fracassa, 4/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Homelessness: Regional Plan Needed To Solve Bay Area Crisis, Business Group Says
The Bay Area has the third-largest homeless population — and one of the most problematic — in the United States, and the only way to make real headway toward clearing the streets is to systematically tie together tracking systems, housing strategies and other efforts from the region’s nine counties, a study released Wednesday contends. (Fagan, 4/10)
Los Angeles Times:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Pushes For Low-Income Housing On State Property
In an effort to kick-start low-income housing construction, Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to solicit bids from developers by the end of this year to build homes on at least three state-owned properties. The proposal, announced Thursday, follows a January executive order to survey state lands to determine where housing could be constructed. State officials culled a list of nearly 45,000 state-owned parcels, finding 1,300 that could be viable for new homes. (Dillon, 4/11)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
New Rady Clinic To Fight Chronic Pain Without Opioids
Billed as the first such effort in Southern California, the program, which launched Thursday morning, is a partnership between Rady and Children’s Specialized Hospital of New Jersey. It will use a 28-day course of psychology and physical therapy to help patients ages 11 to 21 manage the pain that sometimes remains and intensifies long after a traumatic injury heals. ...Though commercial health insurance companies can be convinced to cover a course of treatment for patients who have not responded to outpatient chronic pain therapy, Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance for disadvantaged and disabled residents has not yet approved inpatient service, which costs between $50,000 and $70,000 per patient. (Sisson, 4/11)
USA Today:
Kratom, Herbal Drug, Linked To More Overdose Deaths, CDC Says
Kratom – a plant grown naturally in Southeast Asia and often sold in powder capsules – was a cause of death in 91 overdoses in the United States from July 2016 to December 2017, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In seven of the overdoses, kratom was the only substance to test positive in a toxicology report, though the CDC says other substances couldn't be ruled out. (Miller, 4/11)
The California Health Report:
Crime Survivors Want More Support And Criminal Justice Reforms, Report Finds
The survey found that one in three Californians have been a victim of crime in the past 10 years, but only 20 percent of victims felt they had received adequate support to help them recover. Supports that were lacking included financial and legal help, medical services and counseling. At the same time, a majority of victims said they lacked confidence in the ability of the current prison system to reduce recidivism. Instead, most said they supported reducing prison sentences for people considered a “low risk” to public safety, and spending more of the state’s prison budget on funding crime prevention, rehabilitation and mental health treatment programs. (Boyd-Barrett, 4/11)
National Roundup: 'Medicare For All,' The Health Agenda, And Medicaid
The Washington Post:
‘We’ve Done A Lot More Than You Would Think’: How The Health-Insurance Industry Is Working To Pull Democrats Away From Medicare-For-All
At a company town hall meeting in late February, a UnitedHealthcare executive assured employees that the private health insurance giant was indeed working to undercut support for Democratic lawmakers’ push for Medicare-for-all. But the company, he said, is trying to tread lightly. “One of the things you said: ‘We’re really quiet’ or ‘It seems like we’re quiet.’ Um, we’ve done a lot more than you would think,” chief executive Steve Nelson said in response to an employee’s question about the company’s role in the Medicare-for-all debate, according to a video of his remarks obtained by The Washington Post. “You want to be kind of thoughtful about how you show up and have these kind of conversations, because the last thing you want to do is become the poster child during the presidential campaign." (Stein, 4/12)
The Hill:
GOP Senator Issues Stark Warning To Republicans On Health Care
GOP Sen. Mike Braun (Ind.) has a stark warning for Republicans: Come up with a viable alternative to ObamaCare or face another rout in the 2020 election. Speaking with The Hill at his office in the Senate Russell Building, Braun described the GOP’s push to repeal ObamaCare without a plan of their own as one of the primary reasons for the Democratic wave election in 2018. (Easley, 4/12)
The Wall Street Journal:
At Party Retreat, Pelosi Tries To Focus Democrats On ‘Kitchen Table’ Issues
House Democrats are hoping to use their retreat this week and the two-week recess that follows to refocus on policy topics that helped them win the chamber in 2018. ... In a letter sent to House Democrats Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee wrote about the importance of “fighting for kitchen table issues,” listing reducing health-care costs and raising wages among them. Health care was the signature issue in the 2018 midterm election. (Duehren, 4/11)
The Washington Post:
Far-Left Policies Will Drive A 2020 Defeat, Centrist Democrats Fear. So They’re Floating Alternatives.
After ceding the policy debate to the left for months, Democratic centrists have begun to fight back with new proposals and a stark warning: The latest wave of far-left ideas, though popular with many in the Democratic Party, could lead to electoral disaster in 2020. Environmentalists are drafting alternatives to the Green New Deal. Candidates who have endorsed Medicare-for-all are open to backing more incremental plans. And the economic strategist who helped steer the last two Democratic presidents is warning that liberal tax proposals could backfire. (Scherer and Viser, 4/11)
NPR:
The Issue Of Medicare For All Is Dominating The 2020 Democratic Field
Several 2020 Democratic candidates support Medicare for All, but what would that proposal look like in action? (Kodjak, 4/11)
Modern Healthcare:
Medicaid Panel Says Give States More Power Over Drug Prices
A Medicaid advisory panel wants Congress to remove a cap on rebates paid for drugs under the program and create a grace period for states to restrict coverage of a drug for 180 days to determine whether it is effective. The Medicaid and CHIP Payment Advisory Commission adopted both policies unanimously during its Thursday meeting in Washington. (King, 4/11)
National Roundup: Drug Pricing
Stat:
Lawmakers Ask The Trump Administration To Investigate PBM Pricing
As pharmacy benefit managers undergo increasing scrutiny, two lawmakers have asked the Health and Human Services inspector general to investigate so-called spread pricing practices by these pharmaceutical middlemen as part of a larger inquiry into rising drug costs. In an April 8 letter released on Wednesday night, the heads of the Senate Finance Committee pointed to instances where PBMs have purportedly used this practice to make millions of dollars in excess profits at the expense of state Medicaid programs. Spread pricing is a crucial but little-known part of the opaque pharmaceutical pricing system and refers to fees PBMs pay pharmacies and bill back to Medicaid. (Silverman, 4/11)
Stat:
Many Employers Would Like To Drop Controversial Rebates On Drugs
As Washington lawmakers struggle to find ways to lower drug costs, a new survey finds that a sizable proportion of employers support proposals to eliminate the rebates paid by drug makers to win favorable insurance coverage. Specifically, 42% of nearly 600 employers support eliminating rebates for both public and private payers, and another 5% were in favor of eliminating them only for government healthcare plans. Just 17% opposed any change to the current rebating system, but 36% have no opinion or want more information, according to the survey conducted last month by the Mercer benefits consulting firm. (Silverman, 4/11)
Transgender Troops In The Military
The Associated Press:
Medical Association Blasts Military's Transgender Policy
A Trump administration regulation set to go into effect Friday bars transgender people from the military unless they “correct those deficiencies,” a description the American Medical Association said Thursday is unfair and defies science. The AMA told The Associated Press on Thursday the policy and its wording mischaracterizes transgender people as having a “deficiency.” It said it also objects to the Defense Department classifying the need to transition to another gender among “administratively disqualifying conditions” that include those the Pentagon has labeled as “congenital or developmental defects.” (Watson and Crary, 4/11)
NPR:
How The Trump Administration's Transgender Troop Ban Is Affecting One Military Family
Lt. Col. Bree "B" Fram left a doctor's office on April 2. Presenting that day as Bryan, the name given to them at birth, B should have been relieved. "Overall, it's a good thing," said B. "It just didn't feel great to have to do it on someone else's timeline other than my own." "It" was an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria. As a transgender member of the military, B had to secure the diagnosis by April 12 in order to continue serving openly. That's when the Trump administration's new policy on transgender military service takes effect. It effectively bans transgender people from joining the military. The more than 14,000 already serving will be allowed to do so openly, so long as they have that formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria filed by the deadline. If not, they must serve under the gender assigned them at birth - or leave the armed forces. (Hodges and Chang, 4/11)
Los Angeles Times:
UC's Deal With Catholic Hospitals Would Threaten The Rights Of Women And LGBTQ Patients
The University of California regents are wrestling with a question that should have an easy answer: Should they approve an “affiliation” between UC San Francisco, one of the leading teaching hospitals in America, and Dignity Health, a Catholic hospital chain that openly discriminates against women and LGBTQ patients and requires its doctors to comply with religious directives, some of which run counter to medical science and ethical practice? The easy answer, and the right answer, is “no.” (Michael Hiltzik, 4/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Millions Will Lose Coverage If Trump Cuts Affordable Care Act
Rejecting the advice of his attorney general and his secretary of Health and Human Services, President Trump decided to file a brief urging the federal court of appeals to declare unconstitutional the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This is inexcusable and inexplicable, both as a matter of health policy and as an issue of law. By any measure, the Affordable Care Act has been a success. Declaring it unconstitutional would have disastrous consequences for our health care system. An estimated 22 million people would lose their health insurance coverage if the Trump administration succeeds in having the law struck down. Moreover, the act instituted many long overdue and highly desirable reforms of the health insurance industry. (Erwin Chemerinsky, 4/7)
USA Today:
Don't Wait For Medicare For All, Start Fixing Health Care Together Now
What do Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and a 70% marginal tax rate all have in common? They’re dramatic shifts in public policy and none of them are remotely possible, at least right now. That doesn’t mean they’re bad ideas. Quite the contrary: there are strong arguments to make for each of these proposals. Health coverage for all, reducing pollution and increasing taxes on the very wealthy represent basic ideas (ignore the current labels) that are attractive to many Americans. The problem is that it may be decade or more before any of them have a chance of being politically viable. (Arthur “Tim” Garson Jr., 4/12)
The Washington Post:
Democrats Should Listen To Pelosi On Health Care
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) rolled out his health-care plan — a soup-to-nuts single-payer plan that would effectively end private insurance. He operates in a weird space in which his socialism is taken as a given and he is never really grilled by the press on how he’d accomplish it (he is also against ending the filibuster) and how he’d pay for it. No slouch when it comes to progressive policy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has made clear the dangers of embracing Medicare-for-all, publicly questioning how we would pay for it. She told The Post in a recent interview, “When most people say they’re for Medicare-for-all, I think they mean health care for all. Let’s see what that means. A lot of people love having their employer-based insurance and the Affordable Care Act gave them better benefits.” (Jennifer Rubin, 4/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Homelessness Needs A Bay Area-Wide Answer, Not Just City-By-City Solutions
Regional thinking goes into solving traffic woes, air pollution and land use. But that same shared outlook is missing when it comes to the searing problem of homelessness, which spills across city boundaries. (4/10)
Sacramento Bee:
Mental Illness Often A Cause Of Homelessness
My first glimpse of “Sandy” was the sight of her eagerly peeking through the curtains, watching for me to arrive at her house. She was 14, and we’d been paired up by Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Now, she’s all grown up and suffering from mental illness and a litany of other problems. For the past two years, she’s also been homeless. During our 30-year friendship, Sandy (not her real name) has longed for a life she’ll likely never get. She wants to live like the people she sees on TV. She wants an apartment and a job. She wants to go to the California State Fair. But there are big obstacles. (Nancy Weaver Teichert, 4/7)
Los Angeles Times:
A School Decided To Let Planned Parenthood Teach Sex-Education Classes. Trouble Ensued
The notice was emailed to parents of Pacific Grove Middle School students on March 27: In five days, outside educators from Planned Parenthood would be on campus, teaching sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders about sex. The notice did not sit well with a mother of two middle school students in Pacific Grove, a charming seaside town on the tip of the Monterey Peninsula, north of tony Carmel. (Robin Abcarian, 4/12)
Fresno Bee:
Medication Abortion Bill Is Bad Public Policy
Last week the state Senate Health Committee approved SB 24, a bill requiring that the student health centers at every CSU and UC provide medication abortion drugs to students. The bill now goes to more committees in the Senate, before heading to the Assembly. Its success demonstrates how abortion ideology is running roughshod over common sense in Sacramento. Let’s define terms, and explain exactly what this bill would do. “Medication abortion” is a series of two drugs taken over two days, at 8-10 weeks of pregnancy, to induce an artificial miscarriage. At 10 weeks, a fetus has arms, legs, fingers, toes, eyes, sex characteristics, a heartbeat, and a working brain — distinguishably a living, human organism. (John V. Gerardi, 4/10)
Stat:
Taking Care Of Charlie Helped A California Town Reduce Hospital Use
Project Restoration didn’t just save Charlie’s life. It also transformed Clearlake. In less than a year, its approach yielded a 44% reduction in hospital utilization, an 82% reduction in use of the community response system, and a 45% reduction in hospital costs among the high-use population. The project is freeing up resources, sharing data across agencies, and creating cross-sector teams to address access to affordable housing, transportation, and behavioral health. Project Restoration leveraged its success to secure a $1.6 million grant to develop a center for integrated support services. In partnership with the Camden Coalition’s National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs, the project is extending the concept to more hospitals and stakeholders. (Lauran Hardin and Shelly Trumbo, 4/8)
The Mercury News:
State Soda Tax Will Save Money, Improve Health
California lawmakers need to end their unhealthy relationship with Big Soda. While the soda industry pours millions into legislators’ campaigns every year, state taxpayers pay billions in obesity-related health care costs because of sugary beverage consumption. Big Soda was at it again Tuesday, forcing legislators to shelve two bills aimed at reducing Californians’ soda consumption. But Assemblyman Richard Bloom’s soda tax proposal, AB 138, passed the Assembly Health Committee by an 8-5 vote. (4/11)
Sacramento Bee:
Deadly Force Reform Law Faces Critical Committee Hearing
Efforts to reform the use of deadly force by police face a critical test this week. Assembly Bill 392, authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), will be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 9, in Room 4202 of the State Capitol. Committee hearings are crucial milestones for legislative bills. Before proceeding for a full vote of a legislative body, a bill must first survive committee. During a committee hearing, citizens have a chance to voice their support – or opposition – to the bill. It’s as simple as showing up, lining up and speaking up. Anyone who supports deadly force reform should attend the committee hearing if possible. (4/6)
The New York Times:
You Say Industry Can Regulate Itself? Prove It
The system of slaughterhouse regulation is out of date. The industry has succeeded over time in sharply reducing the kinds of problems visible from the slaughterhouse floor — the government says its health inspectors increasingly are policing aesthetic issues — but the incidence of some illnesses caused by pork consumption has stopped falling. (4/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Why Finland Comes Out On Top On Happiness And More
When the U.N.’s 2019 World Happiness Report came out last month, Finland ranked on top for the second year in a row. Small Finland — about 75% the size of California with just 5.5 million people — consistently trounces the United States and other developed nations on ratings of life satisfaction, health, safety, governance, community and social progress.As a result, Finland now has a cottage industry in sending its experts across the Atlantic to have their brains picked for quick fixes to America’s problems. But those fixes never really take root because the underlying reason Finns are faring so well is because we have a different mindset about success — one that’s based on equity and community. (Jorma Ollila, 4/7)