- KFF Health News Original Stories 6
- Lots Of Boos In California For Senate Health Bill
- Senate Health Bill Would Revamp Medicaid, Alter ACA Guarantees, Cut Premium Support
- Promises Made To Protect Preexisting Conditions Prove Hollow
- Winners And Losers: 40 Is Old In Senate GOP Health Plan’s Subsidy Structure
- Poll: Most Americans Unaware GOP Plans Would Make Deep Funding Cuts To Medicaid
- Senate Releases Health Care Legislation: Read The Bill
- Covered California & The Health Law 2
- With Health Plan, GOP Would Drastically Cut Medicaid And Fundamentally Reshape Program
- 'The Consequences For California Are Devastating': Millions Would Lose Coverage Under GOP Plan
- Sacramento Watch 1
- Single-Payer In California: Who's Covered, How It's Paid For And Other Questions Answered
Latest From California Healthline:
KFF Health News Original Stories
Lots Of Boos In California For Senate Health Bill
Political leaders, medical providers and consumer advocates say the Senate bill, like its counterpart in the House, could put health care out of reach for millions of Golden State residents. (Anna Gorman and Kellen Browning and Ana B. Ibarra, 6/23)
Senate Health Bill Would Revamp Medicaid, Alter ACA Guarantees, Cut Premium Support
Despite promises to craft their own way to revamp the federal health law, the Senate Republican bill follows the House’s lead in many ways. (Julie Rovner, 6/22)
Promises Made To Protect Preexisting Conditions Prove Hollow
Experts say the loopholes would allow states to bypass some protections for people with preexisting conditions. (Jay Hancock and Rachel Bluth, 6/22)
Winners And Losers: 40 Is Old In Senate GOP Health Plan’s Subsidy Structure
The latest Republican plan to revamp the health law reshapes how age and income affect what help consumers get for paying premiums. (Julie Appleby, 6/22)
Poll: Most Americans Unaware GOP Plans Would Make Deep Funding Cuts To Medicaid
The survey also found public support for program changes that would place work requirements on beneficiaries and make drug testing a condition of enrollment. (Shefali Luthra, 6/23)
Senate Releases Health Care Legislation: Read The Bill
The public -- and most senators -- got their first look at the bill as it was released Thursday morning. It had been crafted in secret over the past several weeks. (6/22)
More News From Across The State
Covered California & The Health Law
With Health Plan, GOP Would Drastically Cut Medicaid And Fundamentally Reshape Program
On Thursday, Republican leaders released the Better Care Reconciliation Act, their version of repeal-and-replace legislation for the Affordable Care Act. Here's a look at what's in it, what's coming next, and who opposes the plan.
The New York Times:
Senate Health Care Bill Includes Deep Cuts To Medicaid
Senate Republicans, who for seven years have promised a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, took a major step on Thursday toward that goal, unveiling a bill to make deep cuts in Medicaid and end the law’s mandate that most Americans have health insurance. The 142-page bill would create a new system of federal tax credits to help people buy health insurance, while offering states the ability to drop many of the benefits required by the Affordable Care Act, like maternity care, emergency services and mental health treatment. (Pear and Kaplan, 6/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Senate GOP Health Bill Would End ACA Penalties, Cut Taxes On High Incomes
The bill would reverse the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid, a move that could affect millions of people, and would for the first time limit states’ overall Medicaid funding from Washington. It also would eliminate the requirement in the 2010 law that most Americans sign up for health insurance, and provide instead less-robust tax credits than the ACA to help people afford insurance. It would repeal hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes on businesses and high-income households and retroactively cut taxes on capital gains. (Armour, Peterson and Radnofsky, 6/22)
The Washington Post:
How The GOP Would Cut Billions More From Medicaid With A Single Letter
Already, the version of the bill the House passed last month included drastic reductions in Medicaid outlays of about $834 billion over 10 years. GOP senators' own version of the bill, which they made public Thursday, could go even further over the long term. Both the House and Senate bills aim to set a per-person cap on Medicaid spending in each state. That cap would adjust annually to take into account inflation. Through 2025, both bills would adjust the cap based on a measure of how rapidly medical costs are expanding — a measure known as the CPI-M. Starting in 2025, however, the Senate bill would change the formula, instead funding Medicaid based on a measure of how rapidly all costs are rising (technically, the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers, or just CPI-U). (Ehrenfreund, 6/22)
The Washington Post:
How The GOP Health-Care Bill Would Address One Of Obamacare’s Big Problems — But Could Cause An Even Bigger One
The Senate bill would restructure the way the Affordable Care Act provides insurance subsidies. Currently, there's a maximum and a minimum level of income at which a person qualifies for federal help. The Senate bill would remove that minimum, meaning that everyone who makes less than 350 percent of the federal poverty level would qualify for insurance subsidies. That change is aimed at one outcome of Obamacare that nobody — neither critics nor supporters — ever intended. As planned, everyone making less than the minimum required for subsidies would qualify for Medicaid, which the law sought to expand nationwide. But when the Supreme Court gave states more freedom to decide whether they would expand the program, many states didn't. That left a coverage gap in many states and left approximately 2.6 million people in a maddening paradox: They made too much money to qualify for Medicaid but too little money to qualify for insurance subsidies. Without federal help, most are unable to afford health insurance and go without. (Johnson, 6/22)
NPR:
Senate Republicans Reveal Long-Awaited Obamacare Overhaul
"That's a big deal. It's a big shift," said John Corlett, president of the Center for Community Solutions, who also served as a director of Ohio's Medicaid program. "It means billions of dollars less in federal aid to states for their Medicaid programs." (Kurtzleben, 6/22)
The Associated Press:
How The Senate Health Bill Compares To House,' Obamacare'
The bill's impact on personal health care costs would be uneven: Premiums would likely go down for younger people, but older people would pay more. Out-of-pocket costs to cover insurance deductibles and co-payments would go up. For those who believe the government is too involved in health care, the Senate bill stands as an overdue course correction. But those who believe health care is a right will see it as a step back. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Assessing The Impact Of The Senate GOP Health Bill
The ACA’s protections for people with costly pre-existing medical conditions would stay in place. That means insurance companies couldn’t deny people with pre-existing conditions health coverage or charge them higher premiums. Under the House bill, insurers in some states could charge sicker people higher premiums, which conservative House lawmakers argued could help lower premiums for other people. But Senate lawmakers rejected that idea. States could get waivers to roll back benefits that must now be required under the ACA, and that could leave people with certain medical conditions paying more for their coverage. (Hackman, 6/22)
The Washington Post:
Limited Coverage, Subsidies For Some In Senate GOP’s Proposed Health-Care Overhaul
The Senate Republicans’ Better Care Reconciliation Act would significantly affect health coverage for many Americans, whether through the individual insurance market or Medicaid. Here are a few examples of how. ... The Senate bill provides $2 billion in fiscal 2018 for substance abuse treatment and recovery, but eventually it would take away much more by rolling back Medicaid expansion in 2020, capping federal payments to states and allowing them to change what qualifies as an essential service. Right now, all insurers and Medicaid must offer drug treatment benefits that are on par with their benefits for physical conditions. If this man’s state decided that substance abuse treatment was no longer an essential service, coverage for that care could be eliminated. (McGinley, Bernstein and Sun, 6/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Bill Includes Opioid Funding, But May Not Satisfy Some GOP Senators
The Senate GOP’s health-care bill would offer $2 billion for opioid addiction treatment for one year, falling short of the $45 billion over 10 years some Republican senators wanted. The funding’s inclusion in the Senate version of the health-care overhaul comes after weeks of protest from House and Senate Republicans who feared steep cuts to Medicaid would worsen an already growing opioid crisis, with Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia leading the push. (Nunn, 6/22)
The Washington Post:
Senate GOP Bill Would Gut Critical Public Health Funding This Fall
The health-care bill that Senate Republicans released Thursday would eliminate critical funds for core public health programs that make up about 12 percent of the budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The money supports programs to prevent bioterrorism and disease outbreaks, as well as to provide immunizations and screenings for cancer and heart disease. (Sun, 6/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Planned Parenthood Restriction Could Pose Problem For Centrist Senators
The Senate health bill released Thursday strips federal Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood Federation of America for one year and tightens restrictions on abortion coverage, creating potential sticking points for centrist senators. The Planned Parenthood measure, which mirrors a provision in the House version of the bill, would disqualify the network of women’s health clinics from receiving federal Medicaid funding, stripping the organization of hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially forcing some clinics to shutter. (Hackman, 6/22)
The Associated Press:
Senate GOP Health Bill: Tax Cuts For Rich
Senate Republicans' new health bill cuts taxes by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, mostly for corporations and the richest families in America. It uses a budget gimmick to comply with Senate rules against adding to the federal government's long-term debt. (6/23)
USA Today:
Senate Health Care Bill: Here's How It Would Affect You
The bill would sunset in two years subsidies for people who purchase insurance on an exchange. Most of the more than 6 million Americans benefiting from the help may not be aware they’re getting it, since the subsidy goes directly to the insurer who then lowers the cost-sharing requirements for a plan. Without the subsidies, insurers would need to raise rates an estimated 20% to make up for the loss, experts have estimated. But the bill also includes funding for states to reduce insurance costs in other ways. (Groppe, 6/22)
The Washington Post:
Senate Republicans’ Claim Of Saving Individual Health Insurance Markets Could Prove Hollow
Republicans have vowed for months to undo the Affordable Care Act and stave off the collapse of the nation’s most fragile health insurance markets, which serve people who buy coverage on their own. In the Senate, that turns out to be a short-term goal. Legislation that the Senate’s GOP leaders finally disclosed on Thursday would keep billions of dollars flowing — but only for two years — to health plans that have been begging for continued help with the expense of millions of lower-income customers in ACA insurance marketplaces. After 2019, the payments would stop. (Goldstein, 6/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
What To Expect Now That The Senate Health Bill Has Been Released
Senate aides expect that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) will bring the health bill as soon as Tuesday, shortly after the CBO score has been released. The first vote will be on a motion to proceed to the bill, which would need a simple majority to advance the bill. That means Mr. McConnell needs at least 50 votes, with Vice President Mike Pence on hand to break a tie. (Peterson, 6/22)
The Associated Press:
McConnell Faces Hunt For GOP Votes For Senate Health Bill
Shortly after the 142-page bill was distributed, more than a half-dozen GOP lawmakers signaled concerns or initial opposition. McConnell, R-Ky., has little margin for error: Facing unanimous Democratic opposition, "no" votes by just three of the 52 GOP senators would sink the legislation. McConnell, eager to approve the legislation next week, indicated he was open to changes before it reaches the Senate floor. But he said it was time to act. "No amount of 11th hour reality-denying or buck-passing by Democrats is going to change the fact that more Americans are going to get hurt unless we do something," he said. (Fram and Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/23)
The Associated Press:
Senate GOP Unveils 'Obamacare' Overhaul, But Not All Aboard
Four conservative GOP senators quickly announced initial opposition to the measure and others were evasive, raising the specter of a jarring rejection by the Republican-controlled body. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., indicated he was open to discussion and seemed determined to muscle the measure through his chamber next week. (6/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Republican Senators Seek Changes In Obamacare Repeal Bill They Can All Agree On. It Won't Be Easy
Within just a few hours, four key conservative senators — Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky — jointly announced they could not possibly vote for the bill as is, unless it more fully guts the Affordable Care Act. Likewise, centrists withheld their support unless they can push the bill the other way, as they mull the fallout from leaving millions more Americans uninsured. (Mascaro, 6/22)
Politico:
Winners And Losers From The Senate Repeal Bill
The Senate plan, like the House bill, would allow insurers to charge their older customers up to five times as much as younger customers for the same health plan. That’s an expansion of the so-called age band in Obamacare, which allows insurers to charge older customers no more than three times as much as younger ones. In two years, the Senate plan would also eliminate a key subsidy program that helps cover out-of-pocket medical bills for low-income consumers. (6/22)
The Washington Post:
Republicans’ New Obamacare Repeal Bill Has A Lot For Insurers To Like And For Hospitals To Hate
Major health care industry groups largely fell into two camps on Thursday when Republicans released their Affordable Care Act repeal: There were those groups that criticized the bill, and those that preferred to say nothing at all. For the health insurance industry, the bill is a mixed bag. The major trade association for health insurers, America's Health Insurance Plans, declined to issue a specific response to the bill, saying they were still evaluating it. But the proposed legislation contains several provisions that the industry has been fighting for, including a tax repeal worth $145 billion over 10 years to the industry and a guarantee that billions of dollars of federal subsidies would be paid in 2018 and 2019 to stabilize plans in the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces before they are phased out. There are also two funds, adding up to $112 billion over a decade, to stabilize the market and make insurance more affordable. (Johnson, 6/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Big Pharma Plays It Safe On Senate Health Bill
The branded-drug industry, which was pilloried by conservatives for supporting then-President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, is playing it safe as Republicans move to undo the measure. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade association for brand-name drug companies also known as PhRMA, has avoided taking a position on the Republican bill released Thursday. (Rockoff, 6/22)
The Washington Post:
‘Meanness At The Core:’ Obama Jumps Back Into Political Fray To Slam Trump, GOP On Health Care
The plan is “not a health care bill,” Obama declared in a 939-word message to his nearly 53 million followers on Facebook. “It’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America.” The 44th president did not mention his successor, Donald Trump, but his scathing criticism and urgent tone — imploring his supporters to speak out against the “fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation” — set up a direct public fight with the current White House occupant over the future of the nation’s health care system. (Nakamura, 6/22)
'The Consequences For California Are Devastating': Millions Would Lose Coverage Under GOP Plan
As a state that fully embraced the Affordable Care Act, California is particularly vulnerable to the Republicans' proposed legislation.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Senate Health Care Bill Called ‘Devastating’ To California
Senate Republicans’ health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, released Thursday, would lead to millions of Californians losing health coverage, paying more for insurance or seeing their benefits scaled back, according to health policy experts. The measure would impose steep cuts in the Medi-Cal insurance program that provides benefits to 14 million Californians — nearly a third of the state’s population. (Ho, 6/22)
The Mercury News:
Senate Republicans Release Their Obamacare Replacement Plan
About 14 million Californians — more than a third of the Golden State’s residents — are covered under the health care program for low-income and disabled residents, including about four million who were added since 2014 through a provision of the Affordable Care Act that allowed adults without dependent children to enroll. Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, said the bill’s “draconian cuts” to Medicaid would be widely felt, affecting not only “half of our children, and two-thirds of our seniors in nursing homes, but the health system on which we all rely.” (Seipel, 6/22)
KPCC:
Senate GOP Health Bill Sparks Worries About California's Gains
The Senate plan proposes cuts to federal subsidies that help Californians who get insurance through Covered California pay their premiums and their out-of-pocket health expenses. (Faust, 6/22)
California Healthline:
Lots Of Boos In California For Senate Health Bill
California politicians, medical providers and consumer advocates served up harsh critiques of the newly unveiled Senate health care bill Thursday, arguing that the proposed legislation could make coverage inaccessible for poor residents while cutting taxes on the rich. “This bill is not a health care bill,” said Ed Hernandez, a Democrat and chair of the state Senate Health Committee. “This is a tax bill that will benefit the most wealthy individuals at the expense of those who need health care the most — the working poor and seniors.” (Gorman, Browning and Ibarra, 6/23)
KQED:
San Francisco Doctors And Nurses Rally Against Senate Health Care Bill
Roughly 200 San Francisco doctors and nurses rallied Thursday outside San Francisco General Hospital to protest the recently released Senate health care bill. Crafted in secret by Republican leadership, the bill repeals major parts of the sweeping healthcare law implemented by President Obama, known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. (Hudson and Roosblad, 6/22)
Single-Payer In California: Who's Covered, How It's Paid For And Other Questions Answered
The Los Angeles Times answers some common questions about the proposal.
Los Angeles Times:
You Asked, We Answered. Here Are Some Of Our Readers' Questions On California's Proposed Single-Payer Plan
We had some questions about California’s high-profile bill to establish a single-payer system, in which the state would foot the bill for nearly all healthcare costs of its residents. So we looked into the proposal, asking who would be covered, how it would be paid for and other basic questions about how it would work. Times readers sent us their own questions about about SB 562, the measure by state Sens. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). Many were rooted in their personal experiences. They asked about how this would change their coverage on Medicare, having health issues while traveling or concerns about access to treatment. The variety of the questions underscored that a single-payer proposal like the one being debated in Sacramento is an enormously complex undertaking. (Mason, 6/23)
Hospitals To Tap Into Complementary Strengths In New Partnership
UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital Long Beach each offers something to the other that it doesn't already have. Miller will benefit from UCLA’s academic resources, while UCLA will take advantage of Miller’s larger size.
Orange County Register:
L.A. County Pediatric Hospitals Form Partnership To Expand Services For Children
UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital Long Beach announced on Thursday, June 22, that they will form an alliance allowing the pediatric hospitals to open new clinics together and train more doctors. The partnership, formally a “strategic affiliation” to be called UCLA Mattel-Miller Children’s Health, will contract with various health plans, said John Bishop, CEO of Miller Children’s. (Perkes, 6/22)
How Can You Avoid Dementia? Experts Say Control Blood Pressure And Stay Active
Other tips include targeted brain-training, but overall a U.S. panel of 17 experts finds few effective strategies for preventing Alzheimer's and age-related dementia.
USA Today:
These Few Things May Help Stave Off Dementia, Scientists Say
Scientists think there may be a few things you can do to keep dementia at bay: train your brain, keep your blood pressure under control and stay active. According to a report published Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), there is promising evidence that cognitive training, managing your blood pressure if you have hypertension and increasing your physical activity may help prevent age-related cognitive decline and dementia. (Toy, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times:
To Preserve Mental Acuity Into Old Age, Experts Suggest Focusing On These Three Things
In drawing its qualified conclusions, the panel cited research released last summer suggesting that a program of highly targeted brain-training reduced the risk of cognitive decline or dementia by nearly half over 10 years. It cited a wide range of findings that link dementia to conditions — such as hypertension, diabetes and stroke — in which the health of blood vessels large and small is compromised. And it touted a welter of research that has linked sedentary lifestyles to a wide range of ills, and higher levels of physical fitness with better physical, cognitive and mental health. (Healy, 6/22)
CalPERS Class-Action Lawsuit Over Long-Term Care Insurance Fees Moves Forward
Today's other public health stories from around the state cover the expansion of a genomics project at the Rady Children’s Institute, Oceanside medical marijuana regulations and Costa Mesa funding for an inspector for sober-living and group homes.
Sacramento Bee:
CalPERS Faces Court Fight Over Long-Term Care Fees
The lawsuit challenges a sharp increase in fees that the California Public Employees’ Retirement System levied on people who bought insurance for long-term health care through the pension fund. It argues that the rate hike was different in scale and purpose than any previous fee increase on those policy holders. (Ashton, 6/22)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Rady Children's Ambitious Genomics Expansion To Start In Orange County
Soon, couriers will drive infant blood samples 90 miles south down Interstate 5 from Orange County to San Diego for high-speed genetic sequencing and analysis at the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine. The organization, which recently built its own hot rod genetics lab that can do full DNA work-ups in days instead of weeks, announced this week that it has made a pact with Children’s Hospital of Orange County, offering quick-turnaround service for infants in that facility’s intensive care units who need the speed. (Sisson, 6/23)
KPBS:
Oceanside Considering Medical Marijuana Regulations
An Oceanside committee tasked with coming up with new medical marijuana regulations met Monday, the first of seven planned hearings. The sale of recreational marijuana was approved by California voters last year, and will go into effect in January 2018 unless local cities decide to ban it. (St John and Lipkin, 6/22)
Orange County Register:
Costa Mesa Plans To Fund $125,000 For State Sober-Living Home Inspector
As sober-living and group homes continue to sprout up in Costa Mesa, the city is grappling with ways to regulate the facilities and address complaints from residents and business owners who view them as a threat to neighborhoods. In an effort to create better oversight of the drug and alcohol treatment centers within its borders, the city plans to set aside $125,000 from its 2017-18 budget to fund a state employee to inspect its state-licensed homes, which are exempt from the city’s sober-living ordinances. (Casiano Jr., 6/22)
Perspectives: GOP Plan Is Not 'Better Care.' It's A Bitter Pill To Swallow.
Opinion writers weigh in on the newly released plan from Senate Republicans to replace the Affordable Care Act.
Los Angeles Times:
Who Wins And Who Loses In The Senate Health Bill (As If You Can't Guess)
The Senate GOP leadership calls its proposal to overhaul Obamacare the “Better Care” act. But better care for whom? Not for the working poor. The bill’s new premium subsidies for those not covered by large employer health plans would be less generous than they are now, pushing recipients into policies with higher deductibles and co-pays. And when the new subsidies begin in 2020, the bill would end the second set of subsidies that the Affordable Care Act provided those near the poverty line to offset their out-of-pocket costs. (6/23)
Los Angeles Times:
I Can Help You Understand Trumpcare, But I Can't Defeat It Alone
Next week, Republicans want the United States Senate to vote on a bill that would restructure our nation’s entire healthcare system — a system that makes up one-sixth of the American economy. This bill would affect the lives of nearly every American, from our parents or grandparents in need of caregiving, to our children struggling with asthma or opioid addiction, to our spouses battling cancer. And we only just received the full text on Thursday, a week before the vote on the bill. (Sen. Kamala D. Harris, 6/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Republicans Aren't Just Repealing Obamacare, They Are Gutting A Guarantee Of Healthcare For The Poor
Three million and $1.6 trillion. The first number represents an estimate of the children who would lose healthcare coverage under the bill Republican senators worked on in secret and finally unveiled on Thursday. The second number reflects the total amount of Medicaid cuts — in the form of the elimination of the Medicaid expansion for working families that was part of the Affordable Care Act, capped federal spending for Medicaid and additional cuts proposed in the president’s budget — that would go to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. (Henry A. Waxman, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Senate GOP's Obamacare Repeal Bill Will Cost Lives, But Fatten The Wallets Of Millionaires
Senate Republicans finally revealed on Thursday why they’ve been crafting their Affordable Care Act repeal in secret. As the newly released draft shows, it’s a rollback of health coverage for millions of Americans that could cost the lives of tens of thousands a year. But make no mistake: This is not a healthcare bill. It’s a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, paid for by a reduction in government funding for healthcare. The measure would constitute one of the largest single transfers of wealth to the rich from the middle class and poor in American history. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Recipe For Disaster: How Not To Cook Up Healthcare Reform
In case anyone was wondering what would happen if a handful of fairly wealthy, well-insured men gathered in a room and quietly tried to reinvent the $3-trillion U.S. healthcare system without any input from medical experts, patient advocates or others who know what they’re talking about, the U.S. Senate stepped up Thursday with the answer. (David Lazarus, 6/22)
Viewpoints: Is Single Payer 'Doable'?; Doctors Should Disclose Malpractice Penalties
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
Single-Payer Healthcare For California Is, In Fact, Very Doable
The California Senate recently voted to pass a bill that would establish a single-payer healthcare system for the entire state. The proposal, called the Healthy California Act, will now be taken up by the state Assembly. The plan enjoys widespread support — a recent poll commissioned by the California Nurses Assn. found that 70% of all Californians are in favor of a single-payer plan — and with good reason. Under Healthy California, all residents would be entitled to decent healthcare without having to pay premiums, deductibles or copays. (Robert Pollin, 6/21)
Sacramento Bee:
Why Conservatives Can Cheer California’s Single-Payer Bill
Its members are considering a single-payer health care system with annual costs that would considerably exceed the state’s entire current budget. But legislators deserve that one cheer, for the fact that the state is launching its own reform efforts rather than waiting for the federal government. (Robert Graboyes and Trevor Carlsen, 6/21)
Sacramento Bee:
Drop Single Payer, Democrats. California Wants A Middle Way
Extremes make for good headlines. No one seems to know that better than our current president. But here in deep blue California, the extremes that are attracting all the attention are on the other side of the political spectrum. Weeks later, Bernie Sanders’ true believers are still contesting the defeat of their candidate in the vote to chair the state Democratic Party. Meanwhile, one very vocal union, the California Nurses Association, has pushed a single-payer health care plan to the point that the state Senate has passed an egregiously irresponsible bill – one that would crater the state’s current health care delivery system and bankrupt the economy in the unlikely event it was ever enacted. Plus, it would return health care to a fee-for-service system that rewards quantity of service over quality of care. (David Townsend, 6/21)
The Mercury News:
Force Doctors To Disclose Malpractice Discipline
Patients deserve to know when their doctors are on probation, one misstep away from losing their licenses to practice medicine... If anything, the legislation doesn’t go far enough to require patient notification by doctors whom the medical board places on probation. (Barbara Marshman, 6/20)
Los Angeles Times:
Don't Let Rep. Scalise's Injury Cow Us Into Silence About The Need For Gun Control And Universal Healthcare
As a necessary prelude to a necessary discussion, surely we all can agree that best wishes are due to the still-hospitalized House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who faces a difficult recovery from injuries suffered in the gun attack at a Republican baseball practice June 14. The same goes for the other people injured in the attack, congressional aide Zachary Barth, former House staff member Matt Mika, and Capitol Police officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey. Mika was shot in the chest but is recovering, and the others suffered more minor injuries. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/20)
The Mercury News:
Santa Clara County Leads In Safe Medicine Disposal
Over the years we become increasingly dependent upon the benefits of prescription drugs and other medications to relieve pain, treat illnesses and save lives. Yet, when no longer needed, these same medications can turn deadly. (Bradley, 6/22)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Staffing Ratio Bill Could Cut Access To Dialysis
I am infuriated that a labor union is using patients as pawns in a political campaign to get more members. Their dangerous legislation targeting dialysis clinics would end up reducing access to dialysis for thousands of patients, putting our lives at risk. The United Healthcare Workers (UHW) is sponsoring Senate Bill 349, which would set staffing ratios at dialysis clinics. On the surface, it may seem like a good thing, but looking closer, it’s entirely unreasonable. (Wendy Skinner, 6/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Answer To The Obesity Epidemic: Here, Have A Cookie
The most important news was a largely overlooked announcement from the Trump administration that it’s bowing to the wishes of food companies — and ignoring the pleas of scientific and medical experts — by giving industry players more time to push sugary treats on an increasingly blubbery nation. The Food and Drug Administration said it will delay implementation of planned food-labeling requirements intended to help consumers better understand how much added sugar they’re taking in and how many calories are being added to their bellies. (David Lazarus, 6/20)
Sacramento Bee:
Kids Need More Exercise, Less Homework
When’s the best time to exercise to help slow or stave off osteoporosis, the bone-thinning that occurs in many older people? When we’re kids. (Klein, 6/21)
Modesto Bee:
Roundup Ban Could Be A Green Bonanza For Litigious Environmentalists
Proposition 65 celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, but California’s rate of several common cancers – including mesothelioma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and cancers of the cervix, liver, ovaries, stomach and testicles – are either no different from or higher than national averages. The consequence makes sense, since the state’s current system of slapping a label on everything makes it nearly impossible to determine if a notice foreshadows real harm or if it’s yet another workaround to avoid being sued. (Joseph Perrone, 6/21)