Bay Area News Group: How Many In California And The Bay Area Could Be Affected By Affordable Care Act Changes?
Nearly 2 million people are enrolled in Covered California, the state’s version of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health insurance, also known as Obamacare after the former president who approved the program in 2010. That includes more than 360,000 enrollees in the Bay Area. (Dai, 6/6)

The New York Times: Millions Would Lose Their Obamacare Coverage Under Trump’s Bill
Millions of Obamacare enrollees would lose health coverage under the Republicans’ major policy bill, which would make coverage more expensive and harder to obtain. Most of the proposals in the bill, which passed the House last month, are technical changes — reductions to enrollment periods, adjustments to formulas, and additional paperwork requirements. But together, they would leave about four million people uninsured in the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday. (Kliff and Sanger-Katz, 6/5)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Immigrant Advocates In Santa Rosa Press McGuire To Oppose Newsom’s Health Care Cuts For Undocumented Adults
Dozens of immigrant and health care advocates demonstrated outside Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire's Santa Rosa office Thursday, urging him to oppose efforts to curb Medi-Cal spending on undocumented immigrants as a way of closing the state's nearly $7.5 billion budget deficit. (Espinoza, 6/5)

Politico: Medicare Is A Target As Senate GOP Faces Megabill Math Issues
Senate Republicans are eyeing possible Medicare provisions to help offset the cost of their megabill as they try to appease budget hawks who want more spending cuts embedded in the legislation. Making changes to Medicare, the federal health insurance program primarily serving seniors, would be a political long shot: It would face fierce backlash from some corners of the Senate GOP, not to mention across the Capitol, where Medicare proposals were previously floated but didn’t gain traction. (Carney, Lee Hill and King, 6/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Judge Halts Trump’s Cuts To AmeriCorps, Preserving Aid For 24 States
A federal judge’s ruling halting President Donald Trump’s dismantling of AmeriCorps, which sends thousands of volunteers to programs aiding the poor, elderly and disabled and assists communities in disaster protection and recovery, is a victory for 24 states that challenged Trump’s order. And particularly for California. Last year more than 6,150 AmeriCorps workers served at 1,200 locations in California, including schools, food banks, homeless shelters, health clinics and veterans’ facilities, spending more than $133 million in federally funded aid, Attorney General Rob Bonta said Thursday after the court ruling. (Egelko, 6/5)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Scrambles To Rehire Fired Federal Employees
Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE’s staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process. (Natanson, Taylor, Kornfield, Siegel and Dance, 6/6)

CIDRAP: GAO To HHS: Fix 'Persistent Deficiencies' In Infectious-Disease Testing Before Next Pandemic
The latest report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) makes four recommendations and details nearly 100 ways the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could improve federal diagnostic testing during a public health crisis such as a pandemic. It follows a May 2023 report that noted a lack of progress toward HHS emergency-preparedness goals. (Van Beusekom, 6/5)

AP: Casey Means, Trump's Surgeon General Pick, Profits From Wellness Sales
President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next U.S. surgeon general has repeatedly said the nation’s medical, health and food systems are corrupted by special interests and people out to make a profit at the expense of Americans’ health. Yet as Dr. Casey Means has criticized scientists, medical schools and regulators for taking money from the food and pharmaceutical industries, she has promoted dozens of health and wellness products — including specialty basil seed supplements, a blood testing service and a prepared meal delivery service — in ways that put money in her own pocket. (Smith and Swenson, 6/5)

The War Horse: Veterans To Protest VA, Federal Job Cuts In Washington D.C.
When the promises politicians made went unkept, when they were left without any reasonable alternatives, American veterans took to the streets by the thousands, forced to become their own advocates. The year was 1932, and the men who’d served in World War I were demanding the bonus pay they’d been promised for their years fighting in Europe. ... They protested for months, and the entire nation took notice. In 2025, a new Bonus Army has assembled and plans to rally in Washington on June 6 to protest the administration’s cuts to Veterans Affairs and federal employment, where veterans and their families comprise 30% of the workforce. (Daly, 6/5)

California Healthline: In Axing MRNA Contract, Trump Delivers Another Blow To US Biosecurity, Former Officials Say
The Trump administration is eroding national pandemic flu defenses as it guts health agencies, cuts research and health budgets, and withdraws funding for bird flu vaccines, health security experts said. (Maxmen, 6/6)

Los Angeles Times: State Moves To Suspend Licenses Of Troubled L.A. Nursing Home Companies
The California Department of Public Health is moving to suspend the licenses of seven Southern California nursing facilities that have been repeatedly cited in recent years for contributing to patients’ deaths. The state health department sent letters last month to seven companies in Los Angeles County that received at least two “AA” violations within the last two years, indicating a failure that contributed substantially to the death of a resident. (Purtill, 6/6)

Becker's Hospital Review: California System Cuts 285 Nurse Supervisor Roles Amid Staffing Model Shift
Fresno-based Community Health System has eliminated 285 clinical nursing supervisor positions as part of a broader restructuring that leaders say is necessary to meet shifting patient care and staffing needs. ... The layoffs took effect May 3 and come as the system shifts to a inpatient staffing model that introduces an assistant nursing manager role in all units. To support the staffing change, the system is hiring for 350 bedside nursing and clinical leadership positions, including new assistant nurse manager roles. (Carbajal, 6/5)

Becker's Hospital Review: How Cedars-Sinai Is Growing Its Innovation Muscle
Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai is taking a new approach to innovation — one that blends entrepreneurial speed with the clinical rigor of a major health system. “Our journey really began 18 months ago,” Bardia Nabet, MPH, associate director of digital strategy and business development at Cedars-Sinai, told Becker’s. “We were looking at this new data paradigm with the release of the ChatGPTs of the world and saying, how can we capture more value from our data — both from a commercialization perspective as well as an operations perspective.” (Diaz, 6/5)

Sacramento Bee: CDCR Doctor Alleges Medical Record Fraud At CA Prison
Dr. Aliasghar Mohyuddin said he was meeting with an inmate at a Stockton prison a few years ago, when he pulled up the patient’s medical record.In it, he found a letter documenting past care that bore Mohyuddin’s electronic signature. But the date on the record startled him: the doctor said he was out of the country at the time.After that, Mohyuddin said he closely looked over the files of each of the inmates he saw at the California Health Care Facility, Stockton. Again and again he came across similar letters that said they were created and verified by the doctor. (Hobbs, 6/6)

Modern Healthcare: JAMA Publications Sign Content Deal With OpenEvidence
The American Medical Association signed a multi-year agreement with an artificial intelligence clinical decision support company, allowing the startup to use content from AMA’s publications. The Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Network Open and 11 JAMA specialty journals, will inform answers delivered on AI startup OpenEvidence's platform, the companies said on Tuesday. OpenEvidence has developed an AI search tool that allows clinicians to input details about a patient’s clinical presentation into its search bar. (Turner, 6/5)

Becker's Hospital Review: California Hospital CEO Retires Following Leave Of Absence
Blair Kent, CEO of MemorialCare’s Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital Long Beach, has retired from the organization following a leave of absence, a spokesperson confirmed to Becker’s. Mr. Kent’s retirement comes amid multiple rounds of layoffs and other labor turmoil at the hospital, including a one-day nurses strike in May. (Gooch, 6/5)

Los Angeles Times: California Asks FDA To Undo Limits On Abortion Pill Mifepristone Amid RFK Jr. Scrutiny
California and three other states petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to ease its restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone, citing the drug’s proven safety record and arguing the limits are unnecessary. “The medication is a lifeline for millions of women who need access to time-sensitive, critical healthcare — especially low-income women and those who live in rural and underserved areas,” said California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who filed the petition alongside the attorneys general of Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. (Rector, 6/5)

CapRadio: California Lawmakers Want Doctors To Know More About Menopause
Former middle school teacher Lorraine Carter Salazar isn’t easily embarrassed. But when she began having hot flashes at school, she worried about how she came off to coworkers, students and parents. “It doesn't convey competence,” said Carter Salazar, 62. She recounted how parents could tell she was uncomfortable in meetings. One time, a student even fanned her and remarked that she was used to seeing her grandma feeling the same way. (Myscofski, 6/4)

CIDRAP: Antibiotic Taken During Pregnancy Doesn't Increase Infant Birth Weight, Trial Finds
A randomized controlled trial involving nearly 1,000 women in Zimbabwe found that a daily dose of a broad-spectrum antibiotic during pregnancy did not significantly increase infant birth weight, an international group of researchers reported yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. But women who received prophylactic (preventive) trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole had fewer preterm births than those who received a placebo, a finding the study authors say needs to be further explored. (Dall, 6/5)

Times of San Diego: UCSD Helps Imperial County Get More Mental Health Professionals
On Tuesday, UC San Diego announced an upcoming psychiatric residency program in Imperial County. Imperial County has been federally designated a Health Professional Shortage Area for mental health services, meaning the county’s current slate of mental health professionals is unable to meet the population’s needs. The new residency program, set to start in 2026, aims to close gaps in care. (Wallace, 6/5)

San Diego Union-Times: San Diego County Organizations Win Seven Proposition 1 Grants
Six San Diego County organizations received seven grants in the first round of “shovel-ready” funding for Proposition 1, the statewide ballot measure that approved borrowing $6.4 billion to fund building more mental health and drug and alcohol treatment capacity statewide. San Diego County’s awards, the second most in the state after Los Angeles County, total $185 million, an amount that is projected to create 350 new local treatment beds. And there is likely more to come. The first round of bond funding totaled $3.3 billion, and a second round, estimated at $800 million for “unmet needs,” is now taking applications, due Oct. 28, for announcement in the spring of 2026. (Sisson, 6/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Stanford Mini-Heart Breakthrough Could Change Medical Research
Stanford scientists have solved a key conundrum in keeping organoids — lab-grown clusters of cells that resemble human organs — alive. These mini-brains and mini-hearts mimic human organs and enable scientists to investigate developmental processes, human diseases and drug therapies. But the assemblages have typically lacked blood vessels, which limits their growth. But no longer: In a study published on Thursday in Science, Stanford researchers were able to create heart organoids with branching blood vessels. The breakthrough opens up possibilities for future medical developments. (Lee, 6/5)

The Wall Street Journal: A New Shot Prevents HIV—And Breathes New Life Into A Stagnant Biotech
Later this month, the Food and Drug Administration is widely expected to approve a groundbreaking twice-yearly injection to prevent HIV—a milestone in the decadeslong fight against a once-devastating disease. For Gilead Sciences, the dominant player in HIV treatment, the breakthrough is doing what years of splashy but underwhelming acquisitions failed to achieve: It has Wall Street paying attention again. Since reporting last June that just two annual shots of lenacapavir prevented all HIV infections in a study of women and girls, shares have surged 73%. (Wainer, 6/5)

KQED: Soon, Refusing Shelter In San José Could Get You Arrested
Next week, San Jose City Council will vote on a controversial plan that would threaten unhoused people with arrest if they refuse multiple offers of shelter. Mayor Matt Mahan says this approach could help open paths to treatment and increase support for more shelter construction. But Santa Clara County officials are skeptical. (Guevarra, Marzorati, Kariisa and Montecillo, 6/6)

Orange County Register: Newsom Finally Starts Tackling Medi-Cal Cuts
California once again faces a hefty budget deficit, with the May budget revision pointing to shortfall of $12 billion. That’s not as challenging as recent deficits which had hit more than triple that number in January 2024, but it’s still a challenge. In 2022, California enjoyed an astounding $97.5-billion surplus, but proceeded to spend the extra cash rather than prepare for the inevitable bad news. (6/3)

Capital & Main: Budget Cuts Threaten In-Home Assistance Workers And Medi-Cal Recipients
This is Daphne Dunstan’s life with two autistic sons. William is 23 years old, Edward 21. William’s autism is more severe, but both brothers require constant care. Daphne, a pharmacy technician by trade, long ago realized that she needed to be available to her sons at all times, and ever since their diagnoses when each was young, that is exactly what she has been. She is a walking advertisement for why California’s In-Home Supportive Services program exists. Created in the 1970s, IHSS pays providers — typically family members — to deliver the kind of labor-intensive, long-term and loving care that would otherwise fall to the state to handle. (Mark Kreidler, 6/5)

Times of San Diego: EMS Budget Games Putting Medicaid And Patients At Risk
California’s finances are in crisis, and once again, political leaders are looking for a quick fix, no  matter the cost to the most vulnerable. The latest scheme? San Diego’s much-hyped  ambulance “alliance model,” which may sound innovative but in reality, exposes a dangerous  trend: diverting critical Medicaid dollars away from improved patient care to patch up the city’s  bloated budget. (Victor Lopez, 6/5)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Federal Cuts Target Food For Seniors
Thousands of seniors in Northern California could lose critical food support if the Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress press ahead with cuts to nutrition assistance programs. (6/4)

Los Angeles Times: If Caregivers Get Deported, Who Will Take Their Place?
She rides three buses from her Los Angeles home to her job as a caregiver for an 83-year-old woman with dementia, and lately she’s been worrying about getting nabbed by federal agents. (Steve Lopez, 6/6)