- California Healthline Original Stories 3
- GOP Health Plan Could Be Bitter Pill For California’s Obamacare Exchange
- HMO Doctors Take Pains To Slash Opioid Prescriptions
- Truth And Consequence: KHN Joins Team To Parse Lawmakers' Lingo On Health Law
- Covered California & The Health Law 1
- Insurance Chief: 'Very Bad Things' Would Happen To California If GOP Replacement Bill Passes
- Sacramento Watch 1
- After Veto, Lawmakers Take Another Shot At Passing Repeal Of Taxes On Tampons, Diapers
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
GOP Health Plan Could Be Bitter Pill For California’s Obamacare Exchange
Critics say the proposed changes could poison one of the nation’s healthiest marketplaces, driving up premiums and drawing in only the sickest patients. Republicans and industry analysts call those concerns overblown. (Chad Terhune, 3/10)
HMO Doctors Take Pains To Slash Opioid Prescriptions
A Kaiser Permanente pain management program in Southern California aims to help patients taper off addictive painkillers. Some doctors and patients see it as a godsend; others complain that patients have been cut off medications they need. (Sam Quinones, 3/10)
Truth And Consequence: KHN Joins Team To Parse Lawmakers' Lingo On Health Law
Kaiser Health News, which produces California Healthline, is working with ProPublica and other news organizations to collect and analyze letters and emails from elected officials to constituents on the ACA, beginning with a misleading missive by Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt. (Charles Ornstein, ProPublica, 3/10) (Charles Ornstein, ProPublica, 3/10)
More News From Across The State
Covered California & The Health Law
Insurance Chief: 'Very Bad Things' Would Happen To California If GOP Replacement Bill Passes
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones discusses the Republicans' health plan in an interview with the Sacramento Bee. Another expected program that would be hard hit by the proposal is Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, many Republicans in California's U.S. congressional delegation keep mum about their party's plan.
KPBS:
ACA Replacement Bill Would Defund Planned Parenthood, San Diego Organization Reacts
The bill introduced by House Republicans on Monday to replace the Affordable Care Act would defund Planned Parenthood by not allowing Medicaid to reimburse services that the organization provides. Federal funding already does not pay for abortions. The new bill would cut reimbursements for birth control, cancer screenings and other medical procedures at Planned Parenthood clinics. (Cavanaugh and Ruth, 3/9)
Los Angeles Times:
Many Of California's Republican Members Of Congress Are Saying Very Little About Their Party's Healthcare Bill
Many of California’s congressional Republicans represent districts with a large number of people who have insurance under Obamacare, and they’re taking a cautious approach to the House Republican plan to replace the healthcare law. A proposed replacement for Obamacare released earlier this week has drawn a firestorm of criticism on the left and the right. By Thursday, most of the 14 Republicans in the California delegation, including some of the seven who represent districts that backed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, had said only that they were still assessing the proposed law. (Wire, 3/9)
In Marathon Sessions, GOP Health Plan Gets The Nod Of Two House Committees
As the bill advances in the U.S. House, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) used his regular Thursday press conference to offer a power point presentation -- complete with charts and graphs -- to defend Republicans' plan to replace the health law.
The Washington Post:
Obamacare Revision Clears Two House Committees As Trump, Others Tried To Tamp Down Backlash
The GOP proposal cleared the Ways and Means and the Energy and Commerce committees on party-line votes after marathon sessions that lasted through Wednesday night and into Thursday. It now heads to yet another panel, the Budget Committee, and it remains on track to land on the House floor by month’s end. But the proposal faces challenges with both GOP conservatives and moderates, in addition to Democrats, many of whom questioned the lightning-fast process and raised dueling qualms about its policy provisions. Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to echo a Democratic attack on the House legislation, saying lawmakers need to see the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimate of how the bill will affect the federal deficit and the number of insured Americans. (DeBonis, Sullivan and Snell, 3/9)
Politico:
Ryan Planning More Health Care Votes Alongside Repeal Effort
House Republicans will vote on a second health care bill the week they vote to repeal Obamacare, Speaker Paul Ryan told Sean Hannity on Thursday afternoon. The Wisconsin Republican did not divulge many details about the legislation, though he said it would likely allow people to purchase insurance through association health plans. Such a proposal has always been part of the GOP alternative, Ryan told Hannity, but Senate rules bar leadership from including it in their fast-tracked repeal bill. (Bade, 3/9)
NPR:
House Speaker Paul Ryan Sells Health Care Bill As 'Once-In-A-Lifetime' Chance
"This is the chance. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said the speaker, roving the stage with a wireless mic, gesturing at both the audience in front of him and the PowerPoint presentation behind him. TED Talk? Late-night infomercial? Nope — it was House Speaker Paul Ryan, making a hard pitch for his health care plan after a week of loud conservative criticism. (Detrow, 3/9)
Unifying conservatives behind the proposal remains a sticking point for its future —
The Wall Street Journal:
House GOP Leaders Surprised By Conservative Opposition To Health Plan
Rep. Mark Meadows, who leads a group of conservative House lawmakers, was home in North Carolina about two weeks ago when he learned details of the emerging Republican health-care plan. Mr. Meadows jumped in the car and drove back to Washington, where he said he warned White House officials he couldn’t support the bill being pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan. (Armour, Hughes and Peterson, 3/9)
CNN:
In Major Shift, White House Privately Backing Earlier Rollback Of Medicaid Expansion
The White House is privately lining up behind conservative calls to roll back Obamacare's Medicaid expansion sooner than the health care reform bill currently calls for, two senior administration officials and a senior House conservative aide told CNN on Thursday. White House officials are beginning to urge House GOP leadership to include an earlier sunset of the Medicaid expansion funds authorized under Obamacare than the 2020 date set by the current bill. The change comes just days after the bill was unveiled and follows a blitz of activism aimed squarely at the White House and President Donald Trump, who has met with conservative leaders in recent days. (Diamond, 3/9)
USA Today:
Republican Leaders Warn That Changing Health Care Bill Would Doom It In Senate
House Republican leaders warned their members Thursday that any major changes to the proposed GOP health care bill will prevent its passage in the Senate and kill their best shot at ending Obamacare. Those warnings came as both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee approved the GOP's American Health Care Act on Thursday without significant amendments after marathon debates. (Kelly, 3/9)
The White House spotlight focuses on the role President Donald Trump will play in the upcoming policy battle —
The New York Times:
After Halting Start, Trump Plunges Into Effort To Repeal Health Law
President Trump, after a halting start, is now marshaling the full power of his office to win over holdout conservatives and waffling senators to support the House Republicans’ replacement for the Affordable Care Act. There are East Room meetings, evening dinners and sumptuous lunches — even a White House bowling soiree. Mr. Trump is deploying the salesman tactics he sharpened over several decades in New York real estate. His pitch: He is fully behind the bill to scotch President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, but he is open to negotiations on the details. (Haberman and Pear, 3/9)
Los Angeles Times:
He Might Not Call It 'Trumpcare,' But The President Will Likely Own Any Obamacare Replacement
Trump and his advisors have yet to utter the term “Trumpcare,” and some still doubt his commitment to the latest congressional plan to alter President Obama’s signature healthcare law. But there’s little question that the outcome of the healthcare debate will play a major role in defining Trump’s first term in office, affecting his ability to deliver on other priorities such as a $1-trillion plan to rebuild public works, a multibillion-dollar border wall and a daunting challenge to rewrite the tax code. (Bierman and Mascaro, 3/9)
From Medicaid to mental health services, news outlets continue to examine how programs would be impacted by the GOP bill —
The Washington Post:
GOP Health-Care Bill Would Drop Addiction Treatment Mandate Covering 1.3 Million Americans
The Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act would strip away what advocates say is essential coverage for drug addiction treatment as the number of people dying from opiate overdoses is skyrocketing nationwide. Beginning in 2020, the plan would eliminate an Affordable Care Act requirement that Medicaid cover basic mental-health and addiction services in states that expanded it, allowing them to decide whether to include those benefits in Medicaid plans. (Zezima and Ingraham, 3/9)
The Associated Press:
Women's Health Services Face Cuts In Republican Bill
Women seeking abortions and some basic health services, including prenatal care, contraception and cancer screenings, would face restrictions and struggle to pay for some of that medical care under the House Republicans' proposed bill. The legislation, which would replace much of former President Barack Obama's health law, was approved by two House committees on Thursday. Republicans are hoping to move quickly to pass it, despite unified opposition from Democrats, criticism from some conservatives who don't think it goes far enough and several health groups who fear millions of Americans would lose coverage and benefits. (Jalonick, 3/9)
NewsHour:
Medicaid Cuts Are ‘Going To Affect Everyone,’ Insurance CEO Says
Dr. Mario Molina of Molina Healthcare, an insurance executive whose business is focused on Medicaid patients, is concerned about the way the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act will not only affect patients on Medicaid, but cause major economic ripples for states and the health care system. Molina joins William Brangham to discuss what he sees as at stake. (3/9)
After Veto, Lawmakers Take Another Shot At Passing Repeal Of Taxes On Tampons, Diapers
And in other state government news: the impact of budget cuts on in-home support services worries Stanislaus County officials; regulators face questions about a testing switch in Exide homes; and health care emerges as a campaign issue in the Los Angeles race.
East Bay Times:
Tampon Tax Debate Is Back: California Proposal To Repeal Sales Tax On Feminine Products Reintroduced
A bill to repeal taxes on feminine products that sailed through the Legislature last year with bipartisan support, only to be vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, is back on the table. Assemblywomen Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, and Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, are advancing a revised version of last year’s measure. Assembly Bill 479 would deem diapers, tampons, pads and other feminine health products necessities not subject to state tax — much like groceries and prescription medicines. (Murphy, 3/9)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Leaders Concerned About Costs Of In-Home Support Services Program
Stanislaus County officials are upset about a state plan to shift rising costs of In-Home Support Services to counties. Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent budget proposal would shift about $625 million in IHSS costs to counties, with Stanislaus County’s share of the costs jumping from $11.2 million this year to $17.1 million next budget year. The costs are projected to keep rising from there, and counties say they can’t afford it. (Carlson, 3/9)
KPCC:
State Testing Switch Risks Leaving Exide Homes Contaminated
Struggling with what officials call the largest and most expensive toxic contamination in California history, embattled state regulators have changed the formula for assessing the level of lead-laced soil in residential areas—a move that could result in a significant number of homes falling off of the priority cleanup list. The little-noticed switch has confused residents living around the now-shuttered Exide Technologies battery recycling plant in southeast Los Angeles and raised suspicions that those with high levels of lead could be bumped so far down the cleanup list that the state will run out of cleanup money before it can help them. (Aguilera, 3/10)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Congressional Candidate Alejandra Campoverdi Makes Healthcare Debate Personal In First TV Ad
Congressional hopeful Alejandra Campoverdi, who's running to replace Xavier Becerra in Los Angeles, opened up to the Washington Post recently about her family's history with breast cancer. That history is also the subject of her first TV ad of the campaign, which focuses on healthcare and Campoverdi's work in the Obama administration, where she says she helped pass Obamacare. (Mai-Duc, 3/9)
U.S. Hospitals Routinely Toss Out Valuable Medical Supplies
In its investigation of why health care costs are so high, ProPublica reports on the perfectly good stuff hospitals throw away.
ProPublica:
What Hospitals Waste
In 2012 the National Academy of Medicine estimated the U.S. health care system squandered $765 billion a year, more than the entire budget of the Defense Department. Dr. Mark Smith, who chaired the committee that authored the report, said the waste is “crowding out” spending on critical infrastructure needs, like better roads and public transportation. The annual waste, the report estimated, could have paid for the insurance coverage of 150 million American workers — both the employer and employee contributions. (Allen, 3/9)
In other hospital news from earlier this week —
ABC30 Fresno:
Demonstrators Gather In Front Of Hanford Hospital, Calling For Protection Of Healthcare
Community and labor activists, healthcare providers, and concerned citizens took to the podium in Hanford Thursday, urging Congressman David Valadao not to support the newly introduced American Healthcare Act. The act was designed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.They say California, and especially the Central Valley, has too much at stake, after so many gained health insurance with the passage of the ACA. (3/9)
The Desert Sun:
Eisenhower Medical Center Updates Aid-In-Dying Policy
Eisenhower Medical Center has updated its policy on California's aid-in-dying law in a way officials there say better reflects the hospital's position that doctors can assist patients in dying if they choose, just not while at the hospital. The new policy language came days after protesters gathered outside the Rancho Mirage hospital to push for change. An advocate for doctor-assisted dying said the policy still isn't good enough because while other local hospitals allow doctors on premises to write prescriptions so patients can voluntarily end their lives, Eisenhower doctors cannot write the prescriptions while at the hospital. (Newkirk, 3/8)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Sharp Reports Theft Of Information On 757 Patients
The San Diego Police Department and Sharp HealthCare are investigating the theft of 757 health screening records taken from a locked cabinet inside the Sharp Memorial Outpatient Pavilion on Feb. 6. According to a statement released by Sharp Friday afternoon, someone took a computer and “external memory device” that contained records collected during wellness screenings for blood pressure and/or cardiac health studies Sharp is conducting. The records included the name, date of birth, age, current medications, family history and screening type for each patient. No financial information or social security numbers were part of the breach. (Sisson, 3/3)
Around California: Events Raise Awareness Of Diet, Food Allergy And Hunger
And a Contra Costa County study finds that kids are being bombarded with promotions for alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy foods. Also, a San Diego gathering of brain injury specialists will discuss the dangers of concussions.
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Food Bank And Family Services, Sutter Health Team Up To Provide Produce
The bounty is available once a month at the Produce For All truck, a project of Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, which delivers fresh fruit and veggies to Arden Arcade and about a dozen other low-income areas throughout the county. The truck’s flanks have pull-out bins that create a pop-up farmers market of sorts, which allows volunteers to quickly distribute the free produce. About 100 gathered in the church parking lot with bags in hand Thursday, anxious for their turn at the colorful food stand. (Caiola, 3/9)
San Jose Mercury News:
San Ramon’s Vitality Bowls Group Teams Up With San Jose Allergy Crusaders
Vitality Bowls, the “superfood” restaurant launched in San Ramon by a couple whose daughter suffers from food allergies, has enlisted new allergy advocates as the enterprise expands throughout the Bay Area. Brian and Kathy Hom, the San Jose parents who became EpiPen crusaders after their son B.J. died of a peanut allergy reaction while vacationing in Mexico, have joined forces with founders Tara and Roy Gilad to open two Vitality Bowls in South San Jose. Their first is at the new Village Oaks Plaza on Cottle Road and the second, due in April, will be on Cherry Avenue. (Zavoral, 3/9)
East Bay Times:
Food Network Chef Tanya Holland Honors Oakland School
With restaurateur and chef [Tanya] Holland visiting, many of the students gobbled down a hearty breakfast that consisted of sausage biscuit, apple and a carton of milk. A local and national culinary celebrity, Holland was there to award the school principal, Neha Ummat, with a Breakfast Champion award from the national anti-hunger nonprofit No Kid Hungry for her leadership in implementing a universal breakfast-after-the-bell program as a key strategy to fight child hunger. (Tsai, 3/9)
KPBS:
Brain Injury Rehabilitation Experts To Meet In San Diego
Hundreds of doctors and researchers are gathering in San Diego this weekend for the 12th annual Scripps Health conference on brain injury and rehabilitation. An estimated 2.5 million Americans sustain a brain injury each year. The vast majority of these are mild concussions. But a significant number are severe enough to require hospitalization. (Goldberg, 3/9)
NBC Bay Area:
Contra Costa County Youth Aggressively Targeted With Tobacco, Alcohol Ads
A study released by the Contra Costa Health Department on Wednesday shows that alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy foods are being promoted to the county’s youth at alarming rates, especially in poorer cities. The data, which comes courtesy of a statewide survey, shows that 77 percent of stores near county schools sell tobacco products in kid-friendly flavors, like cherry and watermelon. (Edevane, 3/9)
Medicare Could Go Broke Due To Mounting Costs Of Alzheimer's Care, Report Says
Today's other public health news stories cover gestational surrogacy costs, employers' rights to demand genetic testing, a link between Zika and heart troubles, bird flu worries and contaminated groundwater.
Miami Herald:
Caregiving Costs Associated With Alzheimer's Could Bankrupt Medicare, According To New Report
While Washington discusses potential cuts to Medicare, a new report says that the growing number of Alzheimer’s patients could bankrupt the national insurance program that provides healthcare to more than 55 million Americans. As the baby boomer generation enters the high-risk years for the degenerative brain disease, the cost of care has already reached $259 billion, according to the report by the Alzheimer’s Association. (Veciana-Suarez, 3/9)
NPR:
States Wrestle With Legalizing Payments For Gestational Surrogates
The battle over womb rights is brewing in Minnesota. Last month, state legislators proposed a bill that would regulate gestational surrogacy — potentially adding legal oversight to fertility clinics that facilitate these pregnancies, when one woman carries a pregnancy for another. Minnesota's surrogacy legislation and the debates that surround it echo the larger national debate on reproductive rights. (Sohn, 3/10)
Stat:
House GOP Would Let Employers Demand Workers' Genetic Test Results
A little-noticed bill moving through Congress would allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and would let employers see that genetic and other health information. Giving employers such power is now prohibited by legislation including the 2008 genetic privacy and nondiscrimination law known as GINA. The new bill gets around that landmark law by stating explicitly that GINA and other protections do not apply when genetic tests are part of a “workplace wellness” program. (Begley, 3/10)
The Wall Street Journal:
Zika Linked To Heart Problems
The Zika virus has already been linked to severe brain damage in babies and other conditions in babies and adults. Now there is evidence it may cause heart problems too. In a study conducted at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Caracas, Venezuela, researchers identified nine patients who developed heart rhythm disorders and other serious cardiovascular complications while they had Zika. Only one had had cardiac problems previously—high blood pressure. (McKay, 3/9)
The Associated Press:
Bird Flu Cases Revive Fear Of Repeat Of Major 2015 Outbreak
The detection of a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu at a Tennessee chicken farm has poultry farmers stepping up security in an attempt to prevent an outbreak like the one in 2015 that required the destruction of millions of chickens and turkeys in the Midwest. The appearance of milder forms of bird flu at a Wisconsin turkey farm and another Tennessee chicken farm has heightened concern. (Karnowski, 3/9)
Newsweek:
Why The EPA Is Allowing Contaminated Groundwater To Go Untreated
The remains of the George Air Force Base on the edge of California’s Mojave Desert are little more than a dusty sprawl of squat buildings, their roofs riddled with holes, their hinged windows flapping open and shut in the dry wind. The George H.W. Bush administration decommissioned the base in 1992, but this crumbling ghost town carries a worrisome legacy—a stew of toxic waste that has been the target of a federal cleanup, which is still under way after two decades of work and more than $100 million in spending. (Ross, 3/9)
Perspectives On GOP Health Bill: Not Friendly To Consumers -- Or California
Opinion writers pick apart the health debate that is roaring on Capitol Hill.
Los Angeles Times:
The GOP's Obamacare Repeal Plan Is Out--And It's Even Worse Than Anyone Expected
After weeks of expectations — actually, nearly seven years of expectations — House Republicans on Monday released their proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Elements of the proposal, which was kept under lock and key last week — have been dribbling out for a few days. The text of the bill encompassing the GOP plan validates much of that reporting. On the whole, however, it’s a nastier, more consumer-unfriendly proposal than even close followers could have expected. (Michael Hiltzik, 3/6)
Los Angeles Times:
The GOP Makes No Bones About One Part Of Its Healthcare Plan: Kicking Millions Of Poor People Off Medicaid
In discussing the House GOP leadership’s proposed replacement for Obamacare, its supporters have stuck to platitudes that obscure much of what the bill would actually do. For example, sponsors tout a “patient-centered healthcare system” instead of explaining that the bill would encourage insurers to isolate people with pre-existing conditions in expensive policies while selling affordable ones to younger and healthier people. But there’s one thing they’re making no bones about: They want to kick millions of people off of Medicaid, the joint federal-state healthcare program for the poor. It wouldn’t happen immediately, but it would happen inexorably, deliberately. (3/10)
San Jose Mercury News:
GOP Health Care Plan Is A Disaster For California
House Speaker Paul Ryan released the plan Monday, and Trump enthusiastically endorsed it Tuesday — even though it covers fewer Americans, increases costs for low-income and senior citizens, increases the deficit, defunds Planned Parenthood and does zero to reduce overall health care costs. Zero. (3/8)
Orange County Register:
Steps Toward A Simplified System Of Health Care
Do Americans want to make health care great again? Evidence is mixed, according to different standards. And now that Republicans are in the awkward position of having to risk offering an Obamacare substitute that turns out to be more inconvenient, less stable or more burdensome up front, their hesitancy in dreaming big is growing apace. (James Poulos, 3/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Defunding Planned Parenthood Is Ideology, Not Health Care
Among the ill-considered features of the emerging Republican health care plan is the wholesale effort to hobble Planned Parenthood, the national family-planning organization that, yes, also performs abortions. It’s a case of strident ideology at odds with practical goals. Planned Parenthood delivers a range of family planning and disease-prevention services, including to low-income women using federal Medicaid funds. In California, the organization serves 850,000 residents each year. (3/9)
Los Angeles Times:
The GOP Isn't Replacing All Of Obamacare — Just The Parts That Work
The House GOP leadership’s proposal for repealing and replacing Obamacare would actually leave much of the 2010 Affordable Care Act intact — except for the parts that make it work. Instead of fixing the problems Republicans have been complaining about, it would make them worse. And rather than making insurance affordable to more people, it would raise costs for lower-income Americans and cut them for everyone else. (3/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Here's The Secret Payoff To Health Insurance CEOs Buried In The GOP Obamacare Repeal Bill
Concealed within the 123 pages of legislative verbiage and dense boilerplate of the House Republican bill repealing the Affordable Care Act are not a few hard-to-find nuggets. Here’s one crying out for exposure: The bill encourages health insurance companies to pay their top executives more. (Michael Hiltzik, 3/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Paul Ryan’s 'Trumpcare' Does Not Entirely Repeal Or Replace Obamacare
The House Republicans’ newly unveiled plan to repeal and replace Obamacare is already in political trouble because it neither repeals nor replaces. Rather than being a complete repeal, it retains some elements of Obamacare — more properly known as the Affordable Care Act. This infuriates hard-line conservative members of Congress, as well as anti-government billionaires like the Koch Brothers, because they think it maintains new and unacceptable government entitlements. At the same time, the GOP proposal is anathema to moderate Republicans and pretty much all Democrats because it does not really replace the ACA’s approach to healthcare with an improved system. (David Horsey, 3/9)
Viewpoints: Single-Payer System Just A Dream; Legal Marijuana Challenges
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
A State Single-Payer Healthcare System? Nice Idea, But It's Just California Dreaming
Voters want politicians to be bold. They disrespect timidity. And trying to push every Californian into a government-run healthcare system is certifiably bold. The voters’ desire for boldness has a caveat, of course: They’ve got to like what the politician is being bold about. We really don’t know how Californians feel about government-run universal healthcare. People haven’t been asked for a while. ... Now, with congressional Republicans and President Trump trying to repeal and replace Obamacare, some Sacramento Democrats think they see an opening to finally adopt a California version of single-payer. (George Skelton, 3/9)
Los Angeles Times:
Fixing Healthcare: Which Single-Payer System Would Be Best For California?
It’s misleading to say that California could have a single-payer healthcare system just like in other developed nations. Other nations approach their single-payer systems in a variety of different ways. (David Lazarus, 3/7)
Glendale News-Press:
How Can We Save Our Healthcare System?
The health insurance industry used to work well before the age of bonuses and billionaires. Now that everyone wants to have a private jet and a home in the Hamptons, many top CEOs are finding the fastest path to being featured in Forbes magazine is by transferring wealth from the middle class. All the current trends point to health insurance premiums going up while doctors are getting paid less. No matter how you slice it, the common denominator stems from a culture of greed. (Manuel Momjian, 3/9)
Sacramento Bee:
Bumps On The Road To Legal Weed
On election night last November, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, riding high on the news that California voters had approved Proposition 64 to legalize recreational pot, bragged to a reporter: “I think it’s the beginning of the end of the war on marijuana United States.” That was a bit optimistic, even for Newsom. A few sobering months into 2017, what’s becoming increasingly clear is that the state, its cities and counties, and, most troubling, the federal government are far from being on the same page about the creation of an industry for legal marijuana. Instead, what we’ve seen is a gathering storm of uncertainty that, for the sake of public health and public safety, should be resolved – sooner rather than later. (3/9)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Help Mentally Ill With Police Training And Treatment, Not Jail
Violent encounters between police and individuals with mental illness — Sean Moore in San Francisco and Joseph Mann in Sacramento — have highlighted the use of lethal force. In both incidents, police were summoned to address dangerous or disorderly behavior of men who suffered from mental illness; both incidents ended with officers shooting the suspects, one fatally. Public attention has focused narrowly on perceived police mismanagement of these tragic situations. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to defuse a dangerous situation especially when the officers feel that their lives are at risk or a civilian may be injured. (Matthew E. Hirschtritt and Renee L. Binder, 3/9)
Los Angeles Times:
Measure S Is A Formula For Unaffordable Housing
As a matter of economics, neighborhood livability and common sense, Measure S is poor public policy. Rejecting this overly broad moratorium will allow L.A. to begin solving its very real challenges. It's as simple as supply and demand. (Ron Galperin, 3/3)