Los Angeles Times: Medi-Cal Is Ending Some People's Benefits. Here's What To Know
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest, low-income Californians who enrolled in Medi-Cal — California’s version of the government-funded Medicaid health insurance program — have been able to keep their coverage without having to prove every year that they still qualified for it. That’s because the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which President Trump signed into law in March 2020, offered states extra money if they stopped booting people off Medicaid. And all but a handful of states complied. (Healey, 3/31)

Public Policy Institute Of California: Policy Brief: Pandemic Changes To Medi-Cal And Implications For California’s Immigrant Farmworkers 
Pandemic changes to Medi-Cal made it easier for low-income Californians to stay enrolled and to access expanded services—improvements to care that may have helped immigrant farmworkers. The upcoming end of the public health emergency will reverse some of these changes, as advocates push to keep others permanent. (Cha, 3/31)

The Washington Post: Medicaid Benefits Ending For Millions As Pandemic Protections Unwind 
At the end of this week, states will begin to sever an anticipated 15 million low-income Americans from Medicaid rolls that ballooned to record heights because of a pandemic-era promise that people with the health insurance could keep it — a federal promise that is going away. The end to the temporary guarantee that preserved the safety-net health coverage for the past three years saddles every state with an immense undertaking: sorting out which Medicaid beneficiaries actually belong. Around the country, officials have been preparing for months, but the result is a bumpy landscape consisting of states that vary in how ready they are for this daunting work. (Goldstein, 3/29)

Stat: Texas Judge Strikes Obamacare Provisions On Preventive Care
A federal judge Thursday reversed a major Obamacare provision requiring plans to cover preventive care ranging from cancer and chronic disease screenings to pregnancy care and certain drugs. The ruling could deal a massive blow to President Joe Biden’s moonshot goal of slashing cancer rates through early screenings . It also leaves the door open for insurers to refuse coverage of statins, drugs preventing HIV transmission known as PrEP, and a vast range of health screenings recommended by federal officials. It could also eventually threaten the Biden administration’s efforts to lower maternal and infant mortality rates and bolster reproductive rights in the wake of Roe’s overturn. (Owermohle, 3/30)

California Healthline: Judge’s Decision Would Make Some No-Cost Cancer Screenings A Thing Of The Past
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor builds on a September judgment in which he also said the ACA requirement that employers cover preexposure prophylaxis treatment to prevent HIV violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. His ruling is the latest shot in the legal battle over the ACA. “Previous cases threatened the very existence of the law and fundamental protections. (Appleby and Andrews, 3/30)

NBC News: Judge Strikes Down Obamacare Provisions Requiring Insurers Cover Some Preventive Care Services
The plaintiffs objected to buying health insurance that provided coverage for those drugs, the human papillomavirus vaccine, contraceptives and screenings for sexually transmitted diseases because "coverage for those services violates their religious beliefs by making them complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman," O'Connor wrote. In September, the judge said the preventive services requirements were unconstitutional, but he hadn’t decided whether the determination should apply nationally, a decision he made in Thursday's ruling. (Shabad, 3/30)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Industry Reacts To Preventive Care Ruling
The American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals and America's Essential Hospitals declined comment. Here are some of the statements issued in reaction to the court decision. (Turner, 3/30)

Los Angeles Times: Hollywood To Drop COVID Safety Measures As Federal Emergency Declaration Ends
Key protocols used on film and TV sets to limit the spread of COVID-19 are set to end in May, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said in a statement Thursday. (Sakoui, 3/30)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Ends COVID-19 Emergency
Los Angeles County is officially ending its COVID-19 emergency declaration Friday, a milestone that comes as the region’s coronavirus case rate has fallen to its lowest level since summer 2021. It’s perhaps fitting that the nation’s most populous county delayed lifting its local declaration, doing so a month after the state. L.A. County has been one of the hardest-hit parts of California — so much so that the National Guard had to transport corpses from overwhelmed hospital morgues during the pandemic’s first winter. Officials also led the nation in sounding the alarm about the danger posed by the Delta variant, which fueled a significant surge the following summer. (Money and Lin II, 3/31)

CIDRAP: Study Identifies SARS-CoV-2 Variants With Antiviral Resistance Mutations
A study conducted by US and Austrian researchers has identified SARS-CoV-2 variants with resistance to widely used antiviral treatments. The study, published yesterday in Science Advances, found that several naturally occurring variants of Mpro, the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 that is essential for virus replication and is the main target of antivirals, carry amino acid mutations that confer resistance to nirmatrelvir (the main component of Paxlovid) and ensitrelvir, which received regulatory approval in Japan in February. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that these variants predate the use of these drugs, have appeared multiple times independently in different parts of the world, and are capable of spreading. (Dall, 3/30)

CIDRAP: COVID During Pregnancy Might Raise Obesity Risk In Children
A study of about 150 babies born to women who had COVID-19 during pregnancy found growth patterns that have been linked to developing obesity and other health problems. A research team based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reported their findings yesterday in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. (Schnirring, 3/30)

Argus-Courier Staff: Providence Indicates May 1 Closure Of Petaluma Valley Hospital’s Birth Center
Despite promises that they’d never do it — and a contractual obligation to keep it open until 2026 — the owners of Petaluma Valley Hospital have indicated to hospital staff their plans to at least partially close Petaluma’s Family Birthing Center beginning May 1. (Parreira, 3/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: How AI Like ChatGPT Could Change Our Future And Minds
The current boom in generative artificial intelligence driven by tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which can seemingly produce organic text, images and more, represents a leap forward both in what the technology can do and its potential to influence everything from the internet itself to the minds of the people who use it. The technology is having a moment, with the potential to overhaul millions of jobs while some experts are urging that it is accelerating too rapidly, although it has been in development in some form since World War II and the early days of the Cold War. (DiFeliciantonio, 3/30)

California Healthline: $50 Billion In Opioid Settlement Cash Is On The Way. We’re Tracking How It’s Spent.
Spending the money effectively and equitably is a tall order for state and local governments, and a lack of transparency in the process is already leading to fears of misuse. (Pattani, 3/30)

Modesto Bee: California Legislature Shows No Interest In Fentanyl Bills
State representatives from the Central Valley are proposing legislation to combat the fentanyl crisis, but they’re running into roadblocks in Sacramento. Last week, the Assembly Public Safety Committee declined to hear a bill proposing tougher penalties for dealers convicted of selling the lethal street drug. (Carlson, 3/30)

AP: US Navy Deploys More Chaplains For Suicide Prevention 
Mental health problems, especially among enlisted men under 29, mirror concerns in schools and colleges, which are also increasingly tapping campus ministry for counseling. The isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated depression and anxiety for many. But chaplains, civilian counselors, families of suicide victims, and sailors from commodores to the newly enlisted say these struggles pose unique challenges and security implications in the military, where suicides have risen for most of the past decade and took the lives of 519 service members in 2021, per the latest Department of Defense data. (Dell'Orto, 3/30)

Military.com: Overhaul Of VA's Troubled Health Records Program Eyed By Senators 
The chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and other prominent senators are planning "comprehensive legislation" to overhaul the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs electronic health records program, the lawmakers announced this week. The proposal is the latest effort from lawmakers to pump the brakes on a program that has seen numerous glitches that watchdog reports have found endangered patient safety. (Kheel, 3/31)

Military.com: 98 Military Families Silenced By Nondisclosure Agreements With Private Base Housing Companies 
Several private companies that manage housing on military installations nationwide asked 98 families since 2019 to sign nondisclosure agreements as part of settlement disputes over mold, infestations and other dangerous living conditions in their on-base homes. The companies' use of nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, was revealed in a Defense Department response to a request from five U.S. senators asking for more details about the use of confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements with tenants. (Kime, 3/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Homeless Residents Filing More Claims Over Confiscated Property
San Francisco is fighting off a barrage of claims of up to $10,000 each from homeless residents who accuse the city of illegally confiscating or destroying their belongings during street cleaning operations. Since mid-January the city has received over 100 such administrative claims, totaling more than $1 million and exceeding the number of filings it received in the prior three years. The city rejects the vast majority of claims, some of which officials say are fraudulent, but claimants may appeal in court. Since 2020, the city has spent more than $132,000 to resolve 24 cases, paying out an average of $5,500, according to data from the City Attorney’s Office. (Barned-Smith, 3/30)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Nonprofit Hosts Walk To Support San Diegans With Parkinson's 
Parkinson’s Association of San Diego is once again stepping up in support of people with Parkinson’s disease during its annual walk this Saturday. (Mapp, 3/30)

The Washington Post: Social Media Is Addictive For Many Girls, Especially Those With Depression 
Nearly half of adolescent girls on TikTok feel addicted to it or use the platform for longer than they intend, according to a report that looks at social media as a central facet of American girlhood. TikTok leads the way in total time on its platform, with girls who use it logging more than 2.5 hours a day, according to researchers from Brown University and the nonprofit Common Sense Media. But YouTube is only a bit behind, at nearly 2.5 hours, with Snapchat and messaging apps at about two hours, and Instagram at 92 minutes. Many of the girls surveyed, ages 11 to 15, use multiple platforms each day. (St. George, 3/30)

NBC News: Possible Culprit Identified In Outbreak Of Severe Liver Damage Cases In Children
An onslaught of common childhood viruses may have been behind the mysterious outbreak of cases of severe liver damage in children that began popping up in late 2021, as lockdowns were relaxed and schools reopened. (Edwards, 3/30)

CIDRAP: US Tops 1 Million Mpox Vaccine Doses Given, But Coverage Lags In Risk Groups
In its latest snapshot on the nation's mpox vaccine campaign, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said though more than 1 million doses have been given, only 23% of the at-risk population is fully covered with two doses. In other developments, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its latest global update that cases continue to decline, except for in the Western Pacific region. (Schnirring, 3/30)

USA Today: FBI: Mandalay Bay Shooter In Las Vegas Who Killed 58 Was Angry About How Casinos Treated Him
A trove of documents recently released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that the shooter who killed 58 people at a Las Vegas concert in 2017 was "very upset" about how casinos were treating him. The documents provide the strongest indication yet of a motive for the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Stephen Paddock, 64, a regular gambler who had a penchant for video poker, killed himself at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino before he could be apprehended. The documents provide the most detailed look to date into Paddock's possible motive and gambling habits, delving into the weeks and years before he fired from his 32nd-floor windows into a crowd of 22,000 people at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. (Abdollah, 3/30)

CNN: Most States Get An 'F' On Gun Laws This Year In New Analysis By Advocacy Group
Most US states get a failing grade on gun laws, according to a new scorecard published by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The group advocates for stricter gun laws as a way to save lives. (Wolf, 3/31)

CalMatters: How Looming Medi-Cal Changes Could Affect Coverage 
An error caused a Venice Family Clinic patient to lose the Medi-Cal coverage that paid for her HIV medications. People living with HIV must take their medications as prescribed to stay healthy, so she moved quickly to remedy things. She went directly to the L.A. County Department of Public Social Services, or DPSS, which administers Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, and provides coverage for people with low incomes, including 1 in every 3 Californians.  (Mitesh Popat, 3/28)

Los Angeles Daily News: The Risks Of Using Medi-Cal For Housing Funding 
Under current law, states cannot use federal Medicaid money for recipients’ rent; in California, the program is called Medi-Cal. But according to Kaiser Health News, Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking President Joe Biden for a federal waiver to do that for what will be called “transitional rent.” (3/29)

The Sacramento Bee: California Insulin News Is Life Saving For Diabetics 
The state and its non-profit partner, Civica, announced they have entered into a $50 million, 10-year contract to produce affordable insulin at just $30 per dose — under the name “CalRx” — and bring down the cost of insulin substantially, and enough to make a real difference for consumers. (3/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: No, Deporting Undocumented Immigrants Won’t Solve The Fentanyl Crisis
In recent months, Republicans in Congress have been pushing the narrative that unauthorized immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border is responsible for fentanyl-related overdoses across the country. But there’s one glaring problem with their pitch: It’s not true. (Laura Guzman, Carlos Martinez and Jorge Zepeda, 3/29)

Orange County Register: Wealthy? Educated? You’re Primed To Live Through COVID-19
Remember being thrust into that Salvador Dali painting? Aisle after aisle of empty store shelves melting into bleak oblivion … finger paintings cracking in abandoned classrooms … blue industrial gloves in the supermarket … We knew squat about the new virus sweeping the planet three years ago. Our hopes for normalcy — nay, for survival! — hung on the development of new vaccines to keep the beast at bay. In a stunning triumph, science delivered. But millions, to this day, refuse the needle — a refusal that researchers say has resulted in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. (Teri Sforza, 3/26)

East Bay Times: Where Is California's Comprehensive Mental Health Plan, Governor?
California needs a comprehensive plan to solve its growing mental health problem. The current piecemeal approach is creating confusion among city, county and state leaders while thousands of mentally ill people wander the streets, failing to receive the help or housing they desperately need. (3/25)

Los Angeles Times: Why Doesn't California Protect Domestic Violence Victims? 
California does a terrible job preventing domestic violence and protecting victims from abuse once it has occurred. That is mostly because we don’t take it seriously. Last year, the state auditor examined intervention programs for domestic abusers and found “systemic failures,” from court oversight to probation monitoring. I checked in with some of those authorities and was told they’re working on changes, coming soon, but nothing yet. Just the kind of brush off the system is best at. (Anita Chabria, 3/30)

CalMatters: Why California Women Of Color Need Universal Health Care
Addressing racial and economic inequality in California requires policies that improve the material circumstances of those groups in our society who face the greatest hardship. One such group is women of color, and one such policy would be the introduction of universal health care coverage. (Indira D'Souza, 3/27)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Arab Americans Need Culturally Competent Health Care 
As a physician providing care to Arab American patients in San Diego, I have witnessed firsthand their complex and unique health challenges. Arab Americans come from a wide range of countries, religions and geographic locations. Their health concerns can vary based on factors from their time of immigration to the United States and level of acculturation. (Raed Al-Naser, 3/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: My Kids Are Neurodiverse. S.F. Is Failing To Fund Their Education
I am so happy that my two children, who are neurodiverse, attend a San Francisco public school. They joyfully run through the gates to start their school day. But truth be told, they have nowhere else to go. (Sam Murphy, 3/24)

East Bay Times: CalFresh Recipients, Bay Area Food Banks Need Added Support
The federal pandemic-era monthly allotments that began in 2020 to boost food payments to low-income individuals and families are due to expire after Friday. The additional money, roughly $150 a month, provided more funds for an estimated 600,000 Bay Area residents covered by the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known in California as CalFresh. (3/29)