The San Francisco Chronicle: Tobacco Smackdown On State Agenda; Law Would Boost Smoking Age
The Democratic-controlled state Assembly approved six tobacco-control bills Thursday, including legislation that would increase the minimum smoking age in California to 21 from 18. Despite the objections of Republicans, who called many of the measures government overreach, the tobacco bills now head to the state Senate, which is expected to approve the legislation next week and send it to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. (Gutierrez, 3/3)

Capital Public Radio: California Assembly Passes New Tobacco Fees, Restrictions, Higher Min. Age
Republicans attempted to block the votes, arguing they fell outside the session’s purpose. “This is an abuse of the process, and it makes a mockery of the state Assembly," said Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, a Modesto Republican. "So I will be abstaining from this vote, and I urge others to do the same.” The bills raise fees on nicotine products, ban them in charter schools, further restrict them in offices and allow new county taxes. Another bill applies tobacco restrictions to e-cigarettes. (Bradford, 3/3)

The Sacramento Bee: California Advances Bills To Raise Smoking Age, Regulate Vaping
The votes to advance the two measures marked a major victory for public health advocates who previously failed to push the policies through and have struggled to overcome the tobacco industry’s influence in Sacramento. Without directly naming tobacco companies, Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, said the bill was “aggressively lobbied by entities” who did not publicly register their opposition. (White, 3/3)

The Wall Street Journal: California Lawmakers Approve Bill To Raise Tobacco-Purchase Age To 21
Lawmakers in other states including Massachusetts and Illinois are considering similar legislation after Hawaii became the first state to do so last year, following cities like New York City, Boston, Kansas City, Mo., and Evanston, Ill. (Mickle and Lazo, 3/3)

The Associated Press: Bill Would Make California 2nd State With Smoking Age Of 21
[The move] comes days after San Francisco officials voted to increase the legal age to buy tobacco products to 21, making it the second-largest city after New York City to do so. Several other California jurisdictions, including the city of Healdsburg and Santa Clara County, have also raised their smoking ages. Some of those jurisdictions have faced threats of lawsuits from tobacco sellers who say the statewide age of 18 trumps local ordinances that set it higher. (Cooper, 3/3)

The San Francisco Business Times: 'Kids On The Cusp': Early Data Moves BioMarin Against A Childkiller
Children with a genetic mutation that robs them of their speech, muscles and lives could get access to an experimental treatment from BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. yet this year. The San Rafael-based rare disease drug developer said Wednesday that an early-stage clinical trial indicated that its enzyme replacement therapy — called cerliponase alfa, or BMN-190 — slowed the rate of decline in most patients with CLN2 disease, a form of deadly Batten disease. (Leuty, 3/3)

Becker's Hospital Review: Adventist Health Picks New Regional CFO For Southern California
Ronald Wehtje has been appointed CFO of Adventist Health's Southern California Region. The region includes Glendale (Calif.) Adventist Medical Center, San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., Simi Valley (Calif.) Hospital and White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles as well as dozens of ambulatory care sites and hundreds of primary care and specialty providers. (Gooch, 3/4)

The San Jose Mercury News: Four Zika Virus Cases Reported In Bay Area
Several more Bay Area cases of the Zika virus were either reported or confirmed Thursday, one day after Napa County public health officials confirmed a pregnant woman who had traveled to Central America had contracted the virus. (Seipel, 3/3)

In other public health news —

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Home Offers Mentally Ill A New Path To Recovery
Tucked away on a quiet cul-de-sac in an Escondido neighborhood, a group of mostly Jewish adults with mental illness are gradually taking back their lives. These are the residents of Chesed Home, a 12-bed board-and-care center for the Jewish mentally ill. Its mission is to help residents build the self-sufficiency, working, coping and social skills to permanently transition to independent living. Since Chesed Home opened three years ago, nearly half of its 20 residents have moved on to better living situations, a track record that its founders say is rare in the mental-health community. (Kragen, 3/3)

Payers & Providers: Elderly Near Poor Have Health Issues
A new study by UCLA researchers has concluded that Californians over the age of 65 with relatively low incomes are more likely to to have health problems and suffer from depression. Moreover, there are a lot of near-poor Californians over the age of 65: some 655,000 in total in 2013, according to data from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. (Shinkman, 3/3)

San Jose Mercury News: I Have 'Mat Herpes,' Sunnyvale Wrestler Warns, Calling For Delay Of California High School Championship
A high school wrestler who believes he contracted a highly contagious virus known as "mat herpes" during a recent tournament at San Jose's Independence High came forward Wednesday to plead that officials postpone this weekend's state wrestling championships because other Bay Area wrestlers were exposed. State interscholastic officials said they won't cancel the tournament in Bakersfield, insisting they follow rigid protocols to protect wrestlers from infections and viruses like "herpes gladiatorum," which is spread mostly through red skin lesions. All athletes go through "skin checks" before the tournament and any athlete with an active infection won't be allowed to compete. (Sulek and Jacewicz, 3/3)

The Bakersfield Californian: State Wrestling Tourney To Continue Despite Herpes Scare
A Bay Area high school wrestler whose face has broken out into severe lesions says he contracted a contagious form of “mat herpes” from a tournament last month, and he is calling for this weekend’s CIF State Championships at Rabobank Arena to be postponed. Despite those pleas, state CIF officials said they would carry on as planned with the tournament, where more than 560 wrestlers will compete, including 31 from Kern County. (Pierce, 3/3)

The Washington Post: Trump Was Center Of Attention And Attacks In GOP Debate
Billionaire Donald Trump entered Thursday night’s GOP debate as the race’s front-runner – but he spent much of the night on the defensive, struggling to explain his positions to skeptical moderators, arguing with his rivals, even trying to drown out their arguments with shouted insults. “I won 10 states,” Trump said at one point, reasserting his dominance on a night when it seemed to be under assault. “I am by far the leader!” ... Moderator Chris Wallace had one of most powerful moments of the early going, pressing Trump to explain a claim that he would save $300 billion from Medicare drug purchases, when the U.S. only spends $78 billion total on Medicare drug purchases. Trump seemed to dodge the question, despite Wallace’s repeated efforts to pin him down. (Fahrenthold, 3/3)

The Washington Post: Fact-Checking The 11th GOP Debate
Fox News aired the 11th GOP presidential debate on March 3, a prime-time event starring the four remaining aspirants for the Republican nomination. Not every candidate uttered statements that are easily fact checked, but the following is a list of 14 suspicious or interesting claims. ... “I’m not only talking about drugs, I’m talking about other things. We will save $300 billion a year if we properly negotiate. We don’t do that. We don’t negotiate. We don’t negotiate anything," Trump said. This is the first time that Trump has said that his repeated claim that he would save $300 billion on prescription drugs in Medicare actually was supposed to mean negotiating for a range of products in the Medicare system. As we have noted previously, his earlier statements made no sense because total spending in Medicare Part D (prescription drugs) in 2014 was $78 billion. But the $300 billion pledge doesn’t make much sense either. Projected Medicare spending in 2016 is $560 billion, so Trump unrealistically is claiming he will cut spending nearly 55 percent. (Kessler and Lee, 3/4)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Claims From The GOP Debate
"Because of the fact that the pharmaceutical companies are not mandated to bid properly, they have hundreds of billions of dollars in waste," [Donald Trump said at Thursday's debate]. This relates to Trump's unachievable promise to save $300 billion by allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. That's impossible because the entire country — Medicare, private insurance, individuals and other government programs — spends about $300 billion on drugs ($297.7 billion in 2014). Trump's promise could only be fulfilled, in essence, if drugs were free. (3/3)

And, Trump's new plan sticks mostly to the pillars of conservative health policy —

Los Angeles Times: Trump Promised A 'Beautiful' Healthcare Plan, But It's Pretty Basic
Donald Trump has at various times promised a healthcare plan that would be “beautiful,” “terrific” and “unbelievable.” But the healthcare outline his campaign released Wednesday mostly highlights standard, if vague, Republican proposals, several of which conservatives themselves say will have little impact on patients’ health or their pocketbooks. (Levey, 3/3)

The New York Times: Obama Says Enrollment In Affordable Care Act Reaches 20 Million
President Obama said on Thursday that enrollment in health coverage under the Affordable Care Act had reached a new high, 20 million, and he called the law an overwhelming success in this city and around the nation despite Republicans’ implacable opposition. “Congressional Republicans have tried and failed to repeal Obamacare about 60 times,” Mr. Obama said to an audience here. “They have told you what they would replace it with about zero times.” He continued, his voice rising: “If they got their way, 20 million people would have their insurance taken away from them. Twenty million people!” (Harris, 3/3)

Reuters: Obama: 20 Million Americans Insured Thanks To 'Obamacare'
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the estimates Obama referenced included coverage from the expansion of the Medicaid program, health insurance marketplaces, and provisions that allowed young people to stay on their parents' private insurance plans longer. (Mason and Rascoe, 3/3)

The Associated Press: Obama Cites Gains In Health Coverage During Milwaukee Visit
Congratulating local leaders in Wisconsin for winning a national health insurance enrollment contest, Obama acknowledged that millions more are eligible to enroll but have yet to do so. He attributed some of that to acrimony over the law, saying people haven't always known what's true and what's not. Obama was introduced at the event by Brent Brown of Mosinee, Wisconsin, who said he's a Republican who never voted to elect Obama and worked to ensure he would not be president. But he said the health care law saved his life after he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and ran out of money for treatment. Brown called on Republicans to quit trying to repeal the law. "Swallow your pride as I am doing right now," he said. (3/3)

The Obama administration also announced that it hit its goal ahead of schedule for tying Medicare payments to quality —

The Wall Street Journal: Obama Administration Hits Medicare Payment Target Early
Obama administration officials said Thursday they were almost a year ahead of their target to change the way Medicare pays hundreds of billions of dollars to providers for treating older Americans. The Department of Health and Human Services had wanted the federal insurance program for seniors to make 30% of its payments to doctors and hospitals on the basis of the quality of care they provide, rather than the quantity, by the end of 2016. That was seen as a step toward hitting 50% by 2018, beyond the lifespan of the Obama administration. (Radnofsky, 3/3)

Los Angeles Daily News: Californians With Developmental Disabilities Get Desperately Needed Help
It was a tough slog, but at long last the state Legislature did right by California’s most vulnerable people. Substantial financial relief is on the way for the system that serves those with developmental disabilities. The two-bill package that the Assembly and Senate passed Monday afternoon will provide an additional $300 million or so in state funding to developmental services for Californians with autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature on the bills is a foregone conclusion. (3/1)

The Ventura County Star: State Tax Plan For Health Insurers Is Mind-Numbing
The California Legislature this week passed a $1 billion-plus tax package that even on a good day Gov. Jerry Brown — who championed the idea — joked "couldn't explain it to you if I wanted." The legislation, which the governor has been pushing since he created a special concurrent legislative session last year to deal with the issue, alters the California tax structure to meet federal guidelines and assure the continuation of more than $1.1 billion in federal funding for the state's health care program. (3/1)

Los Angeles Daily News: How A Senate Bill Would Save California Families From Opioid Devastation: Guest Commentary
Tens of thousands of our sons, daughters, and loved ones die every year because they are addicted to prescription pain pills or heroin. In 1999, 6,000 Americans died from an opioid overdose — this includes both prescription painkillers (such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet) and heroin. By 2014, that number exploded to nearly 30,000. This devastation to our families is directly linked to the overprescribing of painkillers. In 2012, doctors wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioids — triple the number written in 1999. That’s enough for every adult in the United States to have a bottle of pills for a month. Even worse — four out of five of those addicted to heroin got started with prescription painkillers. (Gary Mendell, 3/3)

The Desert Sun: Shift Addiction Treatment Focus
The Coachella Valley has an increasing number of facilities for treating and rehabilitating addicts, but attitudes about addiction (now officially known as Substance Use Disorder) are varied. Many people want to punish the addicts; some want them to get psychological help; and others want them to get medical treatment. There is a great deal of misunderstanding about addiction, its nature, its causes, and what to do about the epidemic of addiction, especially to opiates, that is sweeping our entire nation. (Christopher Knippers, 3/3)

The Sacramento Business Journal: The Joys Of Medical Mis-Billing, Recounted
All of us want to believe our health care providers care about us. We even like it when they communicate with us — and not just to announce a rate increase or offer tips on “Healthy Barbecuing with Carcinogenic Coal Briquettes!” In my case, I could do with a little less of a dialogue. (Ed Goldman, 3/3)

Los Angeles Times: Keep Taxing Diapers And Tampons
When it comes to consumer goods, California's sales tax philosophy is pretty simple: Tax retail purchases except for things that people could die without, such as food, shelter, power, water and prescription drugs and devices. Other states exempt clothing too, considering them essential to human survival. In the temperate Golden State, however, clothing is still optional. ... Still, a handful of state legislators are pushing sales tax exemptions for things that don't fall under the life-sustaining mantle. If legislators can't find the courage to put the brakes on these breaks, the governor must. ... The authors of the diaper and tampon tax bills — Assemblywomen Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) and Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), respectively — say they hope to reduce the financial burden on poor women and families. Further, they argue that diapers and feminine hygiene products are necessities and taxing them is unfair. But the same could be said for many important but taxable products, such as soap, toothpaste, clothes, shoes, toilet paper and deodorant. (2/29)

Orange County Register: Soda Taxes Morally, Ethically Bankrupt
Shortsighted economic proposals become law every day, so the Davis City Council’s rejection of a soda tax is a welcome respite from normal legislative blundering. In voting against placing a soda-tax initiative on the June ballot, the council has kept the nanny state’s nose out of the lives of its citizens. Bills to tax sugary soft drinks and require health-warning labels likewise have died or stalled in the state Legislature. Ultimately, taxing soda drinkers is ineffective, regressive and, most importantly, discriminatory. Tax proposals nevertheless trigger lobbying and campaign contributions by special interests, which is why politicians benefit even if consumers and producers do not. (Josh Smith and William F. Shughart II, 3/3)

The Press Democrat: Close To Home: A Preventable Disease That Is Largely Ignored
In the past month, our community has tragically lost two high-profile people to suicide; first, Raymond Burnside, a young Afghanistan and Iraq war veteran who served his country as a medic yet never received the treatment he needed for his post-traumatic stress disorder. The other person was someone I had the opportunity to work with at the county on highly emotional and tragic legal cases. Steve Mitchell, was a brilliant attorney and no doubt a highly sensitive human being who took his work to heart. (Shirlee Zane, 3/2)

Los Angeles Times: How To Raise Happy, Healthy Transgender Kids
The dominant narrative is that transgender people's lives are characterized by trauma, victimization, mental health problems and unhappiness. This grows out of sobering statistics: Transgender teens and adults suffer high rates of depression, homelessness and substance abuse. Underscoring these statistics are the devastating stories of suicides by teens Leelah Alcorn in Ohio in 2014 and Skylar Lee in Wisconsin last fall. Media reports suggest they both struggled to gain parental acceptance of their identities. But there are more hopeful stories, and we have seen them first-hand. Our TransYouth Project is the first large-scale, longitudinal study of American transgender children, and we're finding that there is a group of silly, friendly, thoughtful and all-around quite average children who also happen to be transgender. (Kristina R. Olson and Katie A. McLaughlin, 2/26)

The Desert Sun: Why Addiction Is Referred To As A Disease
Why is addiction referred to as a disease? That just doesn’t make sense. How can we call what looks like, from an outside perspective, an intentional action – drinking, taking illegal drugs, or misusing mood-altering prescription drugs such as Valium or Percocet – a disease? It is true that taking drugs for the first time is almost always a choice – or even designed to address a health problem, as with the use of prescription pain pills. However, for about 10 percent of the population, using alcohol or other drugs can, over time, cease to be a matter of choice. It becomes an addiction – and addiction is a disease like any other. (Harry Haroutunian, 3/2)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Heart Health Advice Just The Start
If one believes the dietary advice heart patients are being given, the road to improving heart health is clear. Increase the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, along with seafood and other non-red meats. Reduce consumption of processed foods. Change your diet to reduce saturated fat, reduce cholesterol intake and cut down on salt. While most of that dietary advice is sound, some important parts -- the ones listed in the last sentence -- have been called into serious question by recent research. (Bradley J. Fikes, 3/2)