Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
The Long And Winding Road To Mental Health Care For Your Kid
A growing mental health crisis among children is exacerbated by a national shortage of child psychiatrists and therapists. It’s either difficult to get, or to afford, an appointment for your child. Here’s some advice that might help. (Bernard J. Wolfson, )
Good morning! Here are your top California health stories for the day.
'We're Drowning': Financially Crippled Americans Are Reaching A Breaking Point As Health Insurance Drains Their Savings: One in six Americans who get insurance through their jobs say they’ve had to make “difficult sacrifices” to pay for healthcare in the last year, including cutting back on food and taking extra jobs. And it is feeding resentments and deepening inequalities, as healthier and wealthier Americans are able to save for unexpected medical bills while the less fortunate struggle to balance costly care with other necessities. “It feels like the system isn’t working,” said Andrew Holko, a 45-year-old father of two who is facing $5,000 in outstanding medical bills because of diabetes medications, cortisone injections his wife needs for pelvic pain, a recent trip to the emergency room for his 9-year-old daughter and other services. “We shop at discount grocery stores. My wife is couponing. We are putting every single bill we can on the credit card,” Holko said, noting that even a family meal at McDonald’s seems like a luxury. “We’re drowning.” Read more from the Los Angeles Times here and here.
San Francisco Files Suit Against Trump Administration’s Conscience Rule Just Hours After It Drops: The HHS rule is designed to protect the religious rights of health care providers and religious institutions by allowing them to opt out of procedures such as abortions, sterilizations and assisted suicide. But critics say that the broad scope of the policy will allow for discrimination against women and members of the LGBTQ community. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed a lawsuit against the changes in the U.S. District Court for Northern California on Thursday, hours after President Donald Trump made the announcement. He said the regulation prioritizes religious beliefs over patient care and undermines access to birth control, abortion, HIV treatment and other medical services. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra also hinted the state may sue over the new rule. "It’s 2019, not 1920. We won’t go back to the days when Americans seeking healthcare faced discrimination simply because they were female or LGBTQ,” Becerra said. Read more from The Hill, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
Sacramento Bee:
Toxic Drinking Water In California Prisons Costs Taxpayers Millions
An inmate’s death in Stockton from Legionnaires’ disease marks the third time in four years the rare form of pneumonia has struck California’s state prisons – and has laid bare a history of contamination and other problems plaguing water supplies in the corrections system. Incidents of tainted water have spawned inmate lawsuits, expensive repairs, hefty bills for bottled water and fines, putting a multimillion-dollar burden on the taxpayer-funded corrections system, according to documents and court records reviewed by McClatchy. (Sabalow, Kasler and Venteicher, 5/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Reclaiming Paradise: Six Months After The Camp Fire, A Devastated Community Looks To Rebuild
Before the Camp Fire wiped out this town, David and Chenoa Rivera had found a niche here. The couple bought run-down properties in the Sierra foothills and turned them into charming mountain getaways. Their remodels were so smartly done, often with wood-beam ceilings and big fireplaces, that the husband-wife team landed a reality show on HGTV. The last episode of “Rustic Rehab” aired just before the most destructive wildfire in California history swept through Paradise on Nov. 8, killing at least 86 people. (Alexander, 5/3)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Bodega Bay Residents One Step Closer To Leaving Health Care District
A group of Bodega Bay residents seeking to remove their properties from the tax district that supports Sonoma Specialty Hospital in Sebastopol scored a victory this week. In a unanimous vote Wednesday, the Sonoma County Local Area Formation Commission, which oversees special taxing districts, approved the coastal residents’ formal petition to detach from the Palm Drive Health Care district. The decision triggers a “protest period” — starting next week and ending July 3 — that allows Bodega Bay residents to oppose the detachment and remain in the district. If enough people register their opposition, the matter could go before voters in a special election. (Espinoza, 5/2)
The Mercury News:
Radioactive Material Found At San Carlos Home
California state officials are set to return to a San Carlos home Friday morning to retrieve radioactive material found there Thursday, authorities said. On Thursday, San Mateo County Environmental Health alerted the Redwood City Fire Department and the city of San Carlos that radioactive material had been found at a residence in the 1000 block of Cedar Street. Authorities entered the property and confirmed the presence of the material. (Green, 5/2)
Orange County Register:
San Clemente Residents Say Homeless Encampments At North Beach Are Blocking Sidewalk Access For Disabled People
Tiffany DiMeco pushed her brother, Chad Bowser, in his wheelchair along the sidewalk near the Metrolink train station at North Beach. As she made her way forward, she was blocked by at least three tents set up by homeless people. At first, Duane Gibson, who identified himself as a Navy veteran, refused to budge, telling DiMeco there was a ramp to help with disabled access farther along the sidewalk. DiMeco told him she didn’t want to wheel her brother — who is immobile and suffers from a severe brain injury — in the beach parking lot with cars driving by. (Ritchie, 5/2)
The Associated Press:
Pharmaceutical Exec Guilty Of Bribing Doctors To Push Opioid
A pharmaceutical company founder accused of paying doctors millions in bribes to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance. John Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy after 15 days of jury deliberations. Four ex-employees of the Chandler, Arizona-based company, including the former exotic dancer, were also convicted. (5/2)
The New York Times:
The Opioid That Made A Fortune For Its Maker — And For Its Prescribers
Selling drugs is a relationship business. It’s best to do it in person. That is why, on a summer evening in 2012, Alec Burlakoff was out for dinner with Steven Chun, the owner of Sarasota Pain Associates. Burlakoff was a sales manager for Insys Therapeutics, an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company with only one branded product, a new and highly potent opioid painkiller called Subsys. Chun was a doctor who prescribed a lot of opioids. (Hughes, 5/2)
Reuters:
McKesson To Pay $37 Million To Resolve West Virginia Opioid Lawsuit
Drug distributor McKesson Corp has agreed to pay $37 million to resolve a lawsuit by the state of West Virginia seeking to hold it responsible for contributing to the opioid epidemic, the state's attorney general said on Thursday. The settlement announced by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey resolves one of hundreds of cases McKesson faces by states and local governments alleging it failed to identify suspicious orders by pharmacies of painkillers. (5/2)
The New York Times:
Amy Klobuchar Proposes $100 Billion For Addiction And Mental Health
Senator Amy Klobuchar on Friday released a $100 billion plan to combat drug and alcohol addiction and improve mental health care, focusing one of the first detailed proposals of her presidential campaign on an issue deeply personal to her. Ms. Klobuchar — who has spoken before about her father’s alcoholism, including memorably at Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing — said she had developed the plan and made it an early focus in part because of that personal experience and in part because of the number of addiction-related stories she had heard from voters. (Astor, 5/3)
The New York Times:
Where Michael Bennet Stands On The Issues
Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, the 21st Democrat to declare his candidacy for president, is known as a moderate who seeks bipartisan compromise. Here’s where he stands on a few key issues. ... On health care, he and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia recently introduced a bill that would create a public option called Medicare-X; Mr. Bennet said that he wanted “universal coverage” but that his model was “more practical” than the single-payer ones many other Democrats have come to support. He has specifically criticized “Medicare for all” proposals that would eliminate private insurance. (Astor, 5/2)
The New York Times:
F.D.A. Won’t Ban Sales Of Textured Breast Implants Linked To Cancer
A type of breast implant linked to a rare cancer can still be sold in the United States, even though it has been banned in many other countries, the Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday. The implants, which have a textured or slightly roughened surface, as opposed to a smooth covering, have been associated with a cancer of the immune system called anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. The vast majority of the cases have occurred in women with textured implants, mainly those made by Allergan. But the F.D.A. said that the risk, though increased, was still low, and that there was not enough data to justify banning the implants. (Grady and Rabin, 5/2)
Los Angeles Times:
As A Medical Student, I Was Told We Had Conquered Measles. I Wish
In the 1980s, when I was a medical student and later a pediatrics resident, grizzled old pediatricians would tell us how lucky we were that we’d probably never see a case of measles or diphtheria or polio. Images and descriptions of these diseases were still classic favorites on medical board exams, though, so we dutifully committed information about them to memory. That was a good thing. (Linda Schack, 5/1)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Measles Is Making A Comeback. California Lawmakers Must Fight It
The vaccinations are safe, they are effective, and, as the past few months have taught us, they are necessary to prevent the resurgence of a potentially deadly disease that we once eradicated. The alternative is a future of deadly outbreaks, useless suffering and disruptive quarantines.Despite the protests, SB276 passed the state Senate Health Committee. For the public’s health, the state Legislature must stand up to the bill’s stiff opposition and make sure Gov. Gavin Newsom has the chance to sign it. (4/28)
The Mercury News:
Close California Vaccination Legislation Loophole
The Centers for Disease Control declared in 2000 that measles had been eliminated in the United States. It was quite the feat, given that prior to 1963, more than 500,000 cases were reported every year, resulting in nearly 500 deaths and 50,000 hospitalizations. Fast forward to 2019. (5/3)
Sacramento Bee:
Americans Should Be Required By Law To Vaccinate Their Kids
California hasn’t been immune from outbreak, with 37 cases as of Wednesday. Yet the complaints are mighty about the state infringing on parents’ right to choose the health care their children get. The state has one of the toughest laws in the nation on vaccination, requiring it of all students in public and private school unless there’s a medical reason why it would be dangerous for them. (Karin Klein, 4/27)
Sacramento Bee:
AB 1223 Ensures Living Kidney Donors Protections, Insurance
If you’re in need of a lifesaving organ transplant, like the 114,000 people currently on the national transplant waiting list, where you live may limit your odds of getting an organ and getting off the waiting list. In California, 22,000 people – nearly 20% of those across the nation – await a lifesaving organ transplant. The vast majority of them are in need of a kidney. But if the Legislature acts on recently introduced legislation, many of these Californians will benefit from laws protecting and encouraging living organ donation. (Lavarne A. Burton, 5/1)
Sacramento Bee:
Children Affected By Gun Violence Need Mental Health Services To Attain The Futures They Deserve
Recent suicides by students who survived the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High reveal how trauma induced by violence, especially gun violence, extends long after the event and well beyond a shooting’s direct victims. Children, in particular, bear the consequences of violence-induced trauma. Without timely and effective intervention, the brains of children exposed to violence, especially if that exposure is sustained, will never develop as biologically destined. (4/27)
Los Angeles Times:
Palisades High Students Chronicle ‘An Epidemic Level’ Of Young People Dying From Gun Violence
They were killed by acquaintances, by enemies, by accident. Some were riding their bikes, some were running for cover, some didn’t see the bullets coming. In a single year, nearly 1,200 Americans 18 and younger were victims of gun violence. The carnage has become so numbingly commonplace that most victims perish without much notice, and our collective silence is broken only by the next hail of gunfire. (Steve Lopez, 4/27)
Los Angeles Times:
USC’s Doctor Scandal Awoke A Horrific Memory. Now Nicole Haynes Fights For The Truth
Nicole Haynes, a USC champion heptathlete, remembers the one time in her Trojans track career when everything slowed down. She had signed into the Engemann Student Health Center because she was suffering severe stomach pains along with vomiting and diarrhea. She was ushered to an examining table, where her legs were immediately placed in stirrups. (Bill Plaschke, 4/27)
San Jose Mercury News:
Silicon Valley Can Solve California's Tech Woes
As lieutenant governor, he wrote a book titled “Citizenville,” which described efforts to make government software tools more responsive. Now he is proposing establishing an Office of Digital Innovation. If the Legislature funds this office – at a first year cost of $36 million – it is possible that Sacramento could begin to participate in the technology revolution that has swept Silicon Valley, parts of the federal government and many of our cities and counties. (Marc Joffe, 5/1)
Sacramento Bee:
Teaching California Students To Be Tolerant Could Curb Hate Crimes
The weekend shooting at a Southern California synagogue sparked two predictable responses. Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who happened to be in the Golden State at the time of the tragedy, called for stricter gun control.Gov. Gavin Newsom preached tolerance and safety. (Bill Whalen, 5/3)
The Mercury News:
The Alarming Scope Of The Bay Area Housing Crisis
As the region’s economy soars, a shrinking portion of the workers who sustain it can afford to live here. Those who stay are being forced to devote more of their income toward keeping homes near their jobs, to squeeze into smaller living spaces or to commute longer distances to live in affordable homes.It’s unsustainable. The Bay Area cannot continue to thrive if only the upper echelon can afford to live here. A well-functioning economy requires a diversity of jobs and income levels. We need housing for all those workers. And we need it near their jobs. (4/28)