The New York Times: Immigrants With DACA Protections Will Be Eligible For Obamacare 
Thousands of undocumented immigrants will be able to obtain health care through the Affordable Care Act under a new federal rule, U.S. officials said this week. The new eligibility comes for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which since 2012 has protected undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as young people from deportation. The program also provides recipients with work permits. More than 500,000 immigrants have DACA protections but have been ineligible for benefits such as federal health insurance programs. (Aleaziz, 5/3)

CBS News: Some 100,000 "Dreamers" Expected To Sign Up For Obamacare Under New Rule, White House Says
The administration decided not to expand eligibility for Medicaid for those migrants after receiving more than 20,000 comments on the proposal, senior officials said Thursday. Those officials declined to explain why the rule, which was first proposed last April, took so long to finalize. The delay meant the migrants were unable to enroll in the marketplace for coverage this year. More than 800,000 of the migrants will be eligible to enroll in marketplace coverage but the administration predicts only 100,000 will actually sign up because some may get coverage through their workplace or other ways. Some may also be unable to afford coverage through the marketplace. (5/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego's Cue Health Lays Off Half Its Workforce
Cue Health, a San Diego biotech that ascended during the pandemic through mega funding and partnerships for its rapid COVID-19 test, said Wednesday that it is laying off half of its workforce as it aims to reduce costs and focus on its core technology. (Rocha, 5/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Board Majority Criticizes Kaiser Mental Health Care Policy 
A majority of San Diego County supervisors supported a resolution Wednesday that decries reduced “patient management time” for mental health care providers who work for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, despite insistence from managers of the health care giant that San Diego County is not affected. (Sisson, 5/2)

Fresno Bee: Anonymous Donor Gives Valley Children’s $15 Million To Fund Cancer Treatment, Hospital Says
A $15 million donation to Valley Children’s Hospital from an anonymous donor will be used to create child cancer treatment programs that could keep patients from having to travel elsewhere for care, the nonprofit hospital announced Thursday. (Galicia, 5/2)

Bay Area Reporter: After Uproar, Breed To Include San Francisco STD Clinic In Bond Measure 
Money to purchase a new home for San Francisco's public health clinic focused on treating and preventing sexually transmitted infections is now set to be included in a bond measure city leaders intend to put before voters on the November 5 ballot. Initially, San Francisco Mayor London Breed had omitted $28.5 million for relocating the Department of Public Health's City Clinic in the $360 million bond measure she unveiled April 29. It caused an uproar among LGBTQ advocates, as the Bay Area Reporter first reported online April 30. (Bajko, 5/2)

Modern Healthcare: Nondiscrimination Rule For Patients With Disabilities Finalized
The Health and Human Services Department finalized a rule that broadens nondiscrimination protections for individuals with disabilities in healthcare environments. The regulation mandates a series of actions to be taken by healthcare providers that the HHS Office for Civil Rights, which promulgated the regulation, believes will improve medical treatments for people with disabilities. (Hartnett, 5/2)

Stat: New Medicaid Rule Could Lower Wait Times For Home-Based Care
Caregivers for older adults and people with disabilities could see a bump in their wages in the coming years, thanks to a forthcoming rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Broderick, 5/3)

Stateline: Many States Are Eager To Extend Medicaid To People Soon To Be Released From Prison
A new policy that allows states to provide Medicaid health care coverage to incarcerated people at least a month prior to their release has drawn bipartisan interest and a slew of state applications. Federal policy has long prohibited Medicaid spending on people who are incarcerated in jails or prisons, except for hospitalization. As a result, when people are released, they typically don’t have health insurance and many struggle to find health care providers and get needed treatment. (Hassanein, 5/2)

Stat: Congress Unlikely To Permanently Extend Telehealth Flexibilities For Now
Members of Congress appear poised to advance another short-term extension of pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities instead of permanently addressing the issue, seven sources familiar with the talks said. (Aguilar and Zhang, 5/2)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Noncompete Ban May Leave Rural Providers Fighting To Recruit
The federal noncompete ban may squeeze rural nonprofit hospitals that continue to see labor costs rise, a new report shows. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission voted to finalize a rule preventing most employers from enforcing or issuing contracts that restrict employees from working for a competitor. (Kacik, 5/2)

Capital & Main: For Health System Reform, Even With Majority Will, There Is No Way
When San Jose Democrat Ash Kalra rolled out a proposal in the California State Assembly a couple of years ago to convert California’s largely private health care system to a government-directed single-payer plan that would cover everyone, he had an idea of what he was up against. “The No. 1 tool that opponents will put out there is fear,” Kalra told Capital & Main in late 2021. “They’ll try to scare people into thinking that we’re taking something away, when in fact we’re trying to make health care available to everyone rather than subsidize a massively profitable health care industry.” (Kreidler, 5/2)

Sacramento Bee: City Of Sacramento Delays Closure Of Camp Resolution 
The city of Sacramento has backed off on a plan to close a tight-knit city-sanctioned homeless camp on May 16.The decision, which the city detailed in a letter received Thursday morning by the camp’s lawyer Mark Merin, comes after homeless people came to City Council Tuesday in tears begging officials to not close the camp until they all get permanent housing. Several even said they were prepared to be arrested. (Clift, 5/2)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: DEMA Employees Vacate Two Housing Sites, Which Are Now Being Run By Sonoma County 
DEMA employees suddenly vacated two housing sites under the company’s management Wednesday and Thursday, leaving the Sonoma County Department of Health Services in charge of the facilities and the homeless people staying in them. (Graham, 5/2)

Voice Of San Diego: How A Cold Email Turned Into A Mega Shelter Pitch 
It all started with an email. Real estate investor and developer Douglas Hamm had been in escrow for about a year to buy a 65,000-square foot warehouse near the airport when his expected tenant’s business plans changed.  Soon after that, as Hamm describes it, a light bulb went on. He decided the Middletown property would make an excellent homeless shelter. (Halverstadt, 5/2)

Bay Area News Group: Guaranteed Income: Google Giving Homeless Bay Area Families $1,000 A Month
Google is giving hundreds of recently homeless families across the Bay Area $1,000 a month to see if the no-strings-attached payments can help keep a roof over their heads. (Varian, 5/3)

Stat: H5N1 Bird Flu Virus Started Spreading In Cows In Texas In December 
As agricultural authorities and epidemiologists try to get their arms around the scope of the latest confounding chapter in the decades-long story of the H5N1 avian influenza virus — its jump into U.S. herds of dairy cattle — they’re turning to the genetic breadcrumbs the virus leaves behind in the animals’ nose, lungs, and, primarily, milk. (Molteni, 5/2)

Reuters: Bird Flu Outbreak In Dairy Cows Fails To Deter US Raw Milk Sellers 
U.S. sellers of raw milk appear undeterred by federal health warnings for consumers to avoid drinking unpasteurized milk in light of a bird flu outbreak that has affected dairy herds in nine states and sickened at least one dairy farm worker. Thirty of the 50 U.S. states permit the sale of raw milk, which accounts for less than 1% percent of U.S. milk sales. A nationwide survey of pasteurized milk - heated to kill pathogens - found avian flu virus particles in about 20% of samples tested. (Baertlein, Steenhuysen and Polansek, 5/2)

NPR: Scientists Worry The U.S. May Be Missing Bird Flu Cases In Farm Workers 
Officially, there is only one documented case of bird flu spilling over from cows into humans during the current U.S. outbreak. But epidemiologist Gregory Gray suspects the true number is higher, based on what he heard from veterinarians, farm owners and the workers themselves as the virus hit their herds in his state. "We know that some of the workers sought medical care for influenza-like illness and conjunctivitis at the same time the H5N1 was ravaging the dairy farms," says Gray, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. (Stone, 5/2)

Stat: Why H5N1 Bird Flu Is Keeping The CDC's Top Flu Scientist Awake
Vivien Dugan isn’t getting much sleep these days. The director of the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dugan is leading the team of CDC scientists that is working with partners — in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and state and local health departments — to respond to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle. (Branswell, 5/3)

Military.com: Veterans Health Information Feared To Be Stolen In Cyberattack That Shut Down Pharmacies 
A top lawmaker is demanding answers on whether veterans' private health information was stolen in a cyberattack earlier this year after the company that was hacked acknowledged that a "substantial proportion of people in America" may have had sensitive information taken. In a letter to UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty that was publicly released Thursday, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., demanded the company be more cooperative with the Department of Veterans Affairs and immediately tell the VA whether any veterans' information was stolen in the attack on subsidiary Change Healthcare, or CHC. (Kheel, 5/2)

The Wall Street Journal: TD Bank Probe Tied To Laundering Of Illicit Fentanyl Profits 
A Justice Department investigation into TD Bank’s internal controls focuses on how Chinese crime groups and drug traffickers used the Canadian lender to launder money from U.S. fentanyl sales. The investigation was launched after agents uncovered an operation in New York and New Jersey that laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from illicit narcotics through TD and other banks, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter. In that case and at least one other, prosecutors also allege the criminals bribed TD employees. (Tokar, Baer and Monga, 5/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Wife: Doctor Who Drove Family Off Cliff In Tesla Should Avoid Prison
The wife of Dharmesh Patel, the Pasadena radiologist accused of intentionally driving a Tesla off a San Mateo County cliff with his family inside, wiped away tears as she spoke publicly for the first time Thursday morning, telling a judge she believes her husband should receive mental health treatment instead of prison time. (Gafni, 5/2)

Bay Area News Group: Our Brains Are Growing. Will That Help Prevent Dementia?
A new study by researchers at UC Davis Health found that the brains of people born in the 1970s had 6.6% larger volumes and almost 15% greater brain surface area than those of people born in the 1930s. (Krieger, 5/3)

Fresno Bee: Mental Health Workers Are Needed For Outreach To Fresno's Low-Income Residents
When community health workers from Fresno travel to the region’s rural communities and disadvantaged urban neighborhoods to provide support, one issue keeps coming up again and again: Growing numbers of San Joaquin Valley residents say they are experiencing acute mental health challenges. (Genoveva Islas and Carlina Hansen, 5/2)

Fresno Bee: Foster Kids Already Face Trauma And Stigma. Would A New California Bill Add To It?
As ordinary as it looks from the outside, this suburban home near Downtown Davis is one of California’s short-term residential therapeutic programs (STRTPs) operated by the non-profit public benefit agency Progress Ranch. Homes like this are the state’s latest answer to providing for foster children whose severe behavioral issues require specialized and intensive care, supervision, services and treatment. (Robin Epley, 5/3)

Los Angeles Times: I Once Lived In My Car And Can't Fathom Criminalizing Homelessness
I’ve been homeless. Twice. I faced a dilemma in those situations that more than 650,000 Americans experience on any given day: “Where am I going to sleep tonight?” The legal battles over criminalizing homelessness seem completely disconnected from that reality. It’s a feeling I will never forget. (Brian Ramian, 5/2)

CalMatters: California Needs To Amend Its Constitution To Curb Homelessness 
A California woman who was previously homeless says a proposed constitutional amendment is a critical step to ensure the state has enough housing for every person. (Kim Reeder, 4/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Democrats Need To Protect Women At Home, Too
Gov. Gavin Newsom and California lawmakers are trying to send a loud, unapologetic message to the rest of the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade: Other states may criminalize women for seeking abortion and reproductive health care, but women’s rights are protected — and prioritized — in California. (Emily Hoeven, 5/2)

Military Times: Tricare Fails Pregnant Service Members. Here’s How To Fix It.
Free healthcare is a military benefit and major recruiting attraction. What could be the downside? With limited expense comes limited options. Limited options can come at a staggering personal price, especially for women in service. And women’s health is critical to military recruitment, retention and our nation’s readiness to fight. (Maj. Amanda Rebhi, 5/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: In The Waiting Room, Mr. Kind Guy Beats Mr. Nice Guy
There’s a lot of waiting around with cancer. For example, I had a massive amount of radiation in February to zap that monster tumor in my left lung, but it won’t be until May 16 that I learn whether it did any good. And while I wander in this limbo, there’s a lot to get done: bone scans, CTs, immunotherapy. And before each of these events, there is the waiting room. (Kevin Fisher-Paulson, 4/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: I Have MS. Even With Insurance, I’m Stuck Paying For Pricey Treatments
Until 2003, my life was happily uneventful — I was in good health, had a supportive family and partner, and my career was blossoming. I loved my life in the Bay Area — I was biking, hiking, learning to dance and going to museums, concerts and the theater. Then, one Friday morning in September, I awoke to a large dark smudge in the vision of my left eye; within six weeks, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I remember crying on the Richmond BART line on my way home from the doctor that day. I had always taken pride in being an active, capable and self-sufficient person. What if MS, a disease that attacks the central nervous system and can leave someone severely disabled, took all of that away from me? (Marguerite Casillas, 4/29)