San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Agrees To Spend $150M To Improve Mental Health Care Services
Kaiser Permanente, California’s largest provider of health services, will spend $150 million over five years to improve its mental health care and pay a $50 million penalty under a settlement announced Thursday by the state. The settlement follows an investigation that the state Department of Managed Health Care began in May 2022 after complaints from patients and providers about access and oversight of behavioral health care at Kaiser facilities, the department said. It said there were more problems with access after 2,000 non-physician mental health workers in Northern California began a 10-week strike in August 2022. (Egelko, 10/12)

CalMatters: Kaiser To Pay $200 Million CA Behavioral Health Settlement 
Health care giant Kaiser Permanente agreed to a $200 million settlement with the state of California to resolve investigations into its behavioral health system that showed patients experienced delays in care. The deal announced today includes a $50 million fine and requires Kaiser Permanente to fix major problems in its behavioral health services, such as providing patients with timely access to care. Kaiser Permanente also agreed to invest $150 million over five years to improve its programs. (Ibarra, 10/12)

San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Kaiser Ordered To Revamp Delivery Of Behavioral Health Care Services 
Kaiser Permanente Foundation Health Plan has reached a settlement with the California Department of Managed Health Care that calls for significant changes to Kaiser’s delivery of behavioral health care services. (Smith, 10/12)

CalMatters: Why Did Gavin Newsom Reject Cap On Insulin Copayments? 
Gov. Gavin Newsom has made lowering the cost of prescription drugs a signature health care issue, but over the weekend, he rejected a bill that would have provided some relief for diabetics by capping what they pay for insulin. His reasoning: California is already working on a separate effort to manufacture and distribute insulin at a cheaper price. (Ibarra, 10/12)

Bay Area News Group: Free Condoms In Public Schools? Not In California -- At Least, Not Yet
Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation that would have provided students with free condoms at public schools — an attempt to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and drive down the rate of teen pregnancies. (Miolene, 10/13)

Sacramento Bee: Newsom Changes California Prison Solitary Confinement Rules
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is expediting changes to the state’s solitary confinement rules, a move advocates say is superficial and could hurt efforts to pass more ambitious legislation reforming the practice. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Oct. 5 announced new emergency regulations covering the use of what was previously described as “segregated confinement” and is now termed “restricted housing.” (Holden, 10/12)

Los Angeles Daily News: Let There Be Shade. New California Law Paves Way For Cooler School Campuses 
On a 120 degree day there’s exactly one thing all students in the San Fernando Valley and other high temperature areas seek: the cool relief of shade. But this hot commodity is in limited supply and for a surprising reason. (Harter, 10/12)

Sacramento Bee: Newsom Sells Voters ‘Treatment Not Tents’ Homelessness Plan. Critics Say It Hurts Mentally Ill 
California voters will decide in March whether the state should borrow $6.4 billion to add thousands of new behavioral health beds and change how the state administers mental health services. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a pair of bills that will place the funding and policy changes on the primary election ballot under Proposition 1. (Angst and Holden, 10/12)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Says It Is Building A ‘Model’ Homeless Housing Community. It May Only Last Two Years 
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg lauded plans Wednesday for a new tiny home community at the site of a future medical campus as a model for the state, pairing critically needed housing for homeless individuals with mental health services nearby. "This is a vision in action,” Steinberg said. “It’s going to become a model for how we build these multi-service center campuses — not only throughout the Sacramento region but throughout the state of California.” (Angst, 10/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: CDC Chief Urges Bay Area Seniors To Get COVID, Flu, RSV Vaccines
A day after she got the updated COVID vaccine herself, Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urged residents at a San Leandro senior living center to do the same. (Ho, 10/12)

Bay Area News Group: CDC Director Mandy Cohen Visits Bay Area COVID Vaccine Clinic
Carrying the torch for the new COVID-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s top official on Thursday visited an East Bay assisted living facility to urge Americans, and especially seniors, to get the latest shot before the virus spikes again this winter. (Rowan, 10/12)

Reuters: Over 7 Million Americans Have Gotten Updated COVID Vaccines
More than 7 million Americans had rolled up their sleeves for the updated COVID-19 vaccines as of Wednesday, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, despite reports that some people are still finding it difficult to book vaccination appointments or find the shots at no cost. ... Distribution of the Pfizer and Moderna shots began after the U.S. Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention recommended them on Sept. 12. Last year's booster targeting the original virus and another variant was rolled out about 10 days earlier. By Sept. 28, 2022, almost 7.6 million Americans had received the updated shots. (Wingrove, 10/12)

The Bakersfield Californian: City Approves Resolution To Not Enforce Future COVID-19 Mandates 
Three years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Bakersfield has adopted new rules saying it will not enforce future health orders related to masks, vaccines and social distancing. (Donegan, 10/11)

The Hill: Medicare Part B Premiums To Rise By 6 Percent In 2024 
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the monthly Medicare Part A and B premiums for 2024 on Thursday, with the costs set to go up by 6 percent next year. The premiums would increase by $9.80 from $164.90 to $174.70 in 2024 and the annual deductible for Medicare Part B beneficiaries will go up from $226 to $240 as well. This price increase comes after Medicare Part B premiums went down for the first time in more than 10 years in 2023. (Choi, 10/12)

Axios: Medicare Premiums Set To Rise In 2024
Monthly Medicare premiums covering physician and outpatient care will rise almost 6% next year as part of a series of hikes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Thursday. Though inflation pressures are receding, projected growth in health care spending is continuing to drive up the cost of care. A plan to repay providers for underpayments they received from a federal drug discount program is another factor, CMS said. (Goldman, 10/13)

Fox Business: Social Security Recipients To Receive 3.2% COLA Increase In 2024 
Social Security benefits will rise by 3.2% in 2024, far below the increases that retirees received during the past two years as inflation continues to moderate, the Social Security Administration said Thursday. ... But even with the payment increase, retirees say they are still struggling to keep up with persistently high inflation. A recent survey conducted by the Senior Citizens League found 68% of retirees reported that their household expenses remain higher than one year ago, even though inflation has eased. They said this situation has persisted over the last year. (Henney, 10/12)

Modern Healthcare: PBM Reform Bills Likely To Pass Congress In 2023, Lawmakers Say
Historic levels of dysfunction and infighting may be roiling Congress these days, but there is at least one area where lawmakers appear primed to act as soon as they can: Cracking down on pharmacy benefit managers. Members of Congress, Capitol Hill staffers and industry stakeholders put high odds on some suite of healthcare bills winding up on President Joe Biden's desk before the legislative session ends. ... And lawmakers are always eager to brag to voters that they took action against high prescription drug prices. (McAuliff, 10/12)

Stat: States Are Taking Their Own Steps To Lower Drug Costs
Anticipation may be high that Medicare can wring lower prices out of drugmakers, but a handful of states are moving aggressively to slash costs for their residents, a clear sign the battle over affordable medicines in the U.S. is only going to escalate further. (Silverman, 10/11)

Bay Area News Group: Mary Lou Retton’s Lack Of Insurance Raises Questions As Crowdfunding Passes $330,000 
News broke Tuesday that Olympian champion gymnast Mary Lou Retton is in an ICU unit at a Texas hospital, “fighting for her life” with a rare form of pneumonia, sparking alarm among sports fans all over the United States. But fans were just as dismayed to learn from her daughters that Retton, a highly decorated public figure who supposedly earned millions from endorsement deals over the years, has no health insurance. (Ross, 10/12)

The New York Times: Mary Lou Retton Crowdfunded Her Medical Debt, Like Many Thousands Of Others
When Mary Lou Retton, the decorated Olympic gymnast, accrued medical debt from a lengthy hospital stay, her family did what countless Americans have done before them: turned to crowdfunding to cover the bills. On Tuesday, Ms. Retton’s daughter started a fund-raising campaign on social media for her mother, who she said was hospitalized with a rare pneumonia. ... The public swiftly responded, with thousands donating $350,000 in less than two days, shattering the goal of $50,000. (Kliff, 10/12)

Bay Area News Group: 'An Unconscionable Failure': New Evidence Shows Deputies At Santa Rita Jail Ignored Man's Failing Health As He Slowly Died
The 2021 death of an East Bay man at Santa Rita Jail is being intensely scrutinized after body camera footage released this week shows deputies ignored warning signs of his ailing health and later allegedly forged records to disguise the lack of cell checks. Maurice Monk, 45, of Oakland, died face down in his single-person cell at the Dublin jail, where he’d spent three to four days without being checked on by jail staff, the body camera footage shows. The footage, first obtained by KTVU, shows that a deputy entered Monk’s cell the day before his death, kicking uneaten food from the door’s entryway, and leaving without further action. (Gartrell, 10/12)

Voice of San Diego: Why It's So Hard For San Diego Providers To Deliver More Addiction Treatment Beds
McAlister Institute has spent the last three years searching for a suitable site to put substance use treatment beds. In the process, they have decided against 44 different properties.  The region’s largest substance use treatment provider recently set its sights on a Bankers Hill property. With $12 million in pledged local government support, McAlister thought it might be the place where it could finally open more beds for people desperate for help. Then, the nonprofit decided it wouldn’t work. (Halverstadt, 10/12)  

San Francisco Chronicle: Wildland Firefighters Are Testing Respirators To Protect Against Smoke
Wildland firefighters have been breathing smoke unabated for generations with no protection like masks or respirators and scant research into their long term health. But that could change in the years ahead. (Johnson, 10/12)

CalMatters: California's Community Health Systems Can't Handle A Minimum Wage For Workers
Gov. Gavin Newsom could sign Senate Bill 525 any day now, which will institute a minimum wage for health care workers across the state. No one would be prouder than I to stand behind a pay increase for health care workers who devote their lives to care for others, especially during a major, personal health care crisis. That level of commitment was demonstrated over and over  again during the pandemic. (Craig S. Castro, 10/11)

CalMatters: Is Newsom Resurrecting His Single-Payer Health Care Pledge?
To those on the left side of the political balance beam, no issue is more important — or more elusive — than having medical care provided directly by a governmental system. Dubbed “single-payer,” it would eliminate insurers and other aspects of private enterprise from medical care and provide everyone the same services, regardless of income or other characteristics. (Dan Walters, 10/13)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Bold Newsom Homeless Policies Worth Trying — With Caveats 
The frustration over homelessness in California just keeps building — among the housed and the unhoused alike. This is no surprise. For a decade, state and local government efforts to address the problem and related concerns about mental illness and addiction have exploded in cost and scope but generated relatively little progress. Some 170,000 Californians — more than the combined populations of El Cajon and Poway — are unsheltered. (10/12)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Our Kids Need Access To More Mental Health Services. 
Oct. 10 is designated as World Mental Health Day by the World Federation for Mental Health to serve as a reminder of the importance of mental and behavioral health services. While rates of depression and anxiety have increased across age groups, children and youth are experiencing some of the greatest challenges. (Katie Rast, 10/10)

CalMatters: Los Angeles Neighborhoods Choked By Pollution Need California To Extend Clean Transportation Program
My experience with our bad air started with what felt like a bad cold. It was a virus (no, not COVID) from which I never fully recovered. The dry and gritty air weighed on my chest. The heaviness prevented me from getting a full breath of air. (Prisma Alvarez, 10/10)