Bay Area News Group: Santa Clara County Will Lose $223 Million This Year In Medicaid Revenues As A Result Of Federal Cuts
Santa Clara County has already started to feel the impacts of President Donald Trump’s budget bill — to the tune of $223 million this fiscal year as a result of lost federal revenues from Medicaid. (Hase, 10/24)

Times of San Diego: Cuts To Medicaid Could Be ‘Heartbreaking’ For Homeless In Need Of Services
Potential federal Medicaid program cuts have left homelessness services providers like The Compass Station in Pacific Beach facing uncertainty. Medicaid and Medi-Cal, California’s version of the program, provides health care coverage for eligible low-income individuals, including children and their families, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. (Schwab, 10/22)

CalMatters: Health Care Costs And Mental Health Access Weigh On Californians, Poll Shows
Californians are overwhelmingly concerned about the costs of health care, and most want better access to mental health services, according to a new poll released Thursday. The survey – commissioned by the California Wellness Foundation – also found that beyond broader economic worries, 57% of respondents statewide are concerned about federal immigration enforcement actions, which are influencing some health-related choices. (Ibarra, 10/23)

AP: California Union Floats Idea Of Taxing Billionaires To Offset Medicaid Cuts
A major union announced a proposal Thursday to impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires in California to address federal funding cuts to health care for low-income people. (Austin, 10/23)

Los Angeles Times: Kingswood Capital To Acquire Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare
Los Angeles-based Kingswood Capital Management, LP has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare, a leading global manufacturer and supplier of essential medical products, from CD&R. Drive’s existing management team will continue to lead the company, ensuring continuity in customer relationships and strategic execution. Kingswood will leverage its extensive network, industry expertise and capital base to support Drive’s continued growth. The transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to customary legal and regulatory requirements. (Williams, 10/23)

Modern Healthcare: Molina Healthcare To Exit Some ACA Markets In 2026
Molina Healthcare is pulling out of one-fifth of the counties where it sells health insurance exchange plans, the company announced Thursday. While the exchanges represent a substantial share of Molina Healthcare’s business, the segment is pressured by costs that exceeded projections, Chief Financial Officer Mark Keim said during a call with investor analysts on the company’s third-quarter financial report. (Tepper, 10/23)

Becker's Hospital Review: Best Large Healthcare Workplaces For Women 2025 List
San Diego-based Scripps Health is the top large healthcare workplace for women, according to the “Fortune Best Workplaces for Women 2025” list. ... Fortune and people analytics firm Great Place to Work created the list, published Oct. 23, based on more than 605,000 responses from women at eligible U.S. organizations. To qualify, companies must have at least 50 female employees, at least 20% of nonexecutive managers who are women, and at least one woman in the C-suite. (Kuchno, 10/23)

Stat: Launch Prices For New Drugs 'Significantly' Exceed Inflation, Analysis Says 
Amid intensifying angst over prescription drug prices, a new analysis found that the median net price for 154 newly launched medicines, when adjusted for inflation and manufacturer discounts, rose by 51% between 2022 and 2024. (Silverman, 10/23)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: New Santa Rosa Homeless Shelter For Individuals With Drug Addiction And Severe Mental Illness
For Felton Institute, the Arrowood Drive shelter represents somewhat new territory in its long history of providing social and mental health services in the Bay Area. The organization was founded in 1889 as the first nonsectarian relief organization under the name Associated Charities. The organization spearheaded relief efforts during the 1906 earthquake and fire that devastated San Francisco. (Espinoza, 10/23)

Times of San Diego: San Diego Granted Millions To Convert Short-Term Rentals Into Units For Homeless
The state on Thursday awarded $32.4 million to San Diego for the purchase of short-term rental housing, which is set to be converted to affordable apartments for homeless people. ... “This $32.4 million grant from the state will help us move veterans and people experiencing mental illness off the streets and into safe, stable homes – creating the foundation for recovery, stability and a better life,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. (Vigil, 10/23)

LAist: Nosebleeds, Rashes And The Smell Of Rotten Eggs: Inside The Aftermath Of The Largest Methane Leak In US History
As the smell of rotten eggs blanketed parts of the Valley for weeks, thousands of residents in Porter Ranch, Chatsworth and Granada Hills were forced to evacuate. Many reported rashes, nosebleeds, headaches and other strange sicknesses. There were reports of pets unexpectedly dying. Later on, some residents were diagnosed with cancer. Some died. Many think the leak caused it. (Stone, 10/23)

VC Star: County Doctors Attempt To Allay Fear, 'Noise' About Childhood Vaccines
Vaccine anxiety is being fanned by social media, conflicting guidance, confusion over who to trust and maybe even AI answers to Google searches about side effects, Ventura County health care experts said Oct. 21. (Kisken, 10/22)

Los Angeles Times: Contaminated Meat From The Grocery Store May Be Causing Your UTIs
There’s been a long-standing belief that urinary tract infections are largely caused by poor personal hygiene. New research, however, suggests that many cases may actually be caused by infections of E. coli bacteria from contaminated meat purchased in grocery stores. ... Between 2017 and 2021, researchers from George Washington University and Kaiser Permanente Southern California collected more than 5,700 urine samples that tested positive for E. coli from U.S. patients with UTIs who resided in Southern California, from Bakersfield to San Diego. The researchers also took samples from meats (including turkey, chicken, pork and beef) being sold at retail locations in the neighborhoods where those patients lived. By comparing the those two sets of samples, the researchers determined that approximately one in five of those infections could be tied to exposure to E. coli from contaminated meat that was purchased in the U.S. (Garcia, 10/23)

The New York Times: U.S. Health Workers Recalled From Shutdown Furlough For Medicare, A.C.A. Enrollments
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it would temporarily call back all of its furloughed employees on Monday to handle open enrollment for both Medicare and health plans available under the Affordable Care Act. The decision was made “to best serve the American people amid the Medicare and marketplace open enrollment seasons,” according to an agency spokeswoman. The employees have been furloughed for three weeks since the government shutdown began. (Abelson, 10/23)

The Hill: Casey Means, Trump's Surgeon General Pick, Set For Virtual Confirmation Hearing
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) will hold a virtual confirmation hearing over the nomination of Casey Means to be U.S. surgeon general next week, five months after she was nominated. The HELP Committee said in an announcement that Means would appear before the panel virtually, calling in from Kilauea, Hawaii. (Choi, 10/23)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: When ICE Raids Hospitals, Doctors And Nurses Must Protect Patients 
California lawmakers recently took action to protect hospital patients from ICE’s reach. Legislators passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 81, which prohibits ICE agents from accessing non-public areas of California hospitals when they don’t have a warrant. (Kimberly Galindo, 10/23)

Los Angeles Times: What Does The GOP Have Against The Disabled?
Republicans’ hostility to Social Security in general has been well-documented over the years. Less widely recognized is their antagonism for one component of the program: disability coverage. As a target, disability had ebbed as disability rolls declined, along with unemployment, during the economic recovery of the last few years. But it’s back. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/22)

The Bay Area Reporter: Newsom Vetoes Threaten LGBTQ Health
While Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed numerous pro-LGBTQ bills, two vetoes stand out. One would have expanded PrEP access, while the other would have helped transgender people. We condemn both vetoes because the Golden State is trying to reduce HIV transmissions and trans people’s access to medication is under threat by the federal government, which has successfully blocked several medical centers from providing gender-affirming care. (10/22)

Capitol Weekly: Youth In Crisis: A Call For Compassionate Action
I stand at the intersection of two identities: a child of immigrants and a scholar in the field of mental health and education equity. That vantage has shown me both narratives of perseverance—and the silent crisis unfolding among our youth. On the surface, our communities appear to be “getting back to normal,” after the pandemic. But beneath that fragile veneer, youth, especially Latine youth, bear wounds that run deep. (Luisa Ortega, 10/20)

The Sacramento Bee: Veto Of AB 1064 Raises Questions About AI Safety In California
The harm caused by AI is felt by the family of Adam Raine, who was a 16-year-old from Rancho Santa Margarita when he committed suicide in April. His parents filed a wrongful death suit against OpenAI, in which the family claims Raine took his life after discussing his suicidal thoughts with the general purpose chatbot, ChatGPT. (LeBron Antonio Hill, 10/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Universities Can’t Retreat As Trump Attacks DEI Programs
In 1933, trailblazer Frances Perkins, Mount Holyoke College class of 1902, became the first woman to serve in a U.S. presidential cabinet as secretary of labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Perkins didn’t just make history; she changed the course of it. She helped create Social Security, child labor laws and the 40-hour work week. ... She also founded the Immigration and Naturalization Service and used that platform to defend immigrants, rather than restrict access. She refused to sign deportation orders, laid off the federally funded mob that sought to raid immigrant communities and deport them, insisted on warrants for INS arrests instead of rogue authority, and she believed that an inclusive nation was a strong one. (Danielle R. Holley, 10/20)