Capital Public Radio: Clock Is Ticking On Covered California Rate Decisions 
If Congress doesn't make a decision by October 11, Covered California will move forward with its contigency plan. They'll assume federal contributions are finished, and add a surcharge to silver tier plans on the exchange. (Caiola, 10/5)

San Jose Mercury News: California To Crack Down On Disabled Placard Fraud
Gaming a program for drivers with disabilities is about to get much harder under a new California law set to take effect in January, starting with one common-sense measure: using federal data to help determine which disabled parking permit-holders have died. Senate Bill 611, by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, came in response to an April state audit revealing that as many as 35,000 parking placards issued to Californians whom the Social Security Death Master File listed as deceased were still in use. (Murphy, 10/5)

Stat: Hepatitis A In San Diego: An Outbreak Waiting To Happen
The hepatitis A outbreak now roiling this well-heeled, coastal city may have had its roots in a baseball game — when the city cleaned up for the 2016 All-Star Game by pushing its homeless out of the touristy areas downtown and into increasingly congested encampments and narrow freeway onramps just east of downtown. The lines of tents stretched for blocks. At the same time, the city was locking and removing bathrooms to help control the rampant drug and prostitution trade they’d spawned. Hepatitis A is transmitted through contact with feces from an infected person, and in close, unsanitary conditions, the highly contagious virus can spread explosively. So it was only a matter of time, experts say, before cases would surge among the homeless. (McFarling, 10/6)

Los Angeles Times: California's Deadly Hepatitis A Outbreak Could Last Years, Official Says
California’s outbreak of hepatitis A, already the nation’s second largest in the last 20 years, could continue for many months, even years, health officials said Thursday. At least 569 people have been infected and 17 have died of the virus since November in San Diego, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles counties, where local outbreaks have been declared. Dr. Monique Foster, a medical epidemiologist with the Division of Viral Hepatitis at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters Thursday that California’s outbreak could linger even with the right prevention efforts. (Karlamangla, 10/5)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County Scrambles To Prevent Hep A Outbreak
As health officials work to control a hepatitis outbreak in Southern California, Sacramento County and City officials are trying to get ahead of the crisis. ... After declaring an outbreak in San Diego County in April, health officials started distributing the vaccine to the homeless since they are the most at-risk because of poor hygiene and sanitary conditions. (Sullivan and Lillis, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Armed With A New Approach, Police And Medics Stormed Through The Las Vegas Gunfire, Saving Lives
Joe Geeb didn’t know if there was one shooter, or 30. When the call for a “mass casualty incident” blasted through the radio Sunday night, the Clark County fire captain had no idea what was happening on the Las Vegas Strip, but he immediately began thinking about how he would run toward the bullets, the mayhem and the carnage while everyone else was running away. (Bui, 10/5)

The New York Times: How To Stop Bleeding And Save A Life
In the commotion immediately after the Las Vegas shooting that killed nearly 60 people on Sunday, medical workers outnumbered by victims pressed bystanders into service to help with emergency first aid. Just as bystander CPR has become standard, public health agencies are working to increase awareness of bystander first aid. Because trauma victims often die of blood loss, rather than the injury itself, stopping the bleeding is the top priority. (Rabin, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: California Residents Can Apply For Aid For Medical Bills, Funeral Expenses After Las Vegas Attacks
Californians who were injured in the Las Vegas attack may be able to get some monetary relief. The California Victim Compensation Board, a state program that offers monetary support for victims of violent crimes, has released a single application process to allow people to apply for compensation from California as well as from Nevada's program, said Julie Nauman, the board's executive director. (Kohli, 10/5)

KPCC: LA County Looks Deeper As WHO Raises The Alarm On Superbugs 
L.A. County is conducting research to learn more about antibiotic-resistant infections at local hospitals. Researchers say their findings will help doctors make better choices in treatment. (Faust, 10/5)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: As Much As 2.6% Of Your DNA Is From Neanderthals. This Is What It's Doing
Modern humans are a little more Neanderthal than we thought. A highly detailed genetic analysis of a Neanderthal woman who lived about 52,000 years ago suggests that our extinct evolutionary cousins still influence our risk of having a heart attack, developing an eating disorder and suffering from schizophrenia. Altogether, scientists now estimate that somewhere between 1.8% and 2.6% of the DNA in most people alive today was inherited from Neanderthals, according to a report published Thursday in the journal Science. (Healy, 10/5)

Capital Public Radio: Sacramento Researcher Helping Lead Fight Against Breast Cancer 
October marks National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there’s plenty of new research happening in the Sacramento region to help develop a cure. Dr. Ernie Bodai was critical in the creation of the breast cancer research stamp, which has raised more than $80 million since its creation in 1998. (Remington, 10/5)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Gene Therapies Save Lives, But How To Pay For Them? 
Stem cell and gene therapies for cancer and other diseases used to be considered exotic. But stunning successes are fast moving them into the medical mainstream. While only a few of these therapies have yet been approved, many more are being tested experimentally. In addition to treating otherwise fatal cancers, they may relieve sickle cell disease, restore failing hearts and even cure HIV infection. ... Drug company representatives discussed these issues Wednesday at Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa, an annual event in La Jolla devoted to stem cell and gene therapy. (Fikes, 10/5)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Cazadero Inventor Hopes Study Could Validate Temple Massager 
Joe Meisch has persisted through 20 years of trying to advance his invention, a “temple massager” designed to relieve headaches and other ailments related to facial tension. He’s about to learn whether his tenacity might pay off. Meisch, an Army Reserve and National Guard veteran and a Cazadero resident, came up with his idea in September 1997 and for the past 10 years has been donating the Meisch Temple Massager to veterans and the medical institutions that serve them. This summer a researcher tied to the U.S. military health system agreed to conduct a clinical assessment of the device, a pilot that might lead to a full clinical trial to measure how much the massager helps relieve persistent headaches. (Digitale, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: USC Medical School Dean Out Amid Revelations Of Sexual Harassment Claim, $135,000 Settlement With Researcher
After the dean of USC’s medical school resigned last year amid long-running complaints about his drinking and boorish treatment of colleagues, university leaders assured students and faculty that his successor would be worthy of respect. The man USC chose, however, had a black mark on his own personnel record: A finding by the university 15 years ago that he had behaved inappropriately toward a female medical school fellow. (Parvini, Ryan and Pringle, 10/5)

Capital Public Radio: Valley Fever On The Rise In San Joaquin County 
Valley Fever has become a major concern this year in San Joaquin County. In the last 3 years, the number of cases has tripled and this year could set a new record high. (Ibarra, 10/5)

In other news from across the state —

Los Angeles Times: AIDS Nonprofit Known For Political Battles Is Becoming A Landlord 
AHF is forming a new division called the Healthy Housing Foundation and has already purchased a skid row building in an effort to provide apartments for hundreds of poor tenants. It is also buying a Hollywood motel and says it plans to break ground on hundreds of new units next year in Florida. (Reyes, 10/6)

Capital Public Radio: Sierra Health Foundation CEO Chet Hewitt On Reducing Violent Crimes 
As Sacramento grapples with how to address violence in its neighborhoods, a local non-profit is working to bring together various organizations, agencies and community members to develop new strategies. (Picard, 10/5)

San Jose Mercury News: San Leandro May Ban Flavored Tobacco Products
Flavored cigarettes, cigarillos and electronic cigarettes may soon be banned in San Leandro. The San Leandro City Council, by a 4-3 vote, approved the proposed ban Monday, following nearly two hours of public comment from city retailers and anti-smoking advocates. (Moriki, 10/5)

San Jose Mercury News: Cities In Santa Clara County Scramble To Ban Marijuana Sales Ahead Of Jan. 1
Twenty years after California voters legalized marijuana for medicinal use, they took the next big step at the ballot box last November by deciding it’s OK to toke for fun too. But while 57 percent of the state’s voters embraced the recreational use of pot by approving Proposition 64, South Bay cities are sitting back and waiting for the smoke to clear before amending their local laws to let the once forbidden weed openly flourish. (Sarwari, 10/5)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Set To Roll Back Birth Control Mandate
The Trump administration is poised to roll back the federal requirement for employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, vastly expanding exemptions for those that cite moral or religious objections. The new rules, which could be issued as soon as Friday, fulfill a campaign promise by President Trump and are sure to touch off a round of lawsuits on the issue. (Pear, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration To Narrow Affordable Care Act’s Contraception Mandate
The action, according to a Republican briefed Thursday on the regulation, will allow a much broader group of employers and insurers to exempt themselves from covering contraceptives such as birth control pills on religious or moral grounds. It represents the latest twist in a seesawing legal and ideological fight that has surrounded this aspect of the 2010 health-care law nearly from the start. (Wan and Eilperin, 10/6)

The Washington Post: As ACA Enrollment Nears, Administration Keeps Cutting Federal Support Of The Law
For months, officials in Republican-controlled Iowa had sought federal permission to revitalize their ailing health-insurance marketplace. Then President Trump read about the request in a newspaper story and called the federal director weighing the application. Trump’s message in late August was clear, according to individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations: Tell Iowa no. (Eilperin, 10/5)

The Hill: Many States Blame Trump, GOP For ObamaCare Premium Increases 
Twenty states attribute ObamaCare premium increases next year to uncertainty caused by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, according to a new report released Thursday. The report from pro-ObamaCare group Protect Our Care analyzed the 28 states where final, state-approved rates are public and found that 20 specifically cited uncertainty at the federal level for at least part of the reason for increases. (Hellmann, 10/5)

Sacramento Bee: Why Won't California Progressives Question Single Payer?
I’m so disappointed in myself. I should be 100-percent supportive of establishing California’s own single-payer system, in which the government uses taxes to pay everyone’s healthcare costs. Because all the best Californians are for it. (Joe Mathews, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: A Single-Payer Litmus Test Won't Help The Progressive Agenda 
Obamacare is still with us. ...Meanwhile, many Democrats are embracing a single-payer “Medicare for all” system as the next step in healthcare reform. But making single-payer the top priority now could jeopardize the gains made since passage of the Affordable Care Act, which is still being sabotaged by the Trump administration. (Tom Epstein, 10/5)

The Washington Post: I’m Dying Of Brain Cancer. I Prepared To End My Life. Then I Kept Living.
In April 2015, at the age of 55, I was diagnosed with one of the most lethal and aggressive brain tumors, a brainstem glioblastoma multiforme in an advanced stage. The prognosis was both grim and precise: Without treatment, I might have a few months; with treatment, I could last six months. If I beat overwhelming odds, I’d toast the new year one last time. During the time my doctors were converging on my cancer diagnosis, interest was building here in California for a law, called “aid in dying,” that would allow physicians to help patients end their lives. (Jeffrey Davitz, 9/29)

Los Angeles Times: Guns, Like Cigarettes, Are Legal Products That Kill People. That's Not OK
This week it’s guns, with at least 59 people dead and hundreds injured after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. But the focus just as easily could be on cigarettes, or junk food, or sugary beverages. No reasonable person disputes that all these products can be dangerous, whether we’re talking about firearm casualties, lung cancer, diabetes or heart disease. The issue is how, or if, the makers of these products should be held accountable for the trouble they cause. (David Lazarus, 10/6)

Los Angeles Times: Tom Price May Be Gone, But The Trump Administration's Sabotage Of Obamacare Is Moving Ahead At Full Speed
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is gone, ushered out of office last week after being caught causing $1 million in unnecessary taxpayer expense by chartering private planes and taking military aircraft around the country and the world instead of flying commercial, like normal people. This looks like a case in which the right thing has happened for the wrong reason — or at least for an incomplete reason. The grounds for Price’s ouster should have been his atrocious management of the most important program under his jurisdiction, the Affordable Care Act. Instead of acting to make Obamacare work better for all Americans, Price took every step within his power to undermine the law in ways that will cost American families millions of dollars. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/3)

Los Angeles Times: Bill Would Limit Access To Critical Medications And Aid For Californians
California families are struggling to afford the cost of their healthcare and many are being forced to make tough decisions about whether to take their medications or pay for rent, food, or other day-to-day expenses. A bill currently on the governor’s desk would make things worse by limiting access to critical coupons — assistance that could mean the difference between life and death for vulnerable patients. (Dr. Gustavo Alvo, 10/4)

Sacramento Bee: CA Seeks To Bring HIV Criminal Laws Into Line With Science
As director of the Office of National AIDS Policy under President Barack Obama, I witnessed great progress in the fight against HIV. Effective treatments have improved and prolonged the lives of people living with HIV. And HIV-negative individuals can take medication to reduce their risk of acquiring the virus. But some laws have not kept up with these advances, resulting in continued stigma and unfair prosecutions. (Grant Colfax, 9/30)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Why Immunization Exemptions Ban Should Be Repealed 
Senate Bill 277 was passed by the California Legislature in 2015 even after thousands of parents and their children repeatedly demonstrated in Sacramento opposing the elimination of the personal belief vaccine exemption for school attendance. There was a good reason for public protests: The law violates the human right to informed consent to medical risk-taking, as well as other internationally recognized human rights, including the right to autonomy and freedom of thought, conscience and religious belief. (Terry Roak, 10/4)

Sacramento Bee: California Should Regulate Athletic Trainers
Advocates of high school sports share a common concern for the safety of student athletes. Many states are re-examining ways to limit risk, as reports show an increase in concussions and catastrophic events in high schools. California, however, is the only state that does not regulate athletic trainers, the front-line professionals who are responsible for preventing and treating injuries. As it is, anyone – regardless of education or certification – can be hired to act as an athletic trainer and provide treatment. (Jeffrey Tanji, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: Warning: Too Many Warning Signs Are Bad For Your Health
Starbucks, Whole Foods and about 80 other places in California that sell coffee may soon be forced to put warning labels on grande lattes and coffee bean packages to alert consumers that the product within contains acrylamide, a chemical that may be carcinogenic. (9/30)