Bloomberg: Big Tobacco Pours Millions Into California Cigarette Tax Fight
Reynolds American Inc., Altria Group Inc. and other tobacco companies are steering millions of dollars to defeating a $2 cigarette-tax increase in California, a high-stakes effort and the third such fight in a decade in the most populous U.S. state. The tobacco industry’s outlay of $35.6 million so far means that it has outspent supporters 2-to-1 in donations to defeat the measure, which starting in April would boost the levy to $2.87 a pack. The initiative would generate from $1 billion to $1.4 billion in revenue in fiscal 2018 for cancer treatment and smoking prevention. (Vekshin, 9/9)

Los Angeles Times: Dr. Bob Sears, Critic Of Vaccine Laws, Could Lose License After Exempting Toddler
Dr. Bob Sears, an Orange County pediatrician and nationally known critic of vaccination laws, faces the loss of his medical license after the state medical board accused him of improperly excusing a toddler from immunization and endangering both the child and the public. The Medical Board of California contends in legal documents released Thursday that Sears committed “gross negligence” and deviated from standard practice when he issued a letter in 2014 prescribing no more vaccines for the child. (Hamilton, 9/8)

The Orange County Register: Dr. Bob Sears Faces Medical Board Discipline In Recommendation Not To Vaccinate
Dr. Bob Sears, the Capistrano Beach pediatrician who is an outspoken critic of mandatory vaccination laws, faces possible state Medical Board discipline after he recommended that a 2-year-old patient forgo immunizations, according to legal documents made public Thursday. (Perkes, 9/8)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: County Approves Taxpayers’ Bid To Leave Palm Drive Health Care District
Russian River taxpayers weary of supporting the struggling Sonoma West Medical Center won a crucial victory this week when a key county commission backed their effort to exit the Palm Drive Health Care District, which provides the hospital with important financial backing. The Sonoma County Local Area Formation Commission — after hearing arguments for and against the “detachment” effort — voted unanimously Wednesday evening to let property owners in three school districts in the Russian River area leave the 16-year-old hospital district. LAFCO commissioners are expected to finalize their vote at their next monthly meeting in October. Hospital supporters would then have a chance to launch their own petition drive and, if successful, force the issue before voters. (Espinoza, 9/8)

The Associated Press: Report: Officials Still Not Tracking State's Mental Health Spending
California officials still haven't taken steps to better track how $2 billion a year in voter-approved funding for mental health programs is spent, despite a critical audit 19 months ago that alerted officials to the problems, according to a report released Thursday by a state watchdog. (Williams, 9/8)

In other mental health news —

Los Angeles Times: Rising Homelessness And Lack Of Psychiatric Care Beds Are Cited In Surge Of Mental Competency Cases
A lack of psychiatric care beds and rising homelessness are fueling a dramatic increase in mental competency cases in Los Angeles County, a new study has found. The county launched a review after The Times reported on a surge in the number of competency cases in Los Angeles’ mental health court over the last five years. The number of cases referred to the mental health court’s Department 95 to determine defendants' competency had swelled from 944 in 2010 to 3,528 in 2015. (Sewell, 9/8)

The Desert Sun: California Schools Lag Behind In Concussion Prevention. What Is Being Done?
California is one of the few states that does not require high schools to have a full-time certified athletic trainer on campus to monitor concussions and other forms of trauma. As a result, just 19 percent of the roughly 1,500 schools in the state have a certified individual monitoring concussions and ensuring proper procedure is carried out...Six of the 14 valley high schools (43 percent) have a certified trainer on campus, alluding to the progress that is being made. Still, the number leaves much to be desired at a time when rapid concussion education has moved to the forefront of sports-related athletic training. (John, 9/7)

Los Angeles Times: No, Apple's New AirPods Won't Give You Cancer, Experts Say
Technology analysts have been calling Apple’s decision to eliminate the earphone jack on its new iPhone 7 a risky business move. But some potential users of the new smartphone wonder whether the company is asking them to take on some health risk as well. Unless iPhone 7 users adopt a workaround that would let them plug their earphones into the device’s charging jack, they will need to don wireless headphones or earpieces. But is it safe to put a radiation-emitting earphone device directly in contact with one’s head? (Healy, 9/8)

The Orange County Register: Mosquito Abatement Appears Successful At Costa Mesa's Fairview Park
Last week, Vector Control crews captured 28 southern house mosquitoes found in traps, a significant drop from the 125 found each night prior to the abatement project, said Jared Dever, spokesman for the control district. None of the 28 mosquitoes have tested positive for the West Nile Virus, Dever said. He added that although the breed is very likely to carry the virus, it tends to live in urban areas instead of wetlands. (9/8)

The New York Times: A Push To Lower Drug Prices That Hit Insurers And Employers The Hardest
Americans have expressed outrage at drug companies for raising prices on products like EpiPen, the severe allergy treatment needed by thousands of children, and Daraprim, a rarely used but essential drug to treat a parasitic infection. But insurers and employers — who pay the bulk of the cost for drugs — say that a bigger financial shock has come from a largely overlooked source: expensive anti-inflammatory medications like Humira and Enbrel, drugs taken by millions of people for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. In recent years, the prices of the medications have doubled, making them the costliest drug class in the country by some calculations. (Thomas, 9/8)

In other national health care news —

The Associated Press: Why Insurance Denies Your Claim, But Pays Your Neighbor's
Glaring differences in insurance coverage persist for amputees, children with autism and others in need of certain expensive treatments even after the Affordable Care Act set new standards as part of its push to expand and improve coverage, and despite efforts by states to mandate coverage for some treatments. These differences don't develop simply because some people pay more for better coverage. Instead, they stem from random factors like what state someone lives in or who happens to provide their coverage — and often people can do nothing about it. The federal health care law largely leaves decisions on what actually gets covered up to states or employers who provide insurance for their workers. (9/8)

USA Today: Proving Legal Status Slows Immigrants' Ability To Get, Keep Health Coverage
For thousands of consumers, proving they are legal U.S. residents so they can keep their Obamacare plans can be a bigger health care challenge than affording them. Documentation issues over immigration or citizenship status ensnared more than a half million people who bought plans on HealthCare.gov last year. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell noted 85% fewer people had their plans terminated for these "data matching" issues for the first three months of 2016 — the most recent information available — than the first quarter of 2015. (O'Donnell, 9/8)

Politico: Senate Nears Zika Funding Breakthrough
Senate leaders may be nearing a truce in the ideological battle over Planned Parenthood that's crippled Congress’ response to the Zika virus. Senior senators and aides said Thursday that the main impediment to a $1.1 billion bill to combat the virus — a fight over which health centers in Puerto Rico can use Zika funding — is likely to be dropped from the debate. That would allow the Zika money to more easily be tucked into a government funding bill that must pass by the end of the month to avoid a government shutdown. The House would remain a major hurdle, however: Republicans in that chamber are warning that they have a harder line against any funding that includes Planned Parenthood. (Everett, Kim and Haberkorn, 9/8)

NPR: Widespread Use Of Prescription Drugs Provides Ample Supply For Abuse
Almost half of all Americans take prescription painkillers, tranquilizers, stimulants or sedatives, according to results of a federal survey released Thursday. The prevalent use of these drugs could help explain why millions of Americans end up misusing or abusing them. Last year, for the first time, the government's National Survey on Drug Use decided to ask the people it interviewed about all uses of prescription medicines, not just inappropriate use. The survey found that 119 million Americans over the age of 12 took prescription psychotherapeutic drugs. That's 45 percent of the population. (Harris, 9/8)

Los Angeles Times: Allergan CEO Is Shocked (Shocked!) By Insane Drug Prices
So it’s come to this: The chief executive of a major drug company is a hero because he won’t rip off customers any more. Brent Saunders, CEO of Allergan, the company best known for making Botox, made headlines this week after posting an announcement on his company’s website that future price hikes will be limited to single digits and he’ll no longer jack up prices to crazy levels right before a patent expires. “While we have participated in this industry practice in the past, we will stop this practice going forward,” Saunders said. (David Lazarus, 9/8)

Los Angeles Times: Congress: What I Didn't Do This Summer — Fund Zika
Welcome back to work, Congress! We see the Senate picked up right where it left off before its seven-week summer recess — blocking a bill to provide $1.1 billion for Zika prevention efforts because it would bar funding for Planned Parenthood and its affiliates. While you were out campaigning, fundraising or barbequing, however, the number of Zika cases in the U.S. more than doubled to 2,700, and people infected with the virus have turned up in every state. A total of 17 babies have been born with Zika-related birth defects (two in California), and about 1,600 pregnant women are known to have been exposed. And those are just the cases we know about; some 80% of those infected with the disease have mild or no symptoms. (9/7)

The Sacramento Bee: In Support Of Children’s Health Care, Yes On Proposition 52
Proposition 52 is a rare initiative for which there should be little debate or dissent. The measure would extend an existing fee on hospitals to provide health care to poor people, guarantee that the federal government will match the state’s share, and inhibit the Legislature from diverting the money to other programs. The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board generally opposes using ballot measures to tie legislators’ hands on fiscal matters. But Proposition 52 is an exception, and the vast majority of lawmakers agree. (9/7)

The Los Angeles Times: Rabies Treatment Shows Why U.S. Healthcare Is Hard To Swallow
Jan Kern was bitten by a stray dog while traveling abroad and ended up with a jaw-dropping illustration of why the U.S. healthcare industry is completely sick.That’s because she underwent a series of rabies shots in three countries at four medical facilities. What that revealed, and which will surprise no one, is that Americans pay way more for the exact same treatment than people in other nations. (David Lazarus, 9/6)

Orange County Register: Dial 9-1-1 For Monopoly In Huntington Beach
AmeriCare MedServices, Inc. filed a lawsuit last week in federal court alleging Huntington Beach has wrongly monopolized the city’s emergency ambulance market. In 1993, the City Council voted to allow the fire department to maintain and operate its own emergency ambulance system. Opponents at the time argued the city would be better served by competition among private companies. Since then, however, the city has been served by a generally well-regarded program which, according to the city’s website, transports up to 10,000 patients annually. (9/7)

The Los Angeles Times: Marijuana: A Potent Disruptor For Young Users, Whose Brains Are Still Developing
As Californians ponder whether to vote for Proposition 64, the November ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for adult use, it’s important to own up to the fact that marijuana is not always the benign bud that many advocates would have us believe, particularly for teens and young adults, whose brains are still developing. (Robin Abcarian, 9/2)

Los Angeles Times: Rabies Treatment Shows Why U.S. Healthcare Is Hard To Swallow
Jan Kern was bitten by a stray dog while traveling abroad and ended up with a jaw-dropping illustration of why the U.S. healthcare industry is completely sick. That’s because she underwent a series of rabies shots in three countries at four medical facilities. What that revealed, and which will surprise no one, is that Americans pay way more for the exact same treatment than people in other nations. Moreover, her experience highlights the lack of uniformity for drug prices, including commonly used medications. One facility might charge a few bucks for the same drug that costs thousands of dollars at a U.S. hospital. (David Lazarus, 9/6)