Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Modern Wildfires Pose New Health Risks For Firefighters
Studies long have linked urban firefighters’ on-the-job exposure to toxins with an increased risk of cancer. More recently, as urban-style development reaches into once remote stretches of California’s mountains and forests, wildfire crews are exposed to fuels and carcinogens more typical of urban fires. We talk with Tony Stefani of the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation about the health risks that poses for firefighters. (Barbara Feder Ostrov, )
Good morning. Back-to-back shootings rocked the country this weekend not long after the attack at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, which left three dead and more than a dozen injured. Read more coverage on the incidents below, but first here are your top California health stories for the day.
California Hospitals Grappling With Expensive Earthquake Requirements: Most hospitals in earthquake-prone California have met regulations designed to keep buildings from collapsing in an earthquake. But administrators from some others say the standards for keeping the doors open after quakes are pricey and will force some hospitals to raise health care costs, cut services or close. Labor unions, meanwhile, are defending the standards, pointing out hospitals have had nearly three decades to comply. Changing them now would be a "multibillion bailout on seismic safety standards," according to Stephanie Roberson, director of government relations for the California Nurses Association. Hospitals are proposing some alternatives. Their ideas include having taxpayers help finance construction or requiring only a certain number of hospitals in each region to meet the standards. Another idea is to adopt a cap-and-trade-like system where hospitals could buy permits allowing them to have noncompliant beds. Read more from Adam Beam of The Associated Press.
Growing Reliance On Charity, Crowd Funding To Pay For Medical Bills Means Stressed Patients, Inequities In Care: Americans who have insurance are increasingly turning to charity as a lifeline, as a revolution in health insurance has driven up deductibles more than threefold over the last decade, forcing tens of millions of Americans to delay care and make difficult sacrifices to pay medical bills. But the growing reliance on charity — though sometimes celebrated in inspiring stories of generosity — means patients and their families must devote time and energy to raising money, often when they are most stressed and in need. This threatens to widen inequalities, giving an advantage to those with more resources, larger social networks and stories better suited to dramatic online appeals. “We shouldn’t be the solution,” said GoFundMe Chairman Rob Solomon. “We know we’ve become a kind of de facto safety net.… But we’re only scratching the surface of all the need out there.” Read more from Noam N. Levey of the Los Angeles Times.
Drugmakers, Hospitals And Dialysis Companies Spent Millions In First Half Of Year Fighting Bills In Sacramento: Hospitals successfully killed an effort to set out-of-network payment rates, an effort that sought to eliminate surprise bills. Pharmaceutical and dialysis companies are still fighting measures that aim to crack down on steering dialysis patients to private insurance and delaying low-cost generic drugs. For all three measures, there are powerful interests on both sides. For example, the surprise ER billing proposal was opposed by the California Hospital Association, which spent more than $1.5 million lobbying in the first half of the year, making it the seventh-highest spender. But the bill was supported by some of the most powerful labor unions in the state, including the California Teachers Association. The bill to crack down on so-called “pay for delay” tactics by drug makers also pitted powerful health groups against one another. The practice occurs when a pharmaceutical company pays another company to delay releasing a cheaper generic version of a drug for which a patent has expired. Read more from Sophia Bollag of the Sacramento Bee.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
Modesto Bee:
Cancer Patients Being Denied Drugs, Despite Prescriptions
Cancer drugs prescribed by [Norma] Smith’s oncologist were denied because they didn’t follow the standard protocol sequence of medications that Smith’s pharmacy benefit manager, CVS Caremark, had in their guidelines. That means pharmacy benefit managers have the authority to trump a doctor’s medical judgment without seeing patients or knowing their full medical history, and without accountability for the consequences of what happens to sick people. (George, 8/2)
Los Angeles Times:
To House Homeless People, A Venice Couple Is Working Outside Of The System
It started with a spreadsheet of income and expenses showing a modest profit could be made by housing homeless people. The profit hasn’t materialized yet. But Heidi Roberts and John Betz, a Venice couple who decided to make their mom-and-pop rental business part of the solution to homelessness, have shown that they can get people off the streets while operating outside the government-run system. (Smith, 8/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Huge Rejected Housing Project May Be Revived Due To Pressure From State Officials
A massive housing project that San Bruno killed in a controversial vote last month could rise from the dead. Facing possible lawsuits and state fines over its recent rejection of the 425-unit project, the City Council will meet privately in the coming weeks to consider its options for the proposed development. (Koseff, 8/4)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Arvin Residents May Have Been Exposed To Measles
A person diagnosed with measles visited an Arvin fast-food restaurant July 23 and may have exposed others in the restaurant to measles. The person visited Popeye’s, located at 5552 N. Wheeler Ridge Road in Arvin, on July 23. Anyone who visited Popeye’s on that day between 3:25 and 5 p.m. may have been exposed to measles, Kern County Public Health Services said in a news release. Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It will stay in the air for up to one hour afterward. (8/2)
Sacramento Bee:
Chico To Get New, Expanded Outpatient Clinic For Veterans
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will officially open an outpatient clinic to serve veterans in the Chico area on Aug. 27, leaving a building about 5 miles away that is about half the size of the new facility. “This clinic is a significant step forward in providing high-quality, compassionate care to the veterans of Butte, Glenn and Tehama counties,” said Ryan Schiel, the site manager for the Chico VA outpatient clinic. “We’re not only doubling our space, but adding critical staff and services, as well.” (Anderson, 8/5)
The Associated Press:
Hate Ruled Out, But Motive Still A Mystery In Dayton Attack
As authorities in Ohio try to pin down a motive for the weekend's second U.S. mass shooting and dig into the slain shooter's life, what they find might also help answer another big question looming over the tragedy: What, if anything, could have stopped it? Police say the gunman was wearing a mask and body armor when he shot and killed his younger sister and eight others after the pair had arrived together with a friend earlier Saturday evening at a popular entertainment district packed with people. (8/5)
The New York Times:
Gunman’s Own Sister Was Among Dayton Shooting Victims
Among the victims killed in the barrage of gunfire outside Ned Peppers, a popular spot in Dayton, Ohio, was the gunman’s sister, a 22-year-old college student described as “bubbly” and “outgoing.” Investigators had not determined on Sunday evening whether the gunman, armed with a military-style rifle and clad in protective armor, had specifically targeted his sister or anyone else in the crowd. (Stockman and Bogel-Burroughs, 8/4)
Los Angeles Times:
In El Paso And Now Dayton, The Familiar Fallout Of A Mass Shooting Repeats Again
“Honestly, and I have to say unfortunately, because we have had so many of these incidences, there is a bevy of mayors who are able to give great advice and feedback,” Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said during a Sunday afternoon briefing. “I think that’s quite frankly a little sad, if you think about it, that they’ve learned so much because all of their communities have gone through these terrible mass shootings.” She called the deaths in her city “completely preventable,” in an earlier phone interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We’re city No. 250,” she said. “How many more cities have to go through mass shootings before somebody does something to change the law?” (La Ganga, Etehad, Monetero and Hennessy-Fiske, 8/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Mass Shootings In El Paso, Dayton Leave 29 Dead
In El Paso, Texas, a lone gunman walked into a crowded Walmart Saturday morning, shooting with an AK-style semiautomatic rifle. Authorities were investigating the shooting, which killed 20 and injured 26 more, as a possible case of domestic terrorism and a hate crime because officials believe the suspect, a white man, was targeting Hispanics. He has been charged with capital murder. (Hobbs, Maher and Bauerlein, 8/5)
The New York Times:
Back-To-Back Outbreaks Of Gun Violence In El Paso And Dayton Stun Country
In a country that has become nearly numb to men with guns opening fire in schools, at concerts and in churches, the back-to-back bursts of gun violence in less than 24 hours were enough to leave the public stunned and shaken. The shootings ground the 2020 presidential campaign to a halt, reignited a debate on gun control and called into question the increasingly angry words directed at immigrants on the southern border in recent weeks by right-wing pundits and President Trump. “It’s outrageous,” said Terrion Foster, who works in accounting and lives in Kansas City, Mo., where he was out shopping at a farmer’s market near downtown on Sunday afternoon. “It’s really sad because I feel like you can’t go anywhere and be safe. I’m 50 years old and I didn’t think I’d be alive to see some of the things that are going on today.” (Robertson, Bosman and Smith, 8/4)
The Washington Post:
A Weekend Of Mass Murder Reflects How American Violence Goes Viral
The weekend’s violence rekindled an array of other national arguments: over gun rights, over pop culture, over social media and over what constitutes terrorism. Amid the overwhelming tragedy of the shootings, the El Paso incident drew special attention to the problem of lone-wolf shooters and whether they should be viewed as isolated actors — “sick people,” in the words of White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney — or as part of a larger, ideologically driven movement. “These are not single shooters,” said Daniel Okrent, author of “The Guarded Gate,” a history of anti-immigrant bigotry in the United States. “They’re a mob with high-powered rifles, people who feel they’re part of something bigger. The technology has changed: A mob doesn’t have to get together in the street with torches anymore.” (Fisher, 8/4)
The Washington Post:
Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Looms Over El Paso Massacre
President Trump has relentlessly used his bully pulpit to decry Latino migration as “an invasion of our country.” He has demonized undocumented immigrants as “thugs” and “animals.” He has defended the detention of migrant children, hundreds of whom have been held in squalor. And he has warned that without a wall to prevent people from crossing the border from Mexico, America would no longer be America. “How do you stop these people? You can’t,” Trump lamented at a May rally in Panama City Beach, Fla. Someone in the crowd yelled back one idea: “Shoot them.” The audience of thousands cheered and Trump smiled. Shrugging off the suggestion, he quipped, “Only in the Panhandle can you get away with that statement.” (Rucker, 8/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
White Nationalists Pose Challenge To Investigators
The shootings in Texas and Ohio that killed at least 29 people over the weekend left authorities searching for how to confront the challenges posed by mass violence and domestic terrorism, especially attacks driven by white-nationalist ideologies. Violence committed by white men inspired by an extremist ideology makes up a growing number of domestic terrorism cases, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of about 850 current domestic terrorism cases, 40% involve racially motivated violent extremism and a majority of those cases involve white supremacists, the FBI said. (Frosh, Elinson and Gurman, 8/4)
Reuters:
Democrats Aim Their Outrage At Trump After Two Mass Shootings
The El Paso shooting sent shock waves onto the campaign trail for next year's presidential election, with most Democratic candidates repeating calls for tighter gun control measures and some drawing connections to a resurgence in white nationalism and xenophobic politics in the United States. Several 2020 candidates said Trump was indirectly to blame."Donald Trump is responsible for this. He is responsible because he is stoking fears and hatred and bigotry," U.S. Senator Cory Booker said on CNN's "State of the Union." (8/4)
The Washington Post:
FBI Faces Skepticism Over Its Anti-Domestic Terror Efforts
The FBI insists it is fully engaged in combating the threat of violence from white supremacists, but some former federal officials charge that the government is still coming up short in the face of a strain of American terrorism that now seems resurgent. The weekend massacre at a Walmart and shopping center in El Paso has focused public debate once again on the issue, after federal prosecutors called it an act of domestic terrorism. (Barrett, 8/4)
The New York Times:
How Gun Control Groups Are Catching Up To The N.R.A.
The political momentum in the gun control debate has shifted in the year leading up to this weekend’s mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, with gun control advocates taking a more empowered stance and the National Rifle Association consumed by internal power struggles. The major gun control organizations, propelled by funding from supporters like Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, and grass-roots networks across the country, have helped enact new laws — mostly in Democratic-controlled states — and, for the first time in 25 years, passed a significant gun control bill in the House. (Epstein, Astor and Hakim, 8/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Recent US Mass Shootings: A Timeline
A tally of a mass shooting could be written in countless ways. The term is not a legal one — which means that definitions fluctuate. The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tallies gun violence in the United States, defines a mass shooting as four or more victims shot or killed. Some media outlets use three fatalities as a baseline for a mass shooting; others four. The topic is widely debated. (Miranda, 8/4)
The Associated Press:
2020 Dems' Health Care Battle Is Decades In The Making
Seventy years ago, before Medicare existed to inspire "Medicare for All," a Democratic president wrestled with a challenge strikingly similar to what the party's White House hopefuls face today. Harry Truman, then in his fourth year of pressing for a national health insurance system, parried criticism of his approach in terms that a single-payer health care advocate might use in 2019. The plainspoken Missourian wrote in a 1949 message to Congress that his proposal "will not require doctors to become employees of the government" and that "patients will remain free to choose their own doctors." (8/5)
The Associated Press:
Democrats Tussle Over Health Care At Nevada Labor Forum
Democratic presidential candidates' tussle over health care reform continued Saturday as they pitched themselves to Nevada union members, with former Vice President Joe Biden declaring he's "against any Democrat who wants to get rid of Obamacare" and Sen. Kamala Harris saying no Democrat should be on the debate stage without a plan to cover everybody. They were among 19 candidates speaking at a forum held by the nation's largest public employees union in the state that will cast the first votes in the West in next year's primary. (8/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
White House Weighs September Rollout Of Health Plan
The Trump administration is considering releasing its long-promised health-care plan in the fall as part of a campaign strategy to offer an alternative to Democratic candidates who back Medicare for All, according to people familiar with the discussions. White House officials are discussing unveiling the proposal during a September speech in which President Trump would seek to draw a contrast with Democrats while reassuring voters the administration is prepared if the courts abolish the Affordable Care Act. The timing of the speech could shift, officials said. (Armour and Restuccia, 8/3)
The New York Times:
Top Kidney Charity Directed Aid To Patients At DaVita And Fresenius Clinics, Lawsuit Claims
One of the nation’s largest public charities steered financial aid to patients of its two biggest corporate donors — the dialysis chains DaVita and Fresenius — while denying help to people who used smaller, unrelated clinics, in violation of anti-kickback laws, according to a federal whistle-blower lawsuit unsealed this week in Boston. The charity, the American Kidney Fund, helps patients who need dialysis by paying their health insurance premiums and other costs for treatment. But under a longstanding federal agreement intended to prevent illegal kickbacks, the charity is supposed to provide help based solely on a patient’s financial need, and not favor companies that donate to it. (Abelson and Thomas, 8/2)
The Washington Post:
Health Officials Try New Tactics Against Measles Outbreak
The most recent effort to crush the largest measles outbreak in nearly three decades took place at a Brooklyn soccer field. As Latino players and fans showed up for a weekend tournament, Spanish-speaking health teams offered free vaccines to players and spectators, explaining the outbreak in predominantly Orthodox Jewish communities had spread in recent weeks and had sickened some Latino adults. “We know there’s a lot of adults who are unvaccinated,” said Paulo Pina, a doctor from NYU Langone Health who was part of the team. “It’s important that we vaccinate them, too, because this is New York: Everybody interacts with everybody.” (Sun, 8/2)
The Washington Post:
Racism Has Devastating Effects On Children’s Health, Pediatricians Warn
The nation’s largest group of pediatricians warned this week that racism can have devastating long-term effects on children’s health. A policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics is the first it has issued to its members on the dangers of racism. Doctors involved in the report said the current political and cultural atmosphere makes the work more urgent. (Wan, 8/2)
The New York Times:
A Brain Scan May Predict Alzheimer’s. Should You Get One?
Juli Engel was delighted when a neurologist recommended a PET scan to determine whether amyloid — the protein clumps associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease — was accumulating in her mother’s brain. “My internal response was, ‘Yay!’” said Ms. Engel, 65, a geriatric care manager in Austin, Tex., who has been making almost monthly trips to help her mother in Florida. “He’s using every tool to try to determine what’s going on.” (Span, 8/2)