Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
HHS Finalizes Rule Seeking To Expel Planned Parenthood From Family Planning Program
The new regulation would drop previous rules for the Title X program requiring that women with unintended pregnancies be told about all options, including abortion. One-quarter of the women potentially affected by the changes live in California, and the state's attorney general, Xavier Becerra, said he is prepared to sue. (Julie Rovner, )
Good morning! The Trump administration issued a rule on Friday that could effectively strip Planned Parenthood of millions in federal funding. One-quarter of the women potentially affected by the changes live in California, and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra said he is prepared to sue. More on that below, but first here are some of your top California health stories of the day.
Becerra Thwarted Once More As Judge Denies His Request To Block Sale Of Hospitals: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s attempts to interfere in the sale of two hospitals to Santa Clara County have for the second time this month been blocked by a judge. Santa Clara County is in the process of buying O’Connor Hospital in San Jose and Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, which are owned by Verity Health System, a financially troubled nonprofit. Becerra wanted to impose conditions on the sale designed to prevent new owners from stripping the facilities of the services they have long provided for low-income patients. But several judges have weighed in, concluding Becerra does not have the authority to regulate the sale of the nonprofit hospitals to a public entity. “I would say — barring a strike of lightning, the issues with the attorney general are resolved at this point,” said Santa Clara County CEO Jeff Smith. Read more in The Mercury News.
State Officials, California Insurers Push Back Against Requirement To Send Separate Bill For Abortion Coverage: The Trump administration is requiring insurers who sell plans through the health law to send California consumers a second premium bill every month for $1 —which is the extra dollar factored into Covered California plans to cover unrestricted abortion benefits. The federal program, on the other hand, only allows abortion coverage in cases of rape, incest of if the mother’s life is in danger. The administration says the goal in requiring two letters is simply to enforce existing laws that require “separate” billing for abortion services. But both state officials and California insurers say the separate messages will confuse customers, possibly leading to them not paying the second bill and losing coverage, as well as rack up unnecessary costs from mailing expenses. Read more from CALmatters.
Do Soda Taxes Really Work? A Look At Berkeley’s Hint That They Do: Berkeley voters gave the greenlight to a penny-an-ounce soda tax back in 2014, and researchers have been tracking its success since it was enacted in 2015. They have found that residents have cut their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by 52 percent after the tax went into effect. The survey-takers particularly targeted low-income neighborhoods, which have been overburdened by the obesity crisis. “It was so hard to change behavior, even with counseling, and particularly if you're in an environment where the healthiest things are not there or not affordable,” said Dr. Kristine Madsen, director of the Berkeley Food Institute. “In this case, what we're changing is the price environment with regulations." Read more from KQED.
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
Fresno Bee:
California Law Increases Number Of Surrendered Babies
The family is one of many in California that have been shaped partly by surrendered babies who are taken in by foster families and then adopted into new homes through California’s Safely Surrendered Baby law, signed in 2001. Nearly two decades later, the state has seen a record number of babies safely surrendered through the law. State and county officials say that is an assuring shift from a once-deadly trend. (Rodriguez-Delgado, 2/22)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Blood Test Firm Enters Quasi-Bankruptcy After Medicare Move
CardioDx, the defunct Redwood City company that shut down abruptly in January after Medicare rescinded coverage of its flagship blood test, has formally entered a process similar to bankruptcy to shed remaining assets and pay out creditors. The company, founded in 2003, made a blood test meant to help doctors diagnose heart disease. It sold millions of dollars worth of the test over the course of six years — mostly to the federal government’s Medicare insurance program for seniors — until Medicare in late 2018 stopped paying for the test because it was found to be of little use to patients. (Kunthara and Ho, 2/22)
KQED:
Lack Of Medication Treatments For Meth Frustrates Doctors
As San Francisco faces a resurgence of meth, with spikes in meth-related deaths, emergency room visits and hospitalizations, health officials are grappling with the limited treatment options available for meth addiction. For opioid use disorder there are three FDA-approved medications people can take to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms, and all are pretty effective. For meth and cocaine, there’s nothing. (Dembosky, 2/22)
Modesto Bee:
Free Lodging Expands For Families Of VA Patients In Palo Alto
Another site has opened in Palo Alto to provide free lodging for families of veterans and active service members getting hospital care.Fisher House, a national nonprofit, dedicated a second home Feb. 16 at the Veterans Administration hospital in the Bay Area city. Families who live at least 50 miles away — that includes the Modesto area — can apply to stay there. (Holland, 2/23)
Orange County Register:
CalOptima Board Approves $1.6 Million To Start Mobile Medical Team To Treat Homeless People
Responding to a surge in homeless deaths, the governing board of Orange County’s health care plan for its poor allocated $1.6 million on Friday, Feb. 22, to start a mobile medical team to treat homeless people at shelters and other places they congregate. The action came at a special meeting three days after U.S. District Judge David O. Carter described the number of homeless deaths in Orange County in 2018 as a “public health crisis.” Carter, who is overseeing a civil rights lawsuit over the treatment of homeless people here, is seeking more information into the causes of the deaths. Facing pressure from the judge, the board of CalOptima, the agency that administers the county’s Medi-Cal funds, met to wrestle with how it could provide better health care services to homeless people. (Walker and Graham, 2/22)
Sacramento Bee:
CA Nurses Volunteer To Care For Asylum Seekers In Arizona
Moved by the deaths of immigrants at the nation’s southern border, registered nurses from California, Florida and Texas volunteered to travel to Arizona to provide basic medical support to migrants and asylum seekers Friday through Sunday. (Anderson, 2/22)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Del Mar Healthcare Worker Charged In Drug Diversion Investigation
A yearlong investigation by federal drug agents has resulted in criminal charges against several physicians and other healthcare providers — including a Del Mar woman — accused of writing bogus prescriptions or selling painkillers and other drugs on the black market. Dubbed Operation Hypocritical Oath — a play on the Hippocratic oath taken by doctors — the investigation targeted dozens of healthcare professionals in California, Nevada and Hawaii, many of whom came under suspicion because records showed they were prescribing an unusual amount of narcotics, said Bill Bodner, deputy special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Agency in Los Angeles. (Rubin and Davis, 2/23)
Politico:
‘It’s Finally Pharma’s Turn’: Drug CEOs Face Capitol Hill Reckoning
Pharma executives are facing a Capitol Hill grilling on high drug prices Tuesday — bringing them into the same politically treacherous ground as tobacco and tech leaders before them. The Senate Finance Committee hearing is an ominous signal for the drug industry that major legislative reform is on the horizon. It’s reminiscent of previous hearings with businesses that proved to be turning points, leading to massive reforms of Wall Street banks, the health insurance industry and tobacco companies. (Karlin-Smith, 2/25)
Stat:
How Pharma Executives Are Preparing For Tuesday's Congressional Grilling
To avoid the fate of so many executives before them, the pharmaceutical companies are shelling out for lawyers and strategic communications experts who specialize in teaching unpopular corporate figures how to survive a Capitol Hill grilling. STAT spoke with more than a dozen corporate lobbyists, lawyers, and public relations consultants who laid out the extensive preparations that go into avoiding a cable-news catastrophe. Their advice’s central themes: appear contrite and willing to work with lawmakers. Remain humble, even with senators who attack your compensation or lifestyle. And even in the face of aggressive questioning, never — never! — push back with force. (Facher and Florko, 2/25)
Bloomberg:
Drug CEOs Expected To Deflect Blame On Costs At Senate Hearing
Pharmaceutical executives looking to blame drug-plan middlemen for rising prescription costs at a Senate committee hearing next week will be greeted skeptically by lawmakers, said people familiar with the panel’s preparations. Senior officials from seven pharmaceutical giants are scheduled to appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday to discuss soaring drug prices, which have become a lightning rod in Washington. Drug companies have long pinned climbing prescription costs on rebates that pharmacy-benefit managers negotiate when agreeing to cover certain medicines. (Griffin, 2/22)
The New York Times:
Health Care And Insurance Industries Mobilize To Kill ‘Medicare For All’
Even before Democrats finish drafting bills to create a single-payer health care system, the health care and insurance industries have assembled a small army of lobbyists to kill “Medicare for all,” an idea that is mocked publicly but is being greeted privately with increasing seriousness. Doctors, hospitals, drug companies and insurers are intent on strangling Medicare for all before it advances from an aspirational slogan to a legislative agenda item. They have hired a top lieutenant in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign to spearhead the effort. And their tactics will show Democrats what they are up against as the party drifts to the left on health care. (Pear, 2/23)
The Associated Press:
Many Shades Of Meaning Behind 'Medicare-For-All'
"Medicare-for-all" can mean different things to different people. For some, it's a single government-run health insurance plan for the whole country. To others, it's giving consumers a choice to buy into Medicare or keep their private insurance. But whatever the form, the proposals are built on the premise that health insurance should be a guaranteed right. (2/22)
NPR:
Beyond 'Bumper Sticker' Slogans: 2020 Democrats Debate Details Of Medicare-For-All
Bernie Sanders is back, but one of his signature policies never left. In 2015, he introduced Medicare-for-all to many Democrats for the first time. Since Sanders' first run for president, that type of single-payer health care system has become a mainstream Democratic proposal. Last week, Sanders launched his second presidential campaign, amid a field of presidential candidates who are trying to figure out how to position themselves around the policy. (Kurtzleben, 2/25)
The New York Times:
UnitedHealth Loses Case To The Health Venture Begun By Amazon, Berkshire-Hathaway And JPMorgan Chase
UnitedHealth Group, the giant health insurance company, on Friday lost its case to prevent a former executive from working at the new health care venture formed by three powerful corporations, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase. A federal judge in Boston denied UnitedHealth’s request to have the executive, David William Smith, immediately stop working. Mr. Smith was an executive at Optum, a unit of UnitedHealth, and it accused him of taking corporate secrets to what it claimed was a competitor. Mr. Smith has denied any wrongdoing. (Abelson, 2/22)
Politico:
Dems Move Toward First Vote To Crack Down On Gun Violence
In the most high-profile congressional vote on gun control in years, House Democrats are set to pass a bipartisan measure this week that mandates federal background checks on all gun sales, including private transactions. House Democrats have also scheduled a vote on legislation to extend the deadline for federal background checks from three business days to as many as 20. The legislation is designed to close the “Charleston Loophole,” which allowed white supremacist Dylann Roof, who killed nine African-Americans at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015, to buy a gun despite pending felony drug charges against him. (Bresnahan, 2/25)
The Associated Press:
Report: Apps Give Facebook Sensitive Health And Other Data
Several phone apps are sending sensitive user data, including health information, to Facebook without users' consent, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. An analytics tool called "App Events" allows app developers to record user activity and report it back to Facebook, even if the user isn't on Facebook, according to the report. One example detailed by the Journal shows how a woman would track her period and ovulation using an app from Flo Health. After she enters when she last had her period, Facebook software in the app would send along data, such as whether the user may be ovulating. (2/22)