Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Fecal Bacteria In California’s Waterways Increases With Homeless Crisis
Some of California’s most prized rivers, bays, beaches and streams are contaminated with levels of fecal bacteria that exceed state limits, threatening human health. While aging sewage infrastructure is largely to blame, homeless encampments are also a probable source of contamination. (Anna Almendrala, )
Good morning! Democrats led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra are asking the Supreme Court to expedite the case on the constitutionality of the health law, keeping the winning issue front-of-mind for voters ahead of the 2020 elections. More on that below, but first here are some of your top California health stories for the day.
California’s Jails Are In A Crisis, But What Can Be Done?: Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he is crafting plans focused on local lockups, where homicides have surged, and exploring how to give the state more power to oversee the sheriffs who run them. More details are expected this week when the governor unveils his state budget proposal. At the same time, state lawmakers are also calling for accountability, recommending audits of how sheriffs have spent billions of dollars in state support and hearings to examine the deadly conditions in some facilities. So far, the state has allocated some $8 billion to counties to improve services inside and outside of the facilities. It awarded an additional $2 billion for the construction of new facilities. And it converted an arm of prison bureaucracy into a jail oversight agency that sets minimum standards and inspects the jails. Those efforts, however, are faltering. Read more from Jason Pohl and Ryan Gabrielson of the Sacramento Bee and ProPublica.
More Than A Thousand Californians Sought Out Aid-In-Dying Prescriptions Between 2016-2018: California’s aid-in-dying law, which became effective in June 2016, allows terminally ill adults in the state to get, and self-administer, life-ending drugs. From June 2016 through 2018, 1,108 prescriptions have been written for lethal medications; and 807 people, or 72.8%, have died after ingesting the medications in that period. The fight to make the prescriptions legal hasn’t been an easy one for advocates. Opponents of the law sued after it was signed in 2015, arguing that it effectively decriminalized assisted suicide and that there was no way to ensure that people weren’t coerced into taking the drug. A Riverside County judge also struck down the law in 2018, saying the Legislature had violated the state constitution by passing the law during a special session limited to health-care issues, but a state court of appeal reinstated the law before the end of that year. Read more from Teri Sforza of the East Bay Times.
Federal Judge Declines To Block California’s Pay-For-Delay Ban In A Blow To Pharma: The California law bans pay-to-delay deals where a brand-name drug maker settles a patent lawsuit by paying cash or transferring something else of value to an erstwhile generic rival, which agrees to delay launching a copycat medicine until a specific date in the future. The Federal Trade Commission, which has gone to court several times to protest such agreements, has claimed the agreements cost U.S. consumers an estimated $3.5 billion annually. Read more from Ed Silverman of Stat.
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
KQED:
California Eyes Climate Bond To Prepare For Disasters
In a state burdened by billions of dollars in wildfire damage, California lawmakers are hoping for an advance loan before the next climate-fueled catastrophe hits.Lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated state Legislature return to work Monday for the second year of a two-year session. Their to-do list includes a $4.2 billion climate bond, an ambitious proposal to borrow money before they need it to prepare for the types of natural disasters that have plagued the state. (Beam, 1/5)
CalMatters:
Housing, Wildfire, Surplus On Deck As California Lawmakers Return
The Legislature returns to Sacramento today, opening the second half of a two-year session that will revive some ideas that stalled in 2019 and raise new proposals to drive the action in 2020. (Rosenhall, 1/6)
Capital Public Radio:
As California Tries To Make Contract Workers Employees, Industries Push Back
A new law that went into effect in California Jan. 1 is supposed to make it harder for companies to hire workers as contractors — but gig companies like Uber, Lyft and the food delivery platform Postmates are refusing to reclassify their fleet of drivers as employees. Supporters of Assembly Bill 5 claim companies have been exploiting contract workers for years because they aren't considered employees who get benefits like health coverage and workers' compensation. (Rodd, 1/4)
Los Angeles Times:
It Won't Be Easy, But O.C. Can Beat Homelessness, Experts And Officials Say
Given how many factors play a role in California’s homelessness epidemic, it wouldn’t be surprising for cities and counties throughout the state to feel a bit like Sisyphus, the figure from Greek mythology who was doomed to forever push a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down when he neared the top. ...Despite the challenges inherent in comprehensively tackling an issue so massive in scale, scope and complexity, some homeless advocates in Orange County say they’re heartened by how the past few years have unfolded and are hopeful about the future. (Money, Pinho, Davis and Vega, 1/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Ballot Measure Would Tighten Up Rules For Dealing With Bad Street Behavior
In a move that could radically change California’s approach to homelessness, a former assemblyman has started a signature-gathering drive for a November ballot initiative that would call for the strict enforcement of “quality of life” laws, which deal with behavior such as public drunkenness or drug use and defecating in public. Offenders would be to be sent to special courts, where they could be sentenced to shelter programs or mandatory rehab. (Matier, 1/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Hopes To Build 250 Affordable Housing Units For Seniors Near Laguna Honda
The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development is looking for an affordable-housing developer to build about 250 apartments for low-income seniors on a city-owned parking lot next to Laguna Honda Hospital. The development would include units for independent seniors, as well as apartments for those requiring more assistance. It would also incorporate a drop-in health center for adults and a child care facility. (Dineen, 1/6)
Ventura County Star:
Californians Compelled To Find Health Insurance Or Face Tax Penalty
Uninsured Californians who think the 2017 repeal of the federal tax on people who refuse to obtain health insurance takes them off the hook could face a painful surprise when they pay their 2020 state taxes. A new California law that went into effect on Wednesday resuscitates the requirement that people obtain health coverage or face tax penalties. An adult who is uninsured in 2020 face could be hit with a state tax charge of $695 or 2.5% of his or her gross income. A family of four could pay a penalty of at least $2,085. (Kisken, 1/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
A Fine On Kids Who Vape? Some California Cities Want It
When Palo Alto officials recently began contemplating a fine for minors who vape in public, Councilman Greg Tanaka called it a cutting-edge approach necessitated by the growth of youth vaping — a phenomenon public health officials are calling an epidemic. Palo Alto would not be the first city to impose a fine for underage possession of tobacco products, which include e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes. But the approach is unusual and comes at a time when officials at virtually all levels of government are grappling with how to get teen vaping under control. (Ho, 1/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Doctors Target Health Consequences Of Childhood Trauma
A screening tool developed by Bay Area pediatricians to identify adverse childhood experiences, ranging from homelessness and food insecurity to physical and sexual abuse, will now help doctors statewide address trauma affecting patients’ health. The California Department of Health Care Services approved the tool — called PEARLS, for Pediatric ACEs and Related Life-Events Screener — last month. As of Jan. 1, its use is covered by Medi-Cal, and it will be available to pediatricians at 8,800 California clinics. (Allday, 1/5)
Modesto Bee:
Food Insecurity Plagues CA College Students, Food Pantries Help
Nationwide, about one-third of college students are food insecure, according to a 2018 report from the federal General Accounting Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog. The report also noted that since the 1990s, the number of food-insecure college students is rising, coinciding with the increasing enrollment of low-income students, as well as the decline in government funding to colleges. Students who are from low-income households, veterans, former foster youth, minorities, first-generation enrollees or are parents are especially vulnerable. (Mink, 1/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Census Counting On Recruitment Blitz, High Pay To Hire 12,000 Bay Area Workers
Throughout the Bay Area, the census will need about 12,000 workers. Nationwide, the figure is half a million. That includes some jobs for temporary supervisors, recruiters and clerks. The census hires people as employees, not independent contractors. Workers’ compensation and disability coverage are available, but not health and retirement benefits. (Said, 1/3)
Reuters:
Democrats Ask U.S. Supreme Court To Save Obamacare
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and 20 Democratic-led states asked the Supreme Court on Friday to declare that the landmark Obamacare healthcare law does not violate the U.S. Constitution as lower courts have found in a lawsuit brought by Republican-led states. The House and the states, including New York and California, want the Supreme Court to hear their appeals of a Dec. 18 ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that deemed the 2010 law's "individual mandate" that required people to obtain health insurance unconstitutional. (1/3)
The New York Times:
Democrats Ask Supreme Court For Quick Decision On Obamacare
“Because of the practical importance of the questions presented for review and the pressing need for their swift resolution by this Court, petitioners respectfully request that the Court consider the petition on an expedited schedule,” says a filing brought by 20 states and the District of Columbia. It may seem paradoxical for Democrats to seek a swift resolution to a case that could upend a signature achievement of the Obama presidency. But keeping the case alive — and in the public eye — may help them politically, by sharpening the contrast between the two parties on an issue of great concern to voters. Democrats could return to themes that helped propel them to a House majority in 2018, promising to preserve the health law’s popular protections for Americans with pre-existing health conditions. (Sanger-Katz, 1/3)
The New York Times:
What If A Vaping Tax Encouraged Cigarette Smoking?
The surging popularity of vaping among young Americans is driving lawmakers to use one of their favorite tools to discourage unwanted behavior: taxes. In December, the Massachusetts legislature passed a 75 percent tax on all e-cigarettes. Twenty states have already done so, along with the District of Columbia, and several more are considering similar policies. The House Ways and Means Committee passed a bill last year that would make federal tobacco taxes apply equally to cigarettes and vaping products that deliver nicotine, the addictive drug in tobacco. (Sanger-Katz, 1/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Antibiotic Makers Struggle, Hurting War On Superbugs
The world desperately needs new antibiotics to tackle the rising threat of drug-resistant superbugs, but there is little reward for doing so. Instead, the companies that have stepped up to the challenge are going bust. Makers of newly approved antibiotic drugs are struggling to generate sales because doctors prescribe the treatments sparingly. The new drugs compete with older, cheaper products, and patients typically take them for only a week or two at a time. (Roland, 1/5)
CNN:
US On Track For One Of The Worst Flu Seasons In Decades
This flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in decades, according to the United States' top infectious disease doctor. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said while it's impossible to predict how the flu will play out, the season so far is on track to be as severe as the 2017-2018 flu season, which was the deadliest in more than four decades, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Cohen and Bonifield, 1/3)
The Washington Post:
Nonprofits, Medical Profession Tackle Human Trafficking As A Health-Care Crisis
An emergency room patient has a broken bone. Could she suffer from human trafficking, too? Thanks to a growing call to treat trafficking as a public health problem, an ER worker who treats a trafficking victim might be able to connect the dots. Trafficking occurs when someone exploits someone else sexually or makes them perform labor against their will. According to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, an estimated 24.9 million people are being trafficked worldwide. The vast majority are women, and 1 in 4 victims are children. (Blakemore, 1/4)