- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- California's Attorney General Vows National Fight To Defend The ACA
- Sacramento Watch 1
- Proposal To Extend Health Care To Undocumented Adults Rejected During Budget Negotiations
- Around California 1
- Doctors Are On Front Lines Of Dealing With Deep Economic Disparities In California
- Public Health and Education 2
- California Takes Steps To Increase Access To Anti-Overdose Medication
- 'There's A Sense Of Relief. There's A Sense Of Release': AMA To Mull Aid-In-Dying Ethics Code
- Health Care Personnel 1
- Dozens Of Medical Technicians Receive Layoff Notices, But Santa Rosa Hospital Says Decision Is Not A Done Deal
- National Roundup 3
- A Gift For Democrats? Moderate Republicans Cringe Over Trump Administration's Health Law Decision
- ‘We Would Never Tolerate This In Other Areas Of Public Health’: Spiking Suicide Rates An Indictment Of Mental Health System
- Forty Years After First IVF Baby, Ethicists Are Still Fielding Panic Over Humans 'Playing God' With Children
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California's Attorney General Vows National Fight To Defend The ACA
Xavier Becerra, who is leading an effort by at least 15 states to protect the law, said the Trump Administration's latest efforts to dismantle it endangers coverage for millions of Americans. (Pauline Bartolone, )
More News From Across The State
Proposal To Extend Health Care To Undocumented Adults Rejected During Budget Negotiations
The budget deal reached by Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic leaders, however, will boost spending on the homeless crisis by $600 million.
Sacramento Bee:
Jerry Brown, CA Legislature Strike $200 Billion Budget Deal
Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders struck a $200 billion budget deal on Friday that rejected two proposals that would have expanded access to health care and tax breaks to undocumented Californians. The budget sets aside enough money in reserves to fill the so-called Rainy Day Fund with a sum equivalent to 10 percent of general fund spending, almost $14 billion. (Ashton, 6/8)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Homeless Programs Get An Extra $600 Million In California Budget Deal
Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders compromised on plans to put millions more toward homeless programs and agreed to pump more money into higher education under a $139 billion general fund budget deal announced Friday. (Gutierrez, 6/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Homelessness Spending Gets Boost In Budget Deal Reached By Governor, Legislative Leaders
Homelessness prevention efforts around the state will receive more than $600 million in new funding under a state budget deal announced Friday between Gov. Jerry Brown and top lawmakers. The money is one of the highest-profile efforts to increase spending in a year in which a strong economy has left the state flush with cash. (Dillon and Myers, 6/8)
California GOP Candidates Strike Back Against Single-Payer
Democrats have been looking at health care as a winning issue in the upcoming mid-term elections, but California Republicans are saying "not so fast."
The Hill:
GOP Embraces Single-Payer Healthcare Attack In California
Republicans are seizing on Democratic demands for a single-payer health system as an attack line in California, arguing that candidates backing the issue spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are out of step with their districts. “My opponent wants socialized medicine and government-run healthcare,” Rep. Mimi Walters (Calif.), a GOP incumbent and top Democratic target, told The Hill. “The district does not support it.” (Sullivan and Hagen, 6/10)
Doctors Are On Front Lines Of Dealing With Deep Economic Disparities In California
Many of the state's children are coping with chronic diseases that are preventable in third-world countries and severe trauma that has lasting psychical symptoms.
Los Angeles Times:
They're Sick, Traumatized, Malnourished And Transient — What Child Poverty Looks Like In Los Angeles
California, home to the world’s fifth-largest economy, has the dubious paradoxical distinction of unmatched wealth and nation-leading poverty rates. In one of the most recent studies, the California Budget & Policy Center reported that more than 20% of the state’s children live in families who can’t afford basic necessities, thanks in part to the state’s housing crisis and high cost of living. (Lopez, 6/9)
In other news from across the state —
KPBS:
New Initiative Aims To Help Family Caregivers In San Diego
Now there's a new place family caregivers can turn to for help. The San Diego Union-Tribune has launched CaregiverSD.com, a new website with information, resources and support for family caregivers. (St John and Cabrera, 6/8)
East Bay Times:
‘We Serve Everyone’: Tzu Chi Foundation Free Medical Clinic Offers Help, Hope
Those coming into the clinic Sunday had the opportunity to get basic services like blood pressure and blood sugar tests, but also eye and dental checkups and treatments, and they could see a chiropractor or acupuncturist, as well. While the foundation is a Buddhist organization, the periodic outreach clinics serve all people regardless of their religion, ethnicity, or income level, according to Sherry Shih, the foundation’s local spokesperson. ...The foundation also hosts a dental and acupuncture services clinic at the Milpitas center on the second and fourth Mondays of every month, for qualifying low-income people. (Geha, 6/10)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Parents Want Answers Following Son's Death After Jail Release
After spending about five months in San Diego County jail, where he was undergoing psychiatric treatment and facing vandalism charges, Brian Dubrasky was released the early morning of Feb. 15. About six hours later, he was dead from an apparent suicide after falling several floors from a scaffolding. He was 33. ...The letter claimed that Brian Dubrasky, who was arrested in September on suspicion of vandalizing cars, came out of jail in a depressed state because he had been mistreated in jail and prescribed Zyprexa, a drug used to treat certain mental conditions and has been linked to suicides, his mother said. (Warth, 6/10)
California Takes Steps To Increase Access To Anti-Overdose Medication
The California Department of Public Health issued a standing order for naloxone in a move geared toward helping parts of the state where there are physician shortages and treatment facilities often struggle to find a doctor who will write a standing order for the medication.
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Orders Opioid Overdose Antidote Naloxone Available Without Prescription
The California Department of Public Health on Thursday issued a statewide standing order for naloxone, the emergency antidote that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. The order, issued by agency Director Dr. Karen Smith, functions as a standing prescription that enables all California organizations that work to reduce or manage drug addiction — such as sober living facilities, needle exchange programs and residential treatment centers — to distribute naloxone to patients and members of the community. The facilities would no longer have to get a prescription from an individual doctor. (Ho, 6/8)
In other news on the crisis —
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Workers’ Comp Insurer Cuts Way Back On Opioid Spending
The State Compensation Insurance Fund, one of the largest providers of workers’ compensation insurance in California, has cut its spending on prescription opioids by 74 percent amid a broader push by insurers and doctors to reduce the long-term use of addictive prescription painkillers. (Ho, 6/8)
'There's A Sense Of Relief. There's A Sense Of Release': AMA To Mull Aid-In-Dying Ethics Code
“The mere fact that they're considering it again tells you that it's a changing climate,” said Art Caplan, a professor of bioethics and head of the division of medical ethics at New York University School of Medicine. “The reality is there are many more doctors in the AMA, but also outside the AMA, who have changed their minds about this.”
The Washington Post:
The American Medical Association Has Long Opposed Assisted Suicide. Is That About To Change?
During his three decades as an emergency-room doctor, Bob Uslander had never written a prescription for a lethal dose of medication. But then he shifted to geriatric and palliative care, and in 2016, a patient suffering from the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) wanted to use California's new physician-assisted death law. Uslander was apprehensive. Until then, he had always viewed death as a failure. (Bever, 6/10)
In other public health news —
San Francisco Chronicle:
Concussion Study By UCSF Professor Identifies ‘Public Health Crisis’
Many health care professionals believe that concussion patients don’t need or cannot benefit from subsequent visits and treatment. Manley’s study, published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, found just the opposite. (Rubenstein and Ma, 6/9)
The Desert Sun:
Experts Urge Pool Safety To Prevent Childhood Drowning In California
As summer inches closer and the thermometers continue to creep up, there’s a good chance everyone, including families with kids, will be spending more time around swimming pools, the beach and other places to swim. Drowning prevention and health experts are urging adults to remain vigilant about pool safety to avoid tragedy. Drowning is the leading injury-related cause of death in California for kids under age 5. In 2016, 45 children age five or younger drowned across California, down from a recent high of 60 in 2013, and way down from the 1980s when backyard pools became popular, according to the state department of developmental services. (Kennedy, 6/8)
The Washington Post:
Rapid Sequencing Of Babies’ Genes May Save Lives
The story of Maverick Coltrin’s medical mystery is gripping: Last October, he was just 6 days old when he stopped eating. Then the seizures came. His tiny arms and legs would stiffen for a few seconds as many as 30 times per hour. Doctors at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego tried multiple tests and medications, but nothing revealed what was wrong. When Maverick turned dusty blue, his parents asked, “Do you think he’s going to survive?” The answer: “We’re doing everything we can.” (Richards, 6/10)
The hospital wants to work with the union to readjust shifts, but the union said the hospital is using the threat of layoffs to strong-arm employee concessions.
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Issues Layoff Notices To About 45 Medical Technicians
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has given layoff notices to 45 medical technicians, including more than two dozen union- represented nursing assistants who provide direct bedside care such as bathing and feeding patients and helping them to the bathroom. Officials said the hospital is looking for ways to avoid the layoffs, including changing from eight-hour to 12-hour shifts for nursing assistants to match schedules for registered nurses. The layoff notices issued last week were done in accordance with legal and labor contract requirements, Memorial spokeswoman Vanessa DeGier said. (Espinoza, 6/8)
In other news —
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Sonoma County Quietly Accepts Resignation Of Mental Health Director
Michael Kennedy, who was director of Sonoma County’s mental health services division for nearly a decade before he went on paid administrative leave in early March, resigned from his position more than five weeks ago after brokering a settlement deal with the county governing terms of his exit. The details of his resignation and the settlement deal came to light this week through a public records request filed by The Press Democrat. His job status had been in question since his leave began March 5, shortly after his superiors in the Department of Health Services backed off a controversial proposal to dramatically reduce its mental health and substance abuse staff by nearly 32 positions to partly close a $2.6 million budget gap. (Espinoza, 6/8)
A Gift For Democrats? Moderate Republicans Cringe Over Trump Administration's Health Law Decision
The Justice Department's announcement that it won't defend the health law provision that protects people with pre-existing conditions hands a potentially powerful political weapon to the Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. Meanwhile, media outlets take a look at how the decision will affect the marketplace, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra vows to redouble his energies defending the law.
The Associated Press:
Justice Department Move On Health Law Has Risks For GOP
The Trump administration's decision to stop defending in court the Obama health law's popular protections for consumers with pre-existing conditions could prove risky for Republicans in the midterm elections — and nudge premiums even higher. The Justice Department said in a court filing late Thursday that it will no longer defend key parts of the Affordable Care Act, beginning with the unpopular requirement that people carry health insurance, but also including widely-supported provisions that guarantee access for people with medical problems and limit what insurers can charge older, sicker adults. (6/9)
The New York Times:
Trump’s New Plan To Dismantle Obamacare Comes With Political Risks
Democrats swiftly portrayed the surprise move by the Justice Department, outlined Thursday in a brief supporting a court case filed by Texas and 19 other states, as a harsh blow to Americans with fragile health and their families. Already, Democratic candidates in the midterm elections had been playing up their party’s role in blocking last year’s repeal efforts and their recent success in pushing for the expansion of Medicaid in two more states. Now they have a new talking point, and they lost no time testing it. Republicans are divided between conservatives who had vowed to eliminate the law and moderates, some in tough races, who want to preserve the popular protections for people who are sick. (Goodnough, Pear and Savage, 6/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Focus On Health Care Jolts GOP Ahead Of Midterms
Moderate GOP lawmakers said the Justice Department’s brief, which supports much of the states’ position, has created an unwelcome emphasis on health care ahead of the midterms elections. Some said they disagree with the administration’s stance, and most said they would rather talk about tax cuts and other issues on the campaign trail. Republicans in competitive districts, including GOP Reps. Leonard Lance of New Jersey, John Faso of New York and Carlos Curbelo of Florida, stressed on Friday their support for guaranteeing coverage for pre-existing conditions. (Armour and Peterson, 6/8)
Politico:
Trump’s Latest Health Care Move Squeezes Republicans
Few congressional Republicans rushed to defend the administration's move Friday, instead emphasizing their support for preserving pre-existing condition protections. “I’m not going to have to defend anything I don’t agree with — regardless of who says it,” said Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee when asked if he would defend the administration’s request on the campaign trail this fall. He added that rising premiums for Obamacare coverage will force lawmakers to address health care policy next year. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — one of three GOP senators who blocked the Obamacare repeal effort last year — also pushed back, warning the administration's new bid “exacerbates our current challenges” and could undermine key patient protections. (Haberkorn and Cancryn, 6/8)
Reuters:
Insurer Lobby Group Weighs In On Obamacare Individual Mandate Case
Removing certain provisions tied to the Affordable Care Act, former U.S. President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, could strike out important consumer protections and potentially harm millions of Americans, a trade association that represents U.S. health insurers said on Friday. The comments from America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) come a day after the U.S. Justice Department called Obamacare's individual mandate - which requires individuals to have health insurance or pay a penalty - unconstitutional. (Mathias, 6/8)
The Washington Post:
ACA Lawsuit Could Jeopardize 52 Million Americans’ Access To Health Care
An obscure district court lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act became a potent threat to one of the law's most popular provisions late Thursday, when the Justice Department filed a brief arguing that as of Jan. 1, 2019, the protections for people with preexisting conditions should be invalidated. The Justice Department argued the judge should strike down the section of the law that protects people buying insurance from being charged higher premiums because of their health history. (Johnson, 6/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
What Latest Health-Law Case Means For Insurance Markets
In the short term, some health-insurance markets could see fewer options if companies react to renewed uncertainty by leaving the marketplace, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. “Are some insurers going to cry uncle?” she asked. “Maybe there are some companies that say, ‘Enough already.’” The marketplace experienced similar tumult about a year ago, as insurers were setting rates for the coming year amid questions about whether the White House would end some ACA subsidies—a step the administration in October announced it was taking. (Evans, 6/10)
Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain's deaths came just days before the CDC released startling statistics about the rate of suicide in the country. Experts are left trying to figure out what has gone wrong.
The New York Times:
How Suicide Quietly Morphed Into A Public Health Crisis
The deaths of the designer Kate Spade and the chef Anthony Bourdain, both of whom committed suicide this week, were not simply pop culture tragedies. They were the latest markers of an intractable public health crisis that has been unfolding in slow motion for a generation. Treatment for chronic depression and anxiety — often the precursors to suicide — has never been more available and more widespread. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week reported a steady, stubborn rise in the national suicide rate, up 25 percent since 1999. (Carey, 6/8)
The New York Times:
Can One Suicide Lead To Others?
The death of famed chef Anthony Bourdain, who apparently killed himself in a hotel room in France, caps a week of unnerving news about suicide. Rates are climbing across the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday — in some states, by as much as 30 percent since 1999. Prevention remains an elusive goal. Just days earlier, Americans were stunned to learn the designer Kate Spade had hanged herself in her New York apartment. (Carey, 6/8)
The New York Times:
5 Takeaways On America’s Increasing Suicide Rate
In a week when two celebrities, first the designer Kate Spade and then the chef and television host Anthony Bourdain, took their own lives, new federal data was released showing that suicide rates have been increasing for years in almost every state and across demographic lines. The escalating crisis has affected nearly every group and place, but the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that some parts of the country have been hit especially hard. Here’s a closer look at the study and the stories behind some of the data. (Smith, 6/9)
Reuters:
Rise In U.S. Suicides Highlights Need For New Depression Drugs
A spike in suicide rates in the United States has cast fresh light on the need for more effective treatments for major depression, with researchers saying it is a tricky development area that has largely been abandoned by big pharmaceutical companies. U.S. health authorities said on Thursday that there had been a sharp rise in suicide rates across the country since the beginning of the century and called for a comprehensive approach to addressing depression. The report was issued the same week as the high-profile suicides of celebrities Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade. (Steenhuysen, 6/9)
The technology exists to create designer babies, but few have used it beyond averting certain diseases.
The New York Times:
Scientists Can Design ‘Better’ Babies. Should They?
For nine frustrating years, Lesley and John Brown tried to conceive a child but failed because of her blocked fallopian tubes. Then in late 1977, this English couple put their hopes in the hands of two men of science. Thus began their leap into the unknown, and into history. On July 25, 1978, the Browns got what they had long wished for with the arrival of a daughter, Louise, a baby like no other the world had seen. She came into being through a process of in vitro fertilization developed by Robert G. Edwards and Patrick Steptoe. Her father’s sperm was mixed with her mother’s egg in a petri dish, and the resulting embryo was then implanted into the womb for normal development. (Haberman, 6/10)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
Anheuser-Busch To Pull Funding From Major Alcohol Study
Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev, one of five alcohol companies underwriting a $100 million federal trial on the health benefits of a daily drink, is pulling its funding from the project, saying controversy about the sponsorship threatens to undermine the study’s credibility, the company announced Friday. The company announced its decision in a letter to Maria C. Freire, president and executive director of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, a nongovernmental entity that is authorized to raise money from the private sector for N.I.H. initiatives and manages the institutes’ public-private partnerships. (Rabin, 6/8)
The Washington Post:
Controversy Surrounds Research On State Department Employees Sickened In ‘Attacks'
Something mysterious and disturbing has happened to State Department personnel, first in Cuba and now in China. Strange high-pitched sounds — “buzzing,” “piercing squeals,” “grinding metal,” as the Cuba staffers later told doctors — preceded an eruption of health problems, including headaches, dizziness, confusion, ear pain, hearing loss, insomnia and fatigue. Last year, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson referred to what happened in Havana as “attacks.” Numerous news stories and opinion columns speculated about “sonic attacks” using some kind of unknown acoustic weapon. The mystery spread this spring to China: A staffer in Guangzhou experienced “subtle and vague, but abnormal sensations of sound and pressure,” in the words of the State Department. (Achenbach, 6/8)
The Associated Press:
Flu Season Was One Of The Deadliest For US Children
The past flu season was the deadliest for U.S. children in nearly a decade, health officials said Friday. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said they had received reports of 172 pediatric flu deaths since October. That surpasses the 2012-2013 flu season, when there were 171. An average season sees about 110. There were more deaths in 2009-2010, but that was when a rare flu pandemic occurred involving a new strain. More than 300 children died that season. (6/8)
The Washington Post:
Using Virtual Reality To Distract People From Pain Gains Traction In Hospitals.
Despite being in and out of hospitals since the age of 16, one of Harmon Clarke’s biggest fears is having an intravenous line inserted into his arm. The 34-year-old resident of Los Angeles has had more than 30 surgeries related to his Crohn’s disease, but getting stuck with an IV needle has never gotten less stressful. “Because of my Crohn’s I get really dehydrated, which makes it really challenging to get an IV in,” Clarke said. “One time, literally eight different IV nurses had come into my room trying to get a line in, and I’m in tears. I can’t do my procedure or surgery until we get this done, and it was just like a nightmare.” (Kim, 6/9)
The New York Times:
Salmonella Outbreak That Sickened 60 Is Linked To Pre-Cut Melons
A salmonella outbreak that sickened dozens of people last month has been linked to pre-cut melons from a food distributor in Indianapolis, spurring a recall of products in eight states. Packages of fresh-cut watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and mixed fruit have been recalled in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. An investigation is underway to see if other products or states were affected. (Fortin, 6/9)