- California Healthline Original Stories 2
- Buyers Of Short-Term Health Plans: Wise Or Shortsighted?
- Playing On Fear And Fun, Hospitals Follow Pharma In Direct-To-Consumer Advertising
- Public Health and Education 3
- Volunteers Comb Through Camp Fire Rubble As Number Of Missing People Climbs To Around 1,000
- As Wildfires Become More Common, Risks From Poor Air Quality Will Continue To Plague Californians
- Officials Try To Find Ways To Alleviate Firefighters' Emotional Trauma Following Stressful Battle Against Wildfires
- Elections 1
- Success Of Medicaid Expansion Ballot Measures Has Advocates Eyeing Possibilities For 2020
- Courts 1
- California Regulators Release Guidelines Geared Toward Curbing Use Of Controversial Pesticide
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Buyers Of Short-Term Health Plans: Wise Or Shortsighted?
Policyholders reason that their health is good — for now — and they don’t see the need for costly comprehensive coverage. Detractors say the plans undermine the Affordable Care Act, and agents advise reading the fine print. “You basically have to be in perfect health,” says one. (Anna Gorman, )
Playing On Fear And Fun, Hospitals Follow Pharma In Direct-To-Consumer Advertising
Hospitals are increasingly advertising medical services directly to patients to enhance their national brands. They think the image building improves their ability to negotiate with health plans and brings in wealthier patients. (Shefali Luthra, )
More News From Across The State
Volunteers Comb Through Camp Fire Rubble As Number Of Missing People Climbs To Around 1,000
Over the weekend, the death toll rose to at least 77. Hundreds of search-and-recovery personnel are involved in the effort, going to homes when they receive tips that someone might have died there.
The Associated Press:
Latest: Sheriff: List Of Missing After Fire Drops To 1,000
A Northern California sheriff says the list of names of those unaccounted for after a deadly wildfire has dropped to around 1,000. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea says that's about 300 less than what was posted at the start of Sunday. Authorities stressed that many of the people on the list may be safe and unaware they have been reported missing. (11/18)
The Associated Press:
Searchers In California Wildfire Step Up Efforts; 77 Dead
Volunteers in white coveralls, hard hats and masks poked through ash and debris Sunday, searching for the remains of victims of the devastating Northern California wildfire before rains forecast this week complicate their efforts. While the predicted downpours could help tamp down blazes that have killed 77 people so far, they also could wash away telltale fragments of bone, or turn loose, dry ash into a thick paste that would frustrate the search. (Thanawala, 11/18)
East Bay Times:
Camp Fire Death Toll Rises To 76, Those Unaccounted For Nears 1,300
Of the eight additional victims revealed Friday, seven were found in Paradise inside structures and one in Magalia, also inside a structure. Authorities also have released the names of two more fire victims — bringing the total number of officially identified victims to five — Paula Dodge, 70, and Randall Dodge, 68, both Paradise residents. (Salonga, 11/16)
Los Angeles Times:
California Fires: Crews Boost Containment In Deadly Wildfires
By Sunday morning, the blaze was 60% contained. But forecasters expect gusty winds will bring in critical fire weather conditions across portions of the western slopes of the northern Sierra. Officials said smoke from the blaze would continue to bring poor air quality across the region through Tuesday. In Southern California, the Woolsey fire has charred 96,949 acres and destroyed about 1,452 structures. By Sunday night, it was 91% contained and Cal Fire said it expects full containment by Thursday. (Tchekmedyian, Alpert Reyes and Reyes-Velarde, 11/18)
Ventura County Star:
Agencies Agree Woolsey Fire Didn't Impact Santa Susana Field Lab
Several public agencies agree with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control that, based on initial test results, no radiation or hazardous materials were released when the Woolsey Fire burned a portion of the contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory last week. Cleanup activists have their doubts. They fear that contaminants may have been released when the fire, which started Nov. 8 near the 2,850-acre field lab in unincorporated hills just southeast of Simi Valley, burned part of the site later that day. (Harris, 11/16)
Capital Public Radio:
Handshakes And Kind Words From Trump, Brown And Newsom, Touring Wildfire Damage
President Donald Trump has toured the damage from the most devastating wildfire in California history with two of his most vocal critics: Gov. Jerry Brown and Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. “Jerry I have been speaking, and Gavin and I have now gotten to know each other,” the president said while touring a trailer park in the town of Paradise that’s been destroyed by the Camp Fire. “We’re all going to work together and we’ll do a real job.” (Adler, 11/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Trying To Get A Handle On California's Deadly Wildfires Has Lawmakers Flummoxed
This was going to be easy, I thought foolishly. Ask some legislators and experts for their ideas on how to control California’s deadly wildfire epidemic. What should state government do about it? But they basically didn’t have a clue. And who could fault them? It’s like asking how you stop hurricanes or tornadoes or earthquakes. It’s all part of nature. You try to prepare. (Skeoton, 11/19)
As Wildfires Become More Common, Risks From Poor Air Quality Will Continue To Plague Californians
White masks and apocalyptic fog have been common-place sights in California since the wildfires began. Research into the long-term health effects is still new, but a growing body of science shows how inhalation of minuscule particles from wood fires can nestle in the folds of lung tissue and do harm to the human immune system.
The New York Times:
Air Quality In California: Devastating Fires Lead To A New Danger
The wildfires that have laid waste to vast parts of California are presenting residents with a new danger: air so thick with smoke it ranks among the dirtiest in the world. On Friday, residents of smog-choked Northern California woke to learn that their pollution levels now exceed those in cities in China and India that regularly rank among the worst. (Turkewitz and Richtel, 11/16)
The New York Times:
California’s Fires Wrecked Its Air Quality: Here’s How To Protect Yourself
The devastating wildfires that have ravaged parts of California brought with them plumes of smoke, shrouding some communities in a soupy black fog. Air pollution like that is full of tiny particles that can cause health problems, ranging from temporary discomfort to long-term heart and lung diseases. (Fortin, 11/17)
San Jose Mercury News:
Camp Fire: More Smoke Blowing Into Bay Area Before Rains
While there’s a strong chance shifting winds and rain will help clear out smoke in the Bay Area just in time for Thanksgiving Day, air quality here could get worse before it gets better. Residents of the area should continue to monitor air quality and take steps to protect their health, especially by staying indoors, officials say. “We’re expecting winds to bring more smoke into the Bay Area on top of what’s already here,” Kristine Roselius, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality District, said Sunday. “Basically right now we’re seeing unhealthy air quality throughout most of the Bay Area.” (Geha, 11/18)
Sacramento Bee:
Pollution Studies Offer Clues Into Impact Of Wildfire Smoke
Last year, as the Tubbs Fire scorched its way across Napa and Sonoma counties, environmental researchers at the University of California, Davis, fielded questions about the health impact of chronic exposure to smoke from a wildfire that torched trees and urban structures alike. UCD’s Kent Pinkerton and Rebecca Schmidt and other researchers had the same questions. They sought studies on urban wildfires and found no answers. (Anderson, 11/19)
"The culture's always been, you know, suppress, suppress, suppress," says Cal Fire captain Kevin Malloy. "We're good and go on to the next call." But firefighters experience PTSD at rates similar to what's seen in combat veterans, and are at high risk of suicide. Many are trying to combat the stigma within the field about seeking help. Media outlets look at the aftermath of the fires, with stories about evacuees' living conditions, survivors returning to their homes and addiction treatment patients whose rehab was interrupted.
KPCC:
California Offers Safe Space For Firefighters To Work Through Stress And Trauma
On the morning of his 23rd birthday, Leonel Salas is just getting off the fireline after battling the Woolsey fire all night in Southern California. "[We] can't get any rest while we're on the lines," he says. He's exhausted after working for 24 hours, but relieved to be at the base camp in Camarillo where there are hot meals, sleeping pods and mobile showers. (Perry, 11/17)
KQED:
Shunning Shelters, Fire Evacuees Find Freedom But No Comfort In Walmart Tent Encampment
Of the tens of thousands of people who have been displaced by the deadly Camp Fire burning in Butte County, some of them are making their temporary home in an encampment of about 45 tents set up in a lot next to a Walmart in downtown Chico. Some have decided to sleep there because they want privacy a FEMA shelter can't provide. Others stay in this field of dead, brown grass because they're worried they'll get the norovirus that's being passed around the shelters like a Thanksgiving plate. (Wiley, 11/18)
Sacramento Bee:
Ron Zimmer, Pastor Of East Ave Church In Chico, Explains The Norovirus Outbreak In His Shelters And The Evacuation Site Staff's Attempts In Mitigating The Spread Of The Virus
Ron Zimmer, pastor of East Ave Church in Chico, explains the norovirus outbreak in his shelter. He details the evacuation site staff's attempts in mitigating the spread of the virus. (Kim, 11/16)
The New York Times:
California Fire Hits ‘Rehab Riviera,’ Putting Addiction Care In Jeopardy
At Creative Care’s serene hilltop campus in Malibu, Calif., patients typically pay more than $35,000 a month to be treated for addiction and mental health problems against the backdrop of a spectacular Pacific Ocean view. On Friday, just a few hours after an early-morning evacuation order from the city, all anyone could see were flames. (Hsu, 11/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
A Fire, A Newborn Baby And A Pact: Tales Of Survival From Paradise
In the last hours that this town still stood, Rachelle Sanders rested at Feather River Hospital after a C-section. It had been a high-risk pregnancy. But the baby was perfect — 6 pounds, 5 ounces, with a feathering of blond hair. She named him Lincoln. (Johnson, 11/18)
San Jose Mercury News:
Camp Fire Survivors Return Home, Some To Devastation
Some found devastation, some found miracles. Authorities on Sunday afternoon began allowing some residents to return for the first time to the destruction zone of the Camp Fire, and though many had already seen pictures taken by emergency workers and knew whether their homes had made it or not, the scenes that greeted them came as a shock. (Baron and Baldassari, 11/18)
Success Of Medicaid Expansion Ballot Measures Has Advocates Eyeing Possibilities For 2020
California advocates for expansion used ballot measures in the 2018 elections to circumnavigate the Republican legislatures of three states. Now, they're hoping to replicate that success in other states through the 2020 elections. They haven't named their targets, but here are six states they might be eyeing: Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Politico:
Medicaid Expansion Supporters Already Looking Toward 2020 Ballots
The California union that provided major funding for successful ballot campaigns to expand Medicaid in three red states this year is already looking for where to strike next to expand Obamacare coverage in the Donald Trump era. Leaders of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West declined to identify which states they might target in 2020. But the six remaining states where Medicaid could be expanded through the ballot are on the group's radar: Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming. (Ollstein, 11/16)
California Regulators Release Guidelines Geared Toward Curbing Use Of Controversial Pesticide
The new restrictions on chlorpyrifos -- which has been linked to developmental disabilities in kids -- are temporary while the state works on permanent regulations for chlorpyrifos, a process that’s expected to take two years.
The California Health Report:
State Steps Up Restrictions On Pesticide Linked To Brain Harm In Kids
State regulators this week called for tighter restrictions on the use of a controversial pesticide linked to developmental disabilities and health problems in children, but advocates for farmworker communities called the proposal inadequate. On Thursday, the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) released recommendations urging county agricultural commissioners to curb farmers’ use of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide applied to a variety of crops throughout the state and the subject of a legal battle in federal court over efforts to outlaw the chemical nationwide. DPR recommended counties ban all aerial applications of chlorpyrifos, limit its use to a narrower range of crops than presently allowed, and require a quarter-mile buffer zone around application sites where no unauthorized person can enter for at least 24-hours after the chemical is used. Farmers would also ensure that applications occur at least 150-feet away from homes, businesses and schools, the agency said. (Boyd-Barrett, 11/16)
In other news —
Reuters:
California Judge Orders Next Monsanto Weed-Killer Cancer Trial For March
A California judge on Thursday granted an expedited trial in the case of a California couple suffering from cancer who sued Bayer AG's Monsanto unit, alleging the company's glyphosate-containing weed killer Roundup caused their disease. The order by Superior Court Judge Ioana Petrou in Oakland, California, comes on the heels of a $289 million verdict in the first glyphosate trial in San Francisco, in which a jury found Monsanto liable for causing a school groundskeeper's cancer. (11/16)
Combined Dignity, CHI Company To Be Called CommonSpirit To Reflect Mission Of Service, Officials Say
San Francisco-based Dignity announced its intention to merge with CHI, based in Englewood, Colo., in December 2017. “We appreciate how the manifestation of the Spirit is woven into so many messages—God’s gift of compassion, the calling to heal others, and serving the common good," CHI CEO Kevin E. Lofton said.
Sacramento Bee:
Dignity, CHI Announce Name For Combined Company
Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives settled on CommonSpirit Health as the name for the new $28.4 billion company that will be born with the merger of their two companies, according to a news release issued by the health-care giants late last week. Company leaders said they considered more than 1,200 potential names before settling on CommonSpirit, saying this name reflects the mission of service and the diversity of people served. (Anderson, 11/19)
Republicans Dismayed By Scope Of FDA Crackdown On Tobacco Products
The FDA has been aggressively targeting electronic tobacco products and flavored cigarettes in an effort to curb an emerging epidemic of teenagers vaping, but some conservatives think the administration has gone too far. “I am concerned the FDA’s proposed actions could limit adult Americans’ access to e-cigarette products that help them quit a more dangerous habit. I am also concerned about regulatory overreach,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
The Hill:
FDA Tobacco Crackdown Draws Fire From Right
The Trump administration is under fire from GOP lawmakers and conservative groups over its proposed crackdown on e-cigarettes and menthol tobacco products. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday proposed sweeping new restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes in an effort to cut down on teenage vaping. The agency also said it would seek to ban menthol-flavored traditional cigarettes and flavored cigars. (Weixel, 11/17)
Los Angeles Times:
The FDA Is Taking Aim At Menthol And Other Tobacco Flavorings. Here’s Why That May Be Tricky
The Food & Drug Administration this week announced new initiatives aimed at stemming the increase in young Americans’ use of tobacco and its primary psychoactive agent, nicotine. The object of FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s ire was flavorings — those minty, sweet, nutty or even salty flavors that cigarette and e-cigarette manufacturers add to their products to make them more enticing. (Healy, 11/17)
The company will raise the price of 41 of its drugs -- about 10 percent of its portfolio of treatments. Trump administration officials did not take kindly to the announcement. The move illustrates the “perverse incentives of America’s drug pricing system,” said a spokeswoman for Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. In other drug cost news: brand-name price hikes drive up spending; an analysis looks at EpiPen's cost-value ratio; and the FDA wants more funding so the agency can review influx of gene therapy products.
The Wall Street Journal:
Pfizer To Raise Prices On 41 Drugs In January
Pfizer Inc. plans to resume its practice of raising drug prices early next year after bowing to pressure from President Trump over the summer when the company rolled back some increases. Pfizer, among the world’s biggest drugmakers by sales, won’t be raising prices as much as it has in past years. It said it would raise the list prices of 41 of its prescription drugs, or 10% of its portfolio, in January. The price increases were first reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier Friday. (Rockoff and Hopkins, 11/16)
Politico:
Pfizer Raises Drug Prices Again, Rebuking Trump
Trump attacked Pfizer in July after the company raised prices, just weeks after he announced a drug pricing plan he claimed would result in "historic" price cuts. Trump accused the company of "taking advantage of the poor & others unable to defend themselves," and Pfizer a day later agreed to cancel the price increases. Pfizer at the time said the rollback would give Trump an opportunity to work on his administration's drug price plan. The company said it would reinstate price increases at the end of the year if the administration's drug pricing plan didn't take effect. (Karlin-Smith, 11/16)
Modern Healthcare:
Soaring Brand-Name Drug Prices More Than Offset Growing Generic Use
Cleveland Clinic implemented an entire supply chain and treatment protocol for one drug to ensure that it is not wasted. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Biogen's Spinraza, the first drug it cleared to treat spinal muscular atrophy, about two years ago. The first year's supply of the potentially lifesaving therapy is about $750,000, and then $375,000 a year thereafter, said Jeffrey Rosner, senior director of pharmacy contracting and purchasing at Cleveland Clinic. (Kacik, 11/16)
Stat:
Gottlieb Pushes For Funding To Speed Gene Therapy Reviews
The Food and Drug Administration is working to increase its investment in reviewing gene therapy products, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Friday. ...Gottlieb said he has had internal discussions about trying to increase funding and staffing to review those products. An FDA spokesperson said Gottlieb is looking to increase the budget by $50 million so the agency can hire 60 additional reviewers. (Swetltiz, 11/16)
Stat:
EpiPen May Have A Lot Of Value ... But Only If It Costs $24
In fact, the value of a twin-pack of the widely used allergy-relief device is just $24 a year, according to a new analysis based on cost effectiveness benchmarks. With the help of simulation models, the researchers reached this conclusion by assuming that EpiPen and similar devices could provide a 10-fold drop in the risk of dying from a peanut allergy, although their value would hit $36 if every prospective patient carried a device, which is unlikely. However, the value would climb to $264 by assuming the devices offered a 100-fold reduced risk of dying. (Silverman, 11/16)