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California Healthline Original Stories
Longtime Crusader Against OxyContin Begins To See The Fruits Of Her Struggle
Barbara Van Rooyan lost her son to the drug 15 years ago and has fought ceaselessly since then to hold Purdue Pharma accountable for its role in the opioid crisis. (Mark Kreidler, )
Good morning! Lawmakers were busy on the last day of the final day of the legislative session. Read more about everything they sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom below, but first here are some of your other top California health stories of the day.
Bill Requiring California’s Public Universities To Offer Abortion Medication Through Campus Clinics Awaits Newsom’s Signature: The measure was sent to Newsom after the Senate approved it on a 28-11 vote during the Legislature’s final day in session. State Sen. Connie Leyva championed the bill as a reproductive healthcare rights issue that affects an estimated 500 public university students each month. She said students who want to terminate early pregnancies without having to miss class or work to travel off campus need access to the services within their own community. Anti-abortion groups say they are likely to challenge the legislation if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs it into law. He has a month to decide. A spokesman declined to say what he will do, but last year during his campaign for governor, Mr. Newsom said he supported a similar effort. Read more from Hannah Wiley of the Sacramento Bee and Pam Belluck of The New York Times.
How Trump's Presidency Fueled A Flurry Of Progressive Movements In California: California leaders and President Donald Trump can seem at war with each other sometimes, but many of the state's new policies are linked with the presidency. “Donald Trump has been the impetus for putting everything on warp speed,” said Garry South, a Democratic political strategist in California. “It has pushed Democrats in California to take actions that might otherwise have been viewed as a little less urgent if we had a Democrat in the White House.” During the first two years of the Trump presidency, Democrats in California coalesced around their role as leaders of the resistance, an idea that quickly became a bumper sticker and social media rallying cry. But more recently, lawmakers have channeled that energy into legislation, making California a showcase of what progressive governance looks like in the era of Trump. At the same time, Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, has filed 59 lawsuits against the Trump administration, on issues ranging from immigration to health care to environment policy. Read more from Tim Arango, Thomas Fuller and Jose A. Del Real of The New York Times.
In related news from the Sacramento Bee: Trump Sees ‘Liberal Policies’ Fueling California Homeless Crisis. What Can He Do About It?
San Jose Councilwoman Becomes Latest To Push For Ban On E-Cigarettes: Magdalena Carrasco, who represents East San Jose, proposed the ban as a way to curb a sharp uptick in the number of young people vaping. A recent survey of more than 6,000 teenagers in Santa Clara County found that almost one in three had tried vaping. “While we have combatted the rise in cigarette use, vaping companies have been successful in recapturing their audience through the use of flavored products that are marketed towards children,” Carrasco said in a statement. The city’s Rules Committee will consider the proposed ban on Wednesday and could send it to the full City Council for consideration. Read more from Emily DeRuy of the Mercury News and Amy Mostafa of KQED.
In related news from the San Francisco Chronicle: What New Federal Action On E-Cigarettes Means For Juul
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
Capital Public Radio:
California Lawmakers Have Piled A Giant Stack Of Bills On Gov. Gavin Newsom's Desk. Here Are Some Of Them
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has sought to position himself as one of the leading domestic critics of President Trump, will veto a newly passed bill that would have blocked the administration's rollbacks of Obama-era environmental standards. In a statement issued less than 12 hours after the Legislature adjourned for the year, Newsom said he fully supports the principles behind SB 1 by Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). (Adler and Rodd, 9/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Lawmakers Vote For 8:30 A.M. Starting Time For High Schools
A proposal to push back school start times was one of scores of bills passed on the extraordinary final night of the legislative session, which stretched into the wee hours of Saturday morning after a protest by an opponent of mandatory vaccinations who dropped blood from the gallery temporarily shut down the state Senate. SB328, by Sen. Anthony Portatino, D-La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), would require most secondary schools in the state to adopt the new schedule by July 1, 2022, though rural districts would be exempted. (Koseff and Gardiner, 9/14)
CalMatters:
Five Things To Know Now About California's New Vaccine Law
California has a new vaccination law on the books. It cracks down on inappropriate use of medical exemptions that allow kids to skip some or all vaccines and still enter school. It gives power over the exemption process to public health officials and will create a vaccination database of all children with medical dispensation. Supporters of the law are pleased that doctors will no longer be the final authority on medical exemptions and could be investigated if they write too many. The more children who get vaccines, the safer schools will be for all kids, the proponents say. (Aguilera, 9/15)
The Washington Post:
California Vaccine Bill: Feminine Hygiene Device And Misused Photo At Anti-Vaxxer Rally
Anti-vaccine activists in California heatedly protested new limits on medical exemptions to vaccine requirements days after the bill was finalized amid a nationwide crisis of confidence in vaccinations. First, protesters blocked the entrance to the state capitol Monday and repeatedly shut down the legislature with their demonstrations as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed the bill, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. (Iati, 9/14)
KQED:
California Could Create A Career Path For People With Mental Illness
More than 6,000 peer specialists already work in hospitals and clinics throughout the state, but informally. California is one of two states in the country — the other is South Dakota — that does not have a formal peer certification and training program in operation or in planning. California’s Senate Bill 10 would establish formal standards for the job, creating a career path for people with mental illness to become counselors, and earn more stable wages. (Dembosky, 9/14)
San Jose Mercury News:
Red Flag Law Thwarted Gun Violence Threats At Netflix, Ford Dealer
It was among several recent Bay Area cases in which police used California’s gun violence restraining order law to temporarily disarm allegedly threatening employees or lovers and others reported to be delusional or suicidal.Among other examples this year: A fired Netflix security contractor in July who allegedly threatened to use his guns to take revenge at the Los Gatos company, and a Palo Alto city employee who in April menacingly likened her “continued mistreatment” to that of a 1988 workplace shooter. (Woolfolk, 9/15)
The New York Times:
Schumer And Pelosi, Talking To Trump On Guns, Try To Sweeten The Deal
The top two Democrats in Congress, seeking to ramp up pressure on Republicans to pass legislation extending background checks to all gun buyers, told President Trump on Sunday that they would join him at the White House for a “historic signing ceremony at the Rose Garden” if he agreed to the measure. The offer, made by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, during an 11-minute phone conversation with Mr. Trump, comes as the president is considering a package of measures to respond to the mass shootings that have terrorized the nation in recent months. (Stolberg, 9/15)
Modesto Bee:
CalPERS Health Insurance Premiums Rising In Sacramento
Prices for CalPERS’ most popular health insurance plans are going up more in Sacramento County than in most of the state, partly as a result of a change the retirement fund’s board made to how it groups insurance markets last year. Employees of schools and local agencies who are enrolled in CalPERS’ most popular plan, a Kaiser Permanente HMO, face a 12 percent premium increase in the Sacramento area, according to published rates. (Venteicher, 9/16)
Modern Healthcare:
United Behavioral Health Sued Over $5 Million In Denied Claims
Three addiction and mental health treatment centers sued United Behavioral Health, the insurance giant's mental health subsidiary, alleging it denied more than $5 million of medically necessary treatment. In their complaint seeking class action status, the centers asked the U.S. District Court of Northern California to have a neutral third party re-process claims they believe were wrongfully denied. Collectively, they allege more than 2,000 claims filed on behalf of 157 patients were rejected. (Luthi, 9/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Palmdale Boy's Death Not Social Workers' Fault, Report Says
Noah Cuatro, a Palmdale boy who was well-known to social workers, died under suspicious circumstances while in the care of his parents, who had been questioned in the past about alleged abuse and neglect. The department, weeks before the boy’s death in July, had received permission from a judge to remove him from his home — and didn’t do it.Yet another child had fallen through the cracks and died. It’s the kind of story that has long haunted Los Angeles County’s troubled child-welfare system.But now, a new report about the case has found that social workers and their supervisors acted appropriately in leaving the 4-year-old boy at home, despite the tragic outcome. (Stiles, 9/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Scientists Taught These Adorable Rats To Play Hide And Seek
Ready or not, here they come: Scientists who played hide and seek with rats found that their furry subjects seemed to love the game — and they were remarkably good at it. The unconventional experiment, described in Friday’s edition of the journal Science, sheds light on the sophisticated sense of play in these tiny rodents and the complex mechanisms at work in their brains. It also hints at the evolutionary usefulness of this type of play. (Khan, 9/13)
Reuters:
OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma Files For Bankruptcy Protection
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday night, succumbing to pressure from more than 2,600 lawsuits alleging the company helped fuel the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic. Purdue's board met Sunday evening to approve the long-expected bankruptcy filing, which the company is pursuing to restructure under terms of a proposal to settle the widespread litigation. (9/16)
The New York Times:
Opioid Defendants Seek To Disqualify Judge Overseeing 2,300 Cases
Scarcely five weeks before a landmark federal civil trial in the opioid epidemic, the giant retail pharmacy chains and drug distributors that are defendants in the bellwether Ohio case are seeking to disqualify the judge from overseeing it and nearly 2,300 other opioid-related lawsuits before him. In a brief filed in federal court at 1:24 a.m. on Saturday, the defendants’ lawyers claimed that over the past 21 months, Judge Dan A. Polster has shown his bias against the defendants by making extensive comments about his intention to settle the sprawling case and bring relief as quickly as possible to local governments and individuals hit hard by crisis. (Hoffman, 9/14)
The New York Times:
New York Uncovers $1 Billion In Sackler Family Wire Transfers
The New York attorney general’s office said on Friday that it had tracked about $1 billion in wire transfers by the Sackler family, including through Swiss bank accounts, suggesting that the family tried to shield wealth as it faced a raft of litigation over its role in the opioid crisis. Earlier this week, thousands of municipal governments and nearly two dozen states tentatively reached a settlement with the Sackler family and the company it owns, Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin. It was unclear if the new disclosure would change the thinking of any of the parties that agreed to the settlement. (Hakim, 9/13)
The Associated Press:
Sanders Accuses Biden Of Distorting 'Medicare For All' Plan
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders accused former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday of distorting his proposal to provide single-payer, universal health care through "Medicare for All." Campaigning in the early caucus state of Nevada, the 78-year-old Vermont senator said one of the things that disturbed him about Thursday's debate was that he was hoping "to have a serious discussion about the health care crisis in America." (9/13)
The Hill:
Sanders Rips Biden For Praising Drug Companies At Fundraiser
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) criticized fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for praising drug companies at a fundraiser. Sanders asserted that he disagreed with Biden, saying the companies are "greedy, corrupt and engaged in price fixing," in a statement obtained by The Hill. (Coleman, 9/15)
The Associated Press:
Biden Shrugs Off Age Chatter, Pledges Medical Disclosures
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is shrugging off thinly veiled criticism from younger rivals that he is too old for the Oval Office. The 76-year-old former vice president told reporters Friday that he'll prove his fitness through the campaign, even asking one questioner jokingly: "You wanna wrestle?" (9/13)
The Associated Press:
Vapes Spiked With Illegal Drugs Show Dark Side Of CBD Craze
Jay Jenkins says he hesitated when a buddy suggested they vape CBD. "It'll relax you," the friend assured. The vapor that Jenkins inhaled didn't relax him. After two puffs, he ended up in a coma. That's because what he was vaping didn't have any CBD, the suddenly popular compound extracted from the cannabis plant that marketers say can treat a range of ailments without getting users high. Instead, the oil was spiked with a powerful street drug. (9/16)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Blames Increase In Uninsured Americans On Obamacare
A senior Trump administration health official blamed the first increase in uninsured Americans in a decade on the Affordable Care Act, pushing back against Democrats’ claims in Thursday night’s debate that the president is hurting the law. The uptick is due to higher premiums under the law that have priced people without subsidies out of the market, Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a blog post on Friday, in a response to data released Monday by the Census Bureau. (Armour, 9/13)
The New York Times:
For Children With Peanut Allergies, F.D.A. Experts Recommend A New Treatment
A Food and Drug Administration panel on Friday recommended approval of the first-ever drug to treat life-threatening peanut allergies in children, a condition that confounds and frightens families across the country. The recommendation all but assures the agency will approve the drug, called Palforzia and made by Aimmune Therapeutics. The F.D.A. typically follows the advice of its expert advisory committees. (Rabin, 9/13)
The Associated Press:
US Finds Contaminant In Popular Heartburn Drug
U.S. health officials said Friday they are investigating low levels of a potentially dangerous contaminant in the popular heartburn medication Zantac and related generic drugs. For now, the Food and Drug Administration said patients can continue taking their medications. (9/13)