Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
More States Say Doctors Must Offer Overdose Reversal Drug Along With Opioids
In an emerging new tactic against the rising toll of opioid deaths, California, Ohio, Virginia and Arizona are among the states requiring physicians to offer patients naloxone when they give them prescriptions for the powerful painkillers. The Food and Drug Administration is weighing a national recommendation to do so. (Barbara Feder Ostrov, )
Good morning! California lawmakers are working full-steam ahead to reinstate an individual mandate for health insurance in the state. While many say the tax is needed to help stabilize the marketplace, others see it as a penalty for poor people—who are often the ones who have to pay the fee. More on that below, but first here are some of your top California health stories for the day.
Proposed Calif. Legislation Would Block Practice Of Pharma Companies Paying Generics To Delay Release Of Drugs: Critics of the practice, known as “pay for delay,” say that drug companies are attempting to sidestep antitrust laws by claiming the payments to generic competitors are patent settlements. A recent study has found that this tactic has cost consumers $3.5 billion in higher costs each year. “No pharmaceutical company should be able to game the system at the expense of hardworking families,” said Attorney General Xavier Becerra who helped announce the legislation with Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg). The bill, which would be the first legislation of its find, would make such secret agreements illegal until proven otherwise. Read more in the Los Angeles Times and the Press Democrat.
Goodbye To The Big Gulp? Suite Of Bills Targets ‘Predatory Practices’ Of Big Soda With Size Ban, Beverage Tax: The measures introduced by five state lawmakers cover a wide swath of ground—from limiting sizes, to imposing taxes, to adding warning labels on beverages—with the goal of addressing the obesity crisis in California. “We are standing on the edge of a cliff and addressing this health crisis requires a multi-pronged approach like the one you see today,” said Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica). Big Soda has successfully fought such legislation in the past, but the lawmakers say that the atmosphere in Sacramento is now different, especially with a new governor. Critics fired back at the legsilation, pointing out how the tax has been shown to disproportionately effect lower-income people. Read more from the Los Angeles Times, the Sacramento Bee and Capital Public Radio.
Mental Health Needs Of Undocumented Immigrants Are Slipping Through Cracks In Local Governments, Report Finds: Undocumented immigrants and their families are grappling with increased stress, fear, isolation and uncertainty as a result of the federal government’s hostile immigration policies. And a report from health advocacy organization California Pan-Ethnic Health Network has found that counties haven’t taken necessary steps in addressing that increased need for mental health services. The organization says that counties could use funds from the state’s voter-approved tax on millionaires, but county officials have been hesitant due to worries about drawing public scrutiny in how the money is spent. “We want to make sure that … we are prioritizing the needs of these communities given that half of the kids in California have at least one immigrant parent,” said Mayra Alvarez, who heads The Children’s Partnership in Los Angeles. Read more from the California Health Report.
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’s Individual Mandate: A Fix For A Broken System? Or A Penalty On The Poor?
When the federal Affordable Care Act first took effect in 2014, Americans had to pay a penalty known as the individual mandate if they didn’t have insurance. Congress has since rolled back the penalty, meaning Green won’t be fined for not having coverage. But that could change if California Gov. Gavin Newsom recreates the individual mandate at the state level as part of his plan to prop up the state’s health insurance exchange and get more people insured. (Bollag, Finch II and Caiola, 2/21)
Palm Springs Desert Sun:
Health Insurance: California Bills Would Reinstate Individual Mandate
Lawmakers in California have introduced bills that would reinstate the individual mandate, requiring all state residents to have health insurance starting in 2020 or pay a tax penalty. Identical bills introduced in the state Senate and Assembly are an attempt to reverse the revocation by Congress of the federal mandate that was part of the Affordable Care Act. (Hayden, 2/20)
Los Angeles Times:
California Lawmakers Propose Phasing Out Plastic Products That Aren't Recyclable
With Californians already barred from getting plastic straws in many restaurants unless they request them and grocery stores not providing single-use plastic bags, state lawmakers are again proposing to ramp up efforts aimed at significantly reducing products that are not recyclable, including plastic cups, forks, spoons and packaging. New legislation announced Wednesday would require plastic and other single-use materials sold in California to be either reusable, fully recyclable or compostable by 2030. (McGreevy, 2/21)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Sonoma County Housing Program Helps Disabled Homeless People Get Off The Streets
The new county program was established by state legislation passed in 2016 aimed at helping disabled, homeless people apply for U.S. disability benefit programs while also providing housing assistance. The Legislature directed $43.4 million from the 2017-18 state budget to fund the program through June 30, 2020. Sonoma County’s share of the money is $742,000, Dunaway said. That’s expected to help as many as 83 homeless disabled people in need of permanent housing, he said. That funding pales in comparison to the cost of providing emergency services, including medical and or psychiatric services, to homeless people whose conditions are exacerbated by living in the streets, he said. (Espinoza, 2/20)
Capital Public Radio:
Modesto To House Homeless Campers In Temporary Tent City
Modesto is putting up a tent city to accommodate more than 400 homeless people who've been camped out at Beard Brook Park since September. The Outdoor Emergency Shelter will eventually have 300 tents located under the Ninth Street Bridge at Tuolumne River Regional Park. People are moving into the tents this week. (Ibarra, 2/20)
Capital Public Radio:
Lodi Stops Using Roundup Weed Killer Near Playgrounds Due To Health Concerns
The city of Lodi will no longer use the herbicide Roundup to control weeds around municipal playgrounds due to concerns about its long-term health effects. Last year, a jury awarded $289 million to a groundskeeper who claimed Roundup caused his cancer. (The amount was later reduced by a judge to $78 million.) And the World Health Organization classified a key ingredient as a possible carcinogen. (Ibarra, 2/20)
Modesto Bee:
Modesto CA Facing Millions In Unpaid Medical Claims
Modesto is acknowledging its employees are facing millions of dollars in unpaid medical claims related to Riverstone Capital, the city insurance carrier that is subject to U.S. Department of Labor legal action. ...He said the estimate is based on the information city officials have been able to glean so far from providers, employees who have volunteered the amounts of their unpaid claims, and other sources. He said the city expects more definitive information this week. (Valine, 2/20)
KPBS:
San Diego Sheriff Releases Reports About Deputies Accused Of Sexual Assault
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department is now publishing records about some of its deputies accused of sexual assault after a new state law went into effect at the beginning of this year. KPBS requested records of all local law enforcement agencies about officers who committed sexual assault, lied when reporting a crime or in an investigation, or used force that caused a person serious harm or death. (Trageser, 2/20)
The Associated Press:
Government Headed For Close To Half Of Nation's Health Tab
Even without a history-making health care remake to deliver "Medicare-for-all," government at all levels will be paying nearly half the nation's health care tab in less than 10 years, according to a federal report released Wednesday. The government growth is driven by traditional Medicare, which is experiencing a surge in enrollment as aging baby boomers shift out of private coverage, according to the analysis from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2/20)
Stat:
Drug Spending Could Rise 6.1 Percent Annually By 2020, Federal Projections Show
Spending on prescription drugs is expected to increase at an accelerating rate over the next 10 years, according to government estimates released Wednesday — ramping up to as much as 6.1 percent growth by 2020. The Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services annually forecasts how much money patients, insurance companies, and the government will spend on health care in the coming decade — so-called national health expenditures. Broadly, they predict total health spending in the U.S. will increase by an annual average of 5.5 percent until 2027. (Swetlitz, 2/20)
The New York Times:
Build Your Own ‘Medicare For All’ Plan. Beware: There Are Tough Choices.
“Medicare for all” is popular, and not just among Democrats. Most Republicans favor giving people under 65 at least the choice to buy into Medicare. But when people hear arguments against it, their support plummets. It turns out that most people don’t really know what Medicare for all means. Even asking three policy experts might yield three different answers.By our count, there are at least 10 major proposals to expand Medicare or Medicaid. (Frakt and Carroll, 2/21)
The New York Times:
U.S. Investigating Johnson & Johnson Over Baby Powder’s Safety
The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Johnson & Johnson over concerns about possible asbestos contamination of its popular baby powder and other talc-based products, the company said Wednesday. In a securities filing, Johnson & Johnson said it was “cooperating with these government inquiries and will be producing documents in response” to subpoenas it had received. In a separate statement, the company said that “the inquiries are related to news reports” about the welter of lawsuits it faces from consumers who claim its talc products caused cancers. (Hsu, 2/21)
The New York Times:
Critic Of Waste At Veterans Affairs Now Faces Questions About His Travel Costs
A top adviser at the Department of Veterans Affairs, who was an outspoken critic of wasteful practices there before he joined the department, has come under fire for billing the government for the cost of commuting between the department’s headquarters in Washington and his home in California. The adviser, Darin Selnick, who is spearheading a controversial plan to shift billions of dollars from government-run veterans’ hospitals to private health care providers, spent more than $13,000 on his bicoastal commute in three months, including airfare, hotel stays and other outlays, according to expense reports published by the nonprofit news organization ProPublica. (Philipps, 2/20)
The Associated Press:
Advocates Say US Still Separates Migrant Families Needlessly
Months after the Trump administration announced an end to its widescale separation of migrant parents and children, the policy remains a heated issue in the courts and at the border as critics contend the government is still needlessly breaking up immigrant families. The Texas Civil Rights Project released a report Thursday that counts 272 separations at a single Texas courthouse since June, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order ending widespread separations amid public outrage. (2/21)
CNN:
FDA Chief: Federal Government Might Step In If States Don't Change Lax Vaccine Laws
The head of the US Food and Drug Administration says that if states don't require more schoolchildren to get vaccinated, the federal government might have to step in. Nearly all states allow children to attend school even if their parents opt out of vaccines. These vaccine exemptions are especially popular in Washington state, where a measles outbreak started last month that has now sickened at least 67 people in four states. And New York has been working to contain its largest outbreak in decades, which began in October and has sickened more than 200 people. (Cohen and Bonifield, 2/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Details Of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Health Venture Emerge In Court Testimony
A health-care joint venture launched by Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. is looking at how to redesign health insurance, among other efforts, according to newly unsealed court testimony from an executive at the health startup. The three companies announced the venture last year with stated goals of trying to improve health care and rein in costs for their employees. The still-unnamed venture has released few specifics, however, about its long-term aims. (Kamp and Wilde Mathews, 2/20)
The Associated Press:
Trouble At CVS Health Long-Term Care Business Weighs Heavily
CVS Health is setting 2019 earnings expectations well below Wall Street forecasts, as the company struggles to fix part of its business while blending in a major acquisition and attempting to change how customers use its stores. The drugstore chain and pharmacy benefit manager also is dealing with industry-wide pressure to reduce what customers pay for prescriptions. (2/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
Nonprofits Grow Uneasy With Philanthropy Tainted By Opioid Proceeds
Two prominent institutions, the New York Academy of Sciences and Columbia University, are joining the list of universities, museums and nonprofits currently reviewing their philanthropic relationships with members of the Sackler family, owners of pain-pill maker Purdue Pharma LP. Forbes ranked the Sacklers the 19th-richest family in America in 2016 at $13 billion. While a total assessment of the family’s philanthropy is unclear, millions have been given away by family entities. (Hopkins, 2/20)
Stat:
The Seven Executives Who Will Defend Pharma Before Congress
Meet pharma’s new Gang of Seven, a disparate group of executives about to face congressional questions on what they have in common: Their companies sell drugs, and drugs keep getting more expensive. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee will poke, prod, and pry the leaders of Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Sanofi, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. It’s a televised crucible that arrives amid bipartisan furor over the cost of medicine. Just how those seven executives defend themselves could have sweeping implications for how Washington deals with drug pricing. (Garde and Florko, 2/21)
The Hill:
Bill Would Let Patients Buy Cheaper Insulin From Other Countries
A bill introduced by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) on Wednesday would let patients import cheaper insulin from Canada and other countries. ...Insulin, which is used to treat diabetes, can cost diabetics thousands of dollar a year in the U.S. because of the lack of generic competition, but it's often cheaper in other countries. The bill would legalize importation of insulin from Canada by patients, pharmacists and wholesalers for two years before expanding to other countries with safety standards similar to the U.S. (Hellmann, 2/20)