- California Healthline Original Stories 3
- J.P. Morgan Health Conference All About The Deals Amid Uncertainty For Millions
- Trump Administration Clears Way To Force Some Medicaid Enrollees To Work
- For Elder Health, Trips To The ER Are Often A Tipping Point
- Public Health and Education 1
- Flu Death Toll Continues To Climb In What's Expected To Be One Of Most Vicious Seasons In Years
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
J.P. Morgan Health Conference All About The Deals Amid Uncertainty For Millions
The lofty ideas floated and billion-dollar deals sealed at J.P. Morgan’s elite annual conference stand in stark contrast to the uncertainty that clouds health care outside its confines. (Barbara Feder Ostrov, )
Trump Administration Clears Way To Force Some Medicaid Enrollees To Work
Allowing states to mandate that non-disabled Medicaid enrollees work as a condition for coverage would mark one of the biggest changes to the program since it began more than 50 years ago. A decision on the first of the state requests could come within days. (Phil Galewitz, )
For Elder Health, Trips To The ER Are Often A Tipping Point
Experts provide tips for older patients and their caregivers to cope with the physical and mental declines associated with emergency room visits. (Judith Graham, )
More News From Across The State
Health Care Advocates See Missed Opportunity In Brown's Proposed Budget
Anthony Wright, executive director of the nonprofit Health Access California, cites an expected $6.1 billion surplus he said could have been used to move California toward universal health care coverage. Instead, health spending only gets a modest bump in Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget.
KPBS Public Media:
Governor Brown's Proposed Budget Has Only Modest Boost For Health Care
Despite a projected $6.1 billion surplus, Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget calls for only a modest increase in heath care spending. The proposal contains $233 million for larger payments to doctors and dentists who treat Medi-Cal patients. It also uses revenue from California's recently-increased tobacco tax to boost pay for home-health providers. The budget says that most of the health programs that were cut during the recession have been restored. (Goldberg, 1/10)
Flu Death Toll Continues To Climb In What's Expected To Be One Of Most Vicious Seasons In Years
Public health officials are urging people to still get the flu shot, even though this year's vaccine is less effective.
The Mercury News:
Two More Flu Deaths Reported In Greater Bay Area
In what California public health officials say could be the state’s worst flu season in a decade, two more flu-related deaths have been reported in the Greater Bay Area, increasing the region’s total to seven, and the state’s unofficial tally to 29. Santa Clara County public health officials added the fifth victim to their list on Wednesday, while Solano County has just reported its first flu fatality. Monterey County reported one death at the end of December. (Seipel, 1/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Experts Help Public Combat Flu In First Installment Of USC VHH ‘Doc Talk’ Series
With one of the nastiest flu seasons in recent history gaining steam, USC Verdugo Hills Hospital experts shared some free tips Wednesday on how to recognize the symptoms of influenza and what to do if you think you’ve been hit. In the first of a series of free lunchtime “Doc Talks” being held at the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA every second Wednesday through November, Mary Virgallito, director of patient safety for the local hospital, discussed the different strains of influenza and how the virus can be spread from up to 6 feet away. (Cardine, 1/10)
'Doctors In China Are Like Machines': Chinese Patients Distrustful Of Own Health System Turn To U.S.
Technology companies are seizing the opportunity to connect foreign patients to American doctors.
Los Angeles Times:
Distrusting China’s Medical System, Patients Turn To U.S. Doctors Online
The doctor told Renee Gao's parents that the tumor in their teenager's chest wasn't disappearing. The girl would need a costly operation that could leave her sterile — if she survived. Then he ushered them out.Gao Jiang and Yu Wenmei had dragged their ailing daughter across this capital city of southern Yunnan province, then north to the best cancer hospitals in Sichuan and Beijing. The family stood in hours-long lines and called in favors from colleagues at Gao's life insurance company to speed up the wait. But no one would tell them why the cure for their 16-year-old's lymphoma might threaten her life. (Meyers, 1/11)
Blood Center Issues S.O.S. For Donations Amid Critical Shortage
The center said that a higher-than-expected number of surgeries at local hospitals and a dearth of donations over the holidays exacerbated the situation.
San Jose Mercury News:
Stanford Blood Center Facing Critical Blood Shortage
Stanford Blood Center urgently needs blood donations because of a critical shortage. A Stanford representative said the center has just a two-day supply of O-negative blood and is also in dire need of platelet donors. O-negative is a crucial — and rare — blood type because it is compatible with any patient. (Kelly, 1/10)
In Monumental Policy Shift, Administration Paves Way For States To Impose Medicaid Work Requirements
Adding a work requirement to Medicaid would mark one of the biggest changes to the program since its inception in 1966, and is likely to prompt a lawsuit from patient advocacy groups.
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Sends Mixed Messages On Welfare Work Rules
The Trump administration issued guidelines Thursday to help states impose the first-ever work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries, one of the biggest changes in the program’s 50-year history. That approach contrasts with a move the administration made with less fanfare earlier in the week to extend waivers that allow food-stamp recipients in 33 states to avoid work requirements. The different approaches reflect the complex political forces that surround safety-net programs. (Radnofsky and Armour, 1/11)
Kaiser Health News:
Trump Administration Clears Way To Require Work For Some Medicaid Enrollees
The announcement came in a 10-page memo with detailed directions about how states can reshape the federal-state health program for low-income people. The document says who should be excluded from the new work requirements — including children and people being treated for opioid abuse — and offers suggestions as to what counts as “work.” Besides employment, it can include job training, volunteering or caring for a close relative. (Galewitz, 1/11)
The Associated Press:
Major Shift As Trump Opens Way For Medicaid Work Requirement
Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said work and community involvement can make a positive difference in people’s lives and in their health. Still, the plan probably will face strong political opposition and even legal challenges over concerns people would lose coverage. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/11)
Reuters:
Trump Administration Will Allow States To Test Medicaid Work Requirements
Certain Medicaid populations would be exempt from the rules, including those with disabilities, the elderly, children and pregnant women. Verma also said states would have to make "reasonable modifications" for those battling opioid addiction and other substance use disorders. "This gives us a pathway to start approving waivers," Verma said on a call with reporters on Wednesday. "This is about helping those individuals rise out of poverty." (Abutaleb, 1/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Administration To Allow States To Require Some Medicaid Patients To Work To Be Eligible
Many patient advocates note that a small fraction of the people covered by Medicaid are of working age, non-disabled and currently unemployed. The main impact of the rules will be to subject poor people to stacks of paperwork that will drive some to drop coverage, the critics say. (Levey, 1/11)
CQ:
Proposed Medicaid Changes Could Spur Lawsuits
A national health advocacy group says it is seriously considering taking legal action against the Trump administration if it approves state proposals that would make key changes to Medicaid programs including requiring tens of thousands of poor Americans to join jobs programs or lose access to health care. Federal health officials are expected to begin announcing decisions on the state Medicaid proposals soon. The plans include a variety of conservative concepts, such as requiring premiums and co-payments, eliminating retroactive coverage and locking people out of coverage for failure to make payments or other issues. (Williams, 1/11)
Trump's Elaborate, Secret Blueprint To Chip Away At Health Law Reveals Strategy Behind The Scenes
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is calling the road map a list a list of options for “sabotage.” In other health law news, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) continue to work on bipartisan legislation to stabilize the marketplaces.
Politico:
Trump’s Secret Plan To Scrap Obamacare
Early last year as an Obamacare repeal bill was flailing in the House, top Trump administration officials showed select House conservatives a secret road map of how they planned to gut the health law using executive authority. The March 23 document, which had not been public until now, reveals that while the effort to scrap Obamacare often looked chaotic, top officials had actually developed an elaborate plan to undermine the law — regardless of whether Congress repealed it. (Haberkorn, 1/10)
The Hill:
Bipartisan Senators Discuss Path Forward On ObamaCare Fix
Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) met Wednesday to discuss the path forward for their bipartisan legislation aimed at stabilizing ObamaCare, aides in both parties said. The legislation’s future has been thrown into question after it was punted at the end of last month. Alexander is now pushing for the legislation to be included in a government funding package when a long-term deal on that measure is reached. (Sullivan, 1/10)
CHIP Funding Could Pass As Early As Next Week, Lawmakers Say
Progress toward renewing money for the popular program, which provides health care for children of low-income families, has been at a standstill because Democrats and Republicans haven't been able to agree on how to pay for it. Lawmakers say it is likely the deal will be resolved as part of the overall spending plan.
The Hill:
Lawmakers Say They're Close To Deal On CHIP Funding
Lawmakers in both parties say that a long-running disagreement over children’s health funding has almost been resolved and that funding could be passed as soon as next week. The reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) could be attached to a short-term government funding bill that must pass before Jan. 19, lawmakers say. Whether the reauthorization is ultimately tied to the bill, however, will depend on broader leadership negotiations. (Sullivan, 1/10)
The Wall Street Journal:
States In Limbo As Lawmakers Disagree On How To Pay For Children’s Health Program
Some states risk running out of money for a children’s health program in a countdown that is pressuring Congress to approve new money quickly, part of a continuing funding delay that has turned a little-known insurance program into an unwelcome embarrassment for Congress. Democrats and Republicans agree on the need to preserve funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, which covers about 9 million low-income children. Its formal funding ended Sept. 30. (Armour, 1/10)
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration Freezes Database Of Addiction And Mental Health Programs
Federal health officials have suspended a program that helps thousands of professionals and community groups across the country find effective interventions for preventing and treating mental illness and substance use disorders. The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices is housed within the Health and Human Services Department’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (Sun and Eilperin, 1/10)
Stat:
Overhaul Of 340B Program Could Happen This Spring, Key Republican Says
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are gearing up to overhaul a controversial Medicare drug discount program as soon as this quarter, a key Republican tells STAT. That’s a win for drug makers who have long pushed to narrow the scope of the so-called 340B drug discount program. At the same time, however, the committee will also examine whether to restore a recent $1.6 billion cut to the program, which came under a Trump administration rule that took effect Jan. 1, according to committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon. Hospital groups have called the cut “devastating” and have lobbied Congress to reverse it. (Mershon, 1/11)
Politico:
'Nothing Is Actually Being Done': Trump's Opioid Emergency Order Disappoints
President Donald Trump in October promised to "liberate" Americans from the "scourge of addiction," officially declaring a 90-day public health emergency that would urgently mobilize the federal government to tackle the opioid epidemic. That declaration runs out on Jan. 23, and beyond drawing more attention to the crisis, virtually nothing of consequence has been done. (Ehley, 1/11)
Kaiser Health News:
Fallout From ‘Nuclear Button’ Tweets: Sales Of Anti-Radiation Drug Skyrocket
A Twitter battle over the size of each “nuclear button” possessed by President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has spiked sales of a drug that protects against radiation poisoning. Troy Jones, who runs the website www.nukepills.com, said demand for potassium iodide soared last week, after Trump tweeted that he had a “much bigger & more powerful” button than Kim — a statement that raised new fears about an escalating threat of nuclear war. (Aleccia, 1/11)