- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- Transparent Hospital Pricing Exposes Wild Fluctuation, Even Within Miles
- Public Health and Education 1
- Ensuring Access To Mental Health Services Ranks In Top Priorities For Californians In Poll
- Around California 1
- 'I Feel I’m Making A Difference': For Physicians At Low-Income Clinics, It's Serving The Community That Matters
- National Roundup 3
- What Is The Cause Of America's Rising Uninsured Rates? Republicans Blame High Premiums, While Dems Say 'Sabotage'
- The Ripple Effects Of The Shutdown: ACA Marketplace Instability, Native American Heath Care, And Premiums For Furloughed Workers
- Trump Targets Surprise Medical Billing As Administration Pushes For More Transparency In Health Care Pricing
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Transparent Hospital Pricing Exposes Wild Fluctuation, Even Within Miles
A new federal rule requires hospitals to post their prices online. These lists reveal the wildly different charges for basic procedures and services, but consumers will have a hard time putting this information to use. (Harriet Blair Rowan, )
More News From Across The State
Lawmakers Emboldened By Newsom's Aggressive Actions On Gun Control
Gov. Gavin Newsom has made it clear the issue is one of his top priorities, and lawmakers are reintroducing previously vetoed bills because of that.
Los Angeles Times:
Gov. Gavin Newsom Makes Aggressive, Early Moves On His Gun Control Agenda For California
Gavin Newsom won the governorship in part by touting his leadership on gun control as the architect of Proposition 63, a 2016 initiative that put him at loggerheads with the National Rifle Assn. Now, in his first weeks in office, Newsom has already moved to significantly reduce the number of Californians with firearms. Gun rights advocates are sounding almost nostalgic for his predecessor, fellow Democrat Jerry Brown, a gun owner who signed several far-reaching gun control measures, including a ban on the sale of long guns to those under age 21, but vetoed others. (McGreevy, 1/24)
In other news from Sacramento —
Modern Healthcare:
California's Drug-Pricing Plan Could Pare Down 340B Program
The controversial 340B drug discount program could be looking at a serious trim in California, home to the biggest Medicaid population in the country. Health clinics and hospitals are monitoring a potentially huge money shift away from hospitals in the program in the wake of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's sweeping executive order on drug pricing. The new governor's plan still has plenty of details to be worked out, but as currently configured it would consolidate all the state's drug purchasers into a single stream. (Luthi, 1/23)
Capital Public Radio:
Advocates Say Newsom's Multi-Billion Dollar Anti-Poverty Budget Proposals Aren't Enough
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget would double a state tax credit for low-income Californians and take the first steps toward universal preschool. But a coalition of advocates and Democratic lawmakers seeking to end deep child poverty is seeking much more from Newsom and the Legislature. (Adler, 1/23)
Ensuring Access To Mental Health Services Ranks In Top Priorities For Californians In Poll
In the poll, when asked to assess what aspects of health care mattered most to them, survey respondents ranked expanding access to mental health care as most crucial.
Sacramento Bee:
Poll: Californians Want Leaders To Expand Mental Health Care
Californians indicated In a survey released Thursday that they want state leaders to put a priority on ensuring that people with mental health conditions can get access to treatment, with 49 percent saying it’s extremely important and 39 percent saying it’s very important. The Kaiser Family Foundation and California Health Care Foundation designed and conducted the poll of 1,404 Californians in November and December, looking to gauge health care priorities and experiences in a state considered a leader in health-care trends. (Anderson, 1/24)
In other public health news —
East Bay Times:
San Ramon Hospital Expanding Robotics Surgical Services
Thanks to new robotic machines, surgeons at San Ramon Regional Medical Center can now more precisely personalize knee replacements and improve minimally invasive surgery. The hospital allowed the public — and local high school students — to take the robots for a test drive Tuesday. Stryker Robotics’ Mako robotic-arm assisted technology helps personalize procedures to patients, according to a hospital release. (Kawamoto, 1/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Flu Season Has Arrived In The Bay Area. Here’s What You Need To Know
Local and state reports show that the flu season is well under way in the Bay Area, with the first deaths announced earlier this month. Now that the flu is again widely circulating, doctors, nurses and public health officials are closely watching several key surveillance reports to help them prepare for the season at hand. (Allday, 1/24)
It can be hard for clinics geared toward low-income patients to attract doctors, especially amid a shortage. But these physicians at Family Health Centers of San Diego find their reward in helping patients.
KPBS:
Health Center Trains, Recruits Doctors To Serve Poor Amid Growing Shortage
South of downtown San Diego’s towering skyscrapers, where hundreds of homeless people have taken refuge in large tent shelters or are languishing on the streets, Dr. Harris Niazi serves on the front lines of caring for some of the region’s poorest residents. (Murphy, 1/24)
In other news from across the state —
Sacramento Bee:
Health Center To Serve 5,000 New Patients, Partner With UC Davis
A new partnership with UC Davis Health will allow Sacramento County to provide care for 5,000 new patients at the county’s health center, according to the county. The Sacramento County Health Center offers primary and behavioral health care for low-income residents and Medi-Cal and Medicare enrollees. (Darden, 1/23)
KQED:
DOJ Cracks Down On Stockton's 'School-To-Prison Pipeline' After Discrimination Findings
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced on Tuesday an agreement with the Stockton Unified School District (SUSD) aimed at ending systemwide discrimination against minority and disabled students after an investigation found schools frequently referred students to the district's police department for issues that could have been handled by administrators or teachers. The investigation found those practices had a disparate impact on African-American and Latino students and students with disabilities. (Hall, 1/23)
Capital Public Radio:
Calaveras County Will Issue Refunds To Pot Growers Following Ban On Commercial Cultivation
Now, the county is refunding almost a million dollars to more than 700 farmers who paid to grow commercial marijuana. In total, growers paid $3 million in application fees and contributed $10 million in taxes to the county program. (Ibarra, 1/23)
A new report has found that the percentage of adults without health insurance climbed to 13.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, from 12.4 percent a year earlier and a low of 10.9 percent in 2016.
The New York Times:
After Falling Under Obama, America’s Uninsured Rate Looks To Be Rising
The number of Americans without health insurance plunged after Obamacare started. Now, early evidence suggests, it’s beginning to climb again. New polling from Gallup shows that the percentage of uninsured Americans inched up throughout last year. That trend matches other data suggesting that health coverage has been eroding under the policies of the Trump administration. (Sanger-Katz, 1/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
More Americans Lack Health Insurance, New Survey Finds
The percentage of adults without health insurance climbed to 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2018, from 12.4% a year earlier and a low of 10.9% in 2016, according to a closely followed Gallup report released Wednesday. The Gallup data is based on self-reported responses from tens of thousands of adults, and has been used in reports produced by policy makers. About seven million more Americans lacked health insurance in the fourth quarter compared with the 2016 period, according to Gallup. Women, low-income people and younger adults saw the greatest rise in the uninsured rate, the poll found. (Armour, 1/23)
The Hill:
Uninsured Rate At Highest Level Since 2014
Gallup says ObamaCare's premium increases in recent years could contribute to a higher uninsured rate. The administration's funding cuts to ObamaCare's marketing and outreach budget could also have effected uninsured rates, Gallup said. Other factors include a shorter enrollment period and confusion caused by the GOP's efforts to repeal and replace the law in 2017, the survey states. (Hellmann, 1/23)
Media outlets look at how the continued partial government shutdown is felt across the health care industry. Insurers say rule-making delays have left them scrambling to make key decisions about future participation in the ACA’s health-insurance exchanges; funding for Native American health services dwindles; and more consequences.
The Wall Street Journal:
Shutdown Poses Risk To Health Care
The longest-ever U.S. government shutdown is posing new risks to the Affordable Care Act and some health services, prompting alarm from insurers, providers and congressional Democrats who say the impasse could harm consumers and undermine the stability of the individual insurance market. Ongoing staffing shortages at the Internal Revenue Service could lead to higher premiums for some consumers who need tax credits to help pay their health-insurance premiums, Democrats say. (Armour, 1/23)
CQ:
Shutdown Highlights Desire For Action On Indian Health
The shutdown is putting a strain on health care services for American Indians, but lawmakers hope it can be an inflection point in addressing some of the troubled Indian Health Service’s problems. The Indian Health Service provides care for 2.2 million American Indians either through direct care at its facilities, care purchased from third-parties or funding to tribes who run their own health systems. (Siddons, 1/23)
Reuters:
Furloughed Federal Workers May Lose Some Health Benefits: U.S. Senators
Four U.S. senators expressed concern on Wednesday that federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown could lose their dental and vision health insurance benefits if they are unable to pay their premiums. In a letter to the government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Democratic Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin said forcing workers to pay the premiums during the shutdown would be "unacceptable." (1/23)
The Washington Post:
Federal Workers Affected By Partial Shutdown To Be Billed For Dental, Vision Coverage
The workers are not at risk of losing their health insurance benefits, which will stay in effect through the duration of the shutdown — and for as long as a year — even if they are not receiving a paycheck, with their accumulated premiums deducted from their pay once their agency reopens. However, that protection does not extend to vision and dental insurance, and starting with their second missed paycheck at the end of this week, employees will be billed directly for premiums for dental and vision coverage. If the shutdown continues for another two weeks into a third missed pay period, the company that provides long-term care insurance to federal workers also will start billing them directly. (Rein and Yoder, 1/23)
"We're going to stop all of it, and it's very important to me," President Donald Trump said during a health care roundtable. Surprise billing -- the practice of charging patients for care that is more expensive than anticipated or not covered by their insurance -- has been regarded as a possible bipartisan issue to tackle in the divided Congress.
The Hill:
Trump Calls For Cracking Down On Surprise Medical Bills
President Trump on Wednesday spoke out against surprise medical bills that patients often cannot afford, highlighting an issue that has received bipartisan concern in Congress. “The health care system too often harms people with some unfair surprises ... medical bills and the like,” Trump said at a roundtable at the White House, along with patients who had received unexpectedly large bills from hospitals. (Sullivan, 1/23)
Modern Healthcare:
Trump Vows To End Balance Billing
"We're going to stop all of it, and it's very important to me," Trump said as cameras rolled during the portion of a roundtable discussion on healthcare with his top deputies and patients from around the country with stories of unexpected high medical costs. Senators from both parties are currently working on legislation to stop insurers and hospitals from leaving patients to foot the bill for high and unexpected medical bills. (Luthi, 1/23)
In other national health care news —
Arizona Republic:
Hacienda Sexual Assault Investigation: Nurse Arrested
Phoenix police arrested a 36-year-old nurse at Hacienda HealthCare facility, alleging he sexually assaulted and impregnated an incapacitated woman at the center. The woman gave birth to a boy Dec. 29. Staff members told a 911 operator that they had not known she was pregnant. "From the minute we first became aware of the crime, we have virtually worked non stop seven days a week to resolve this case," Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said in announcing the arrest Wednesday morning. (Burkitt, Shuman and Harris, 1/23)
NPR:
Juul Labs Lobbies Lawmakers
The presence of Juul e-cigarettes in high schools across the country is increasing — and so is Juul Labs' lobbying presence in the nation's capital. The company, which bills its product as "a satisfying alternative to cigarettes," spent $750,000 on lobbying during the last three months of 2018, according to lobbying disclosure forms filed with Congress on Tuesday. (McMinn, 1/23)
Stat:
Trump Plan To Put Drug Prices In Ads Might Work, But Not If Pharma Gets Its Way
A Trump administration proposal to require drug makers to advertise prices in television ads could dissuade consumers from considering pricey medicines, according to a new study. But this reaction was mitigated when ads mentioned some patients may be able to receive the treatment for nothing, which is language that drug makers are pushing to include in the White House scheme. The researchers showed five different ads to 580 people about a fictitious diabetes drug. One ad did not mention price, another indicated the drug cost $50 a month, and still another cited $15,500 a month. Two other ads also mentioned each price, respectively, but added a line that “eligible patients” may be able to get the drug for as little as $0 a month, according to the study in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Silverman, 1/23)
The New York Times:
How To Stop Rogue Gene-Editing Of Human Embryos?
A year ago, Dr. Matthew Porteus, a genetics researcher at Stanford, received an out-of-the-blue email from a young Chinese scientist, asking to meet. A few weeks later, the scientist, He Jiankui, arrived in his office and dropped a bombshell. He said he had approval from a Chinese ethics board to create pregnancies using human embryos that he had genetically edited, a type of experiment that had never been carried out before and is illegal in many countries. “I spent probably 40 minutes or so telling him in no uncertain terms how wrong that was, how reckless,” Dr. Porteus said in a recent interview. (Belluck, 1/23)