Bay Area News Group: Newson Blames California's $12 Billion Budget Shortfall On Tariffs, Medi-Cal Spending On Immigrants
When Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced his fiscal year 2025-2026 budget in January, he said California’s finances were improving. Now, the state is staring down a nearly $12 billion budget shortfall, largely because of market volatility driven by President Donald Trump’s oft-changing tariffs, Newsom said during a news conference Wednesday outlining the annual May revision of the budget proposal. Plus, the cost of Medi-Cal, the state’s health program for low-income and disabled residents, has ballooned. (Stringer, Varian, Rogers, and Gibbs, 5/15)

CalMatters: Medi-Cal Coverage Of Weight Loss Drugs On Chopping Block Under CA Proposal
Popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy would no longer be covered by Medi-Cal under a proposal unveiled by Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday in an effort to reduce cost overruns in the state health insurance program. The costly drugs prescribed to fight obesity have been driving up the cost of Medi-Cal, the state program that provides health coverage for low-income Californians. Eliminating coverage for these drugs would save the state $85 million in 2025-26, and up to $680 million by 2028-29, according to the governor’s office. (Ibarra, 5/14)

CalMatters: California Gov. Newsom Moves To Close Another State Prison. That Makes 5 Since He Took Office
Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday called for the closure of another prison in his new budget proposal, which would be the fifth facility closed under his watch, though he didn’t specify which institution now has a target on its back. (Duara, 5/14)

Times of San Diego: Rep. Scott Peters' Effort To Maintain Access To Medicaid Fall Short In Congress
As questions surrounding the future of government subsidized healthcare continue to swirl around Congress, Rep. Scott Peters voted against a plan to scale back one of the programs – to no avail. While Peters, D-San Diego, introduced an amendment aimed at protecting Medicaid during a meeting before the Committee on Energy and Commerce, it was rejected by the Republican majority. (Balc, 5/14)

MedPage Today: House Committee Holds Marathon Markup For Bill That Includes $715B In Medicaid Cuts
House Energy & Commerce Committee members finished a marathon markup session late Wednesday afternoon for their reconciliation bill, which among other provisions included an estimated $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other health programs over a 10-year period. Committee Chair Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) opened the hearing at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, arguing that the Biden administration was largely responsible for Americans' current healthcare difficulties. (Frieden, 5/14)

Politico: ‘First Time We Were Hearing Of Them’: The GOP Megabill Is Packed With Surprises For Some Republicans
The House Energy and Commerce Committee was 16 hours into a nearly 27-hour markup when it became clear that top Republicans on the panel weren’t clear on what key Medicaid provisions in the legislation they were actively debating would actually do. Couple that with confusion from moderates over the committee’s complex and controversial proposal ... and it spells possible troubles ahead for the domestic policy megabill central to enacting President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. (Leonard and Lee Hill, 5/14)

Politico: House Agriculture Committee Approves $300 Billion In Nutrition Spending Cuts 
The House Agriculture Committee voted 29-25 along party lines to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 billion in food aid spending to pay for Republicans’ domestic policy megabill and some farm bill programs. The Wednesday vote sends the measure to the House Budget Committee for consideration before a full floor vote in the chamber on the bill. (Yarrow, 5/14)

The 19th: House Panel Advances Measure To Cut Off Planned Parenthood From Medicaid
A key House panel on Wednesday advanced legislation that includes a provision aimed at cutting off Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, a longtime goal of congressional Republicans. (Panetta, 5/14)

KVPR: Community Health System Agrees To Pay $32 Million In Federal Fraud Settlement
A Fresno-based healthcare organization will pay $32 million dollars to the federal government over allegations it committed fraud with its physicians. Community Health System settled the case along with its affiliated medical group, Physician Network Advantage Inc., on Wednesday. The hospital operator owns four hospital facilities in Fresno County, including Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno and Clovis Community Medical Center. (Livinal,5/14)

San Diego Union-Tribune: New North Tower At Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla Set To Open June 1
On June 1, Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla will pivot to a new entrance for the first time since 1964 with the opening of the facility’s new North Tower. Built at a right angle to Memorial’s original two-tower complex, the new structure is the second half of a $1.1 billion investment that started when Scripps opened the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute in 2015. (Sisson, 5/14)

Becker's Hospital Review: UC San Diego Debuts Precision Medicine Degree Program
The University of California San Diego has launched a master’s program for healthcare professionals looking to specialize in the development and delivery of precision oncology medicine. The Master of Advanced Studies in Precision Medicine Therapeutics in Oncology program aims to address the imbalance between the growing number of precision oncology therapies available and the few cancer patients who actually receive these treatments, according to a May 12 news release from the university. (Gregerson, 5/14)

VC Star: Thousand Oaks Man Accused Of Playing Doctor Without A License
A Thousand Oaks man out on bail for practicing medicine without a license is accused of continuing to provide medical services despite his lack of credentials and a judge's order. (Galang, 5/12)

MedPage Today: Suicide Top Cause Of Death For Residents, Especially During Transition Periods
Suicide was the top cause of death for medical residents and fellows, though the rate was significantly lower than age- and gender-matched rates in the general population, according to a cross-sectional study. From 2015 to 2021, 161 of over 370,000 residents and fellows died during training, with the top cause of death being suicide (29.2%), followed by neoplastic diseases (17.4%), other medical and surgical diseases (13.7%), accidents (13.7%), and accidental poisoning (13%), reported Nicholas Yaghmour, MPP, of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in Chicago, and colleagues. (Robertson, 5/14)

Voice of San Diego: Future Of Midway Homeless Shelter Remains Uncertain
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria reiterated his call Wednesday for the county rather than the city to fund a homeless shelter on county property in the Midway District. Gloria left funding for the shelter, which serves people with behavioral health conditions, out of his revised city budget proposal. County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer also unveiled a proposal Wednesday that would use $800,000 in unspent federal stimulus funds to try to chip away at the cost of keeping the shelter open. She did not propose the county fully funding the shelter, as Gloria has demanded, citing an original partnership that called for support from both local governments. (Halverstadt, 5/14)

Los Angeles Times: Questions Loom Over Trump's Order To Create Housing For 6,000 Homeless Veterans
President Trump’s executive order calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs to house thousands of homeless veterans on its West Los Angeles campus by the end of his term promises the relief veterans have been seeking in federal court for more than a decade. But the May 9 order gave no insight into how the president planned to overcome hurdles that have long stymied the dream of a vibrant veteran community on the 388-acre property, which was donated to the U.S. government in 1888 as a home for disabled soldiers. (Smith, 5/15)

The Oaklandside: Oakland's Free Summer Meals For Kids Program Is Back
Oakland is gearing up to serve free food throughout the summer at dozens of locations, after previously informing community groups that the program would be coming to an end because of the costs. This week, the city announced the summer food program would continue with contributions from the East Bay Community Foundation, Eat. Learn. Play, and the Alameda County Food Bank. The program’s goal is to make sure no child in the city goes hungry while school is out of session. (5/14)

The Oaklandside: Oakland Violence Prevention Programs Set To Receive $13M In Extended Grants
Violence prevention and intervention services in Oakland — including hospital visits to gunshot wound victims, relocation assistance for shooting survivors and their families, and housing, employment, and mental health support for people on probation — are set to receive a significant financial boost. Oakland is poised to extend $12.8 million in one-year grants to community- and school-based programs focused on reducing violence. The temporary funding is meant to support groups while they wait for Measure NN dollars to become available. (Romero, 5/14)

San Diego Union-Tribune: New Drop-In Center Aims To Be Refuge For San Diego's Sex-Trafficked Teens
This site in San Diego is one of a handful of drop-in centers in Southern California geared specifically to children and teens ages 12 to 18 who are being trafficked for sex. They can come on their own or be referred by agencies, including law enforcement. (Figueroa, 5/14)

Los Angeles Times: Why Teachers Plan Pregnancies Around Summer Vacation
In teacher’s lounges across California, the same advice is whispered year after year: Plan your babies around summer vacation. Unlike private sector employees in California, teachers and other public employees do not have access to the state’s paid family leave or state disability insurance programs. This leaves teachers — 73% of whom are women — under a complex set of benefits that require them to use up all of their sick time. Although their jobs are protected for 12 weeks, many cannot afford to take it. Planning a pregnancy around summer vacation allows teacher parents to tack on the summer months, when school is out of session. (Gold, 5/15)

Berkeleyside: Remembering Dan Hodges, A Founder Of California's Single-Payer Health Care Movement
Daniel M. Hodges, who helped found the Health Care for All movement in California, died March 28 at the age of 75. Dan dedicated his life to helping others. (Smith, 5/15)

AP: US Overdose Deaths Fell 27% Last Year, The Largest One-Year Decline Ever Seen
There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023. The CDC has been collecting comparable data for 45 years. The previous largest one-year drop was 4% in 2018, according to the agency’s National Center for Health Statistics. (Stobbe and Mulvihill, 5/14)

CNN: Arsenic And Cadmium Levels Dangerously High In Store-Bought Rice, Report Finds. What You Can Do 
Samples of store-bought rice from more than 100 different brands purchased in the United States contained dangerously high levels of arsenic and cadmium, according to a new report released exclusively to CNN. (LaMotte, 5/15)

CIDRAP: Lower Fitness Levels Before Infection Linked To Long COVID
A study conducted in Dallas of 1,666 COVID-19 patients, of which 80 (5%) had long COVID, reveals that those with long COVID, on average, had lower pre‐COVID fitness. The study was published yesterday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. (Soucheray, 5/14)

ABC News: RFK Jr. Says People Should Not Take Medical Advice From Him, Defends HHS Cuts During Congressional Hearings
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the nation's most publicly recognized vaccine skeptics, took a softened approach on vaccines when he answered questions before a House committee Wednesday morning, saying, "I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me." Kennedy, who also testified before a Senate committee the same day, defended the massive cuts to the department's workforce and laid out his priorities for the Trump administration's proposed budget. (Kekatos, McDuffie, Haslett, and Hensley, 5/14)

AP: Kennedy Assures Congress Funding For Head Start Will Not Be Cut
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday told Congress the Trump administration would not cut funding for Head Start, after layoffs at the agency and funding freezes raised fears the six-decade-old program would be radically downsized. In an appearance before a Senate subcommittee, Kennedy said the administration would “emphasize healthy eating in Head Start, and ensure the program continues to serve its 750,000 children and parents effectively.” (Balingit, 5/14)