USA Today: Trump's Deficit-Swelling Tax Bill Passes House Vote
Americans could see major changes to Medicaid, food stamps, border security and taxes under a sweeping Republican bill that passed the U.S. House early on May 22. The proposal, which President Donald Trump has dubbed the "big, beautiful bill," would enact Trump's major campaign promises like eliminating taxes on workers' tips and overtime and is likely to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation that will be passed during his second term in the Oval Office. (Beggin, 5/22)

Los Angeles Times: Medicaid Rule Proposal May Deal A Blow To California
How can Congress cut Medicaid without explicitly cutting Medicaid? That has been a years-long dilemma facing fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party who have sought cuts to the country’s deficit-driving social safety net programs, including Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare, without generating political fallout from the tens of millions of Americans who will suffer the consequences. (Wilner, 5/22)

The Hill: GOP Bill Raises Fears Of Major Reduction In Home Care For Seniors, Disabled
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Ca.) said she worries over the future of at-home care for seniors if President Donald Trump’s federal funding package passes in the House. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” proposes cutting billions from social benefit programs, including $800 billion from Medicaid and $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Chu called the proposed reduction in Medicaid funding the most “devastating cut to services for seniors in our lifetime” since it will force states to heavily reduce the amount of money they spend on at-home care for older people and people with disabilities. (O’Connell-Domenech, 5/21)

Bay Area News Group: Santa Clara County Wants To Change Medi-Cal Model, But Family Health Plan Calls It A "Hostile Takeover"
As House Republicans consider making deep cuts to Medicaid, Santa Clara County wants to transition to a “single plan” model for Medi-Cal managed care in hopes of improving reimbursement rates. But leadership of the Santa Clara Family Health Plan, a county-created public health agency, is pushing back, calling the move a “hostile takeover” in a recently filed lawsuit. (Hase, 5/22)

Stat: CMS To Speed Up, Beef Up Medicare Advantage Audits 
President Trump’s federal Medicare agency will expedite audits of Medicare Advantage insurers, a move that could claw back nearly $500 million a year for taxpayers, according to previous federal estimates. However, the audits remain mired in a two-year-old lawsuit initiated by Humana, making it unclear how the Trump administration will implement its new strategy. (Herman, 5/21)

Fierce Healthcare: Senators Reintroduce Bill That Seeks To Reform Prior Authorization In Medicare Advantage
A bipartisan bill aiming to reform prior authorization has been reintroduced in the Senate. The Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act seeks to streamline the prior auth process in Medicare Advantage (MA), which would ease administrative burdens on providers and reduce delays in accessing care for patients. (Minemyer, 5/21)

Los Angeles Times: California FEMA Earthquake Retrofit Grants Canceled, Imperiling Critical Work, Schiff Says
The Trump administration has canceled $33 million worth of federal funds meant to help pay for earthquake retrofits in California — sparking "grave concern" and a call to reconsider from one of the state's highest elected officials. (Lin II, 5/21)

KVPR: Sen. Schiff Urges Trump Administration To Keep USDA Field Offices Open In California
Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff is among a group of legislators pushing to keep nine field offices for the United States Department of Agriculture open across California, including two that are on a list of office lease terminations in Bakersfield and Madera. The newly established “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, office in the White House plans to terminate leases, grants and contracts across the federal government as part of its stated effort to cut down on spending. (Yeager, 5/21)

Los Angeles Blade: LGBTQ Leaders Urge State Lawmakers To Restore $31 Million In Healthcare Budget Cuts
Governor Gavin Newsom’s May Revise for the 2025-26 budget proposes to eliminate two major initiatives from the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity: the California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP) and the Gender Health Equity Section (GHES). The move would rescind funding which has already been awarded through existing contracts with nearly 70 community-based organizations across the state, with nearly 40 of those organizations being in Los Angeles. (Palomera, 5/21)

The Bay Area Reporter: Political Notebook: On This Harvey Milk Day, Revisiting One Of His B.A.R. Columns
Thursday is the 15th annual Harvey Milk Day, a day of special significance observed in California on the birthday of the late gay civil rights leader. Were he still alive, Milk would be celebrating his 95th birthday. Sadly, he and then-mayor George Moscone were assassinated inside San Francisco City Hall on the morning of November 27, 1978 by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. Just the year prior, Milk’s election to a seat on the Board of Supervisors made him the first openly LGBTQ person to hold public office in the city and the state of California. (Bajko, 5/22)

California Healthline: Call Centers Replaced Many Doctors’ Receptionists. Now, AI Is Coming For Call Centers.
Artificial intelligence products with lifelike voices are being marketed to schedule or cancel medical visits, refill prescriptions, and help triage patients. Soon, many patients might initiate contact with the health system by speaking not with a human but with AI. (Tahir, 5/22)

Becker's Hospital Review: J&J Subsidiary Fined $147M For Limiting Catheter Access
A California jury has awarded $147 million in damages to medical device reprocessor Innovative Health after finding that Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Biosense Webster illegally restricted hospitals’ access to clinical support when they used reprocessed catheters instead of new ones. The initial complaint, filed 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleged that Biosense Webster violated federal and California antitrust laws by monopolizing the market for high-density mapping and ultrasound catheters compatible with CARTO 3 cardiac mapping system, according to court documents obtained by Becker’s. (Murphy, 5/21)

The Guardian: Revealed: UnitedHealth Secretly Paid Nursing Homes To Reduce Hospital Transfers
UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest healthcare conglomerate, has secretly paid nursing homes thousands in bonuses to help slash hospital transfers for ailing residents – part of a series of cost-cutting tactics that has saved the company millions, but at times risked residents’ health, a Guardian investigation has found. Those secret bonuses have been paid out as part of a UnitedHealth program that stations the company’s own medical teams in nursing homes and pushes them to cut care expenses for residents covered by the insurance giant. (Joseph, 5/21)

San Diego Union-Tribune: New San Diego Chief Medical Examiner Has Long History With Department
A younger Jonathan Lucas, the one still in medical school in the 1990s, was leaning toward becoming a family doctor, maybe even a surgeon. But something about forensic science and field investigation intrigued him. Pathology, he would come to realize, was his path. His focus is on the dead. (Figueroa and Taketa, 5/22)

CIDRAP: Moderna Pulls Licensing Submission For Combo Flu-COVID Vaccine
Today vaccine maker Moderna announced it voluntarily pulled its licensing submission for the combination seasonal influenza–COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate, mRNA-1083, so that it can submit efficacy data. The news comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration announced that seasonal COVID-19 boosters would now be recommended only for adults ages 65 and older or for those who are at risk for severe COVID-19 because of underlying health conditions. (Soucheray, 5/21)

San Diego Union-Tribune: UCSD Team Is Part Of Cutting-Edge, Nationwide Cancer Program
UC San Diego researchers are part of a nationwide effort to increase the precision of cancer therapy through the better and broader use of computer modeling and machine learning, often called artificial intelligence. (Sisson, 5/22)

Orange County Register: Stroke Patient Blames Major Brain Damage On Inadequate Care At OC Hospital
A stroke patient who was rushed last year to an Orange County hospital that specializes in treating strokes suffered major brain damage after waiting nearly eight hours for surgery because the medical center did not have the proper equipment or a capable neurosurgeon, according to a lawsuit. The suit, filed Monday, May 19, against Orange County Global Medical Center, alleges the Santa Ana hospital did not have the “endovascular equipment” necessary to treat a bleeding aneurysm and was on a “credit hold” by the vendor who supplies it. Additionally, the on-call neurosurgeon was a spine doctor incapable of treating patient Khusro Jhumra, 51, the suit alleged. (Saavedra, 5/21)

Oaklandside: San Francisco Bay Fish Are Contaminated With Levels Of ‘Forever Chemicals’ That Could Harm Anglers
Contaminants known as “forever chemicals” have been discovered in San Francisco Bay fish at levels that could pose a health threat to people who eat fish caught there, according to new research published today. Linked to an array of health conditions such as cancers, heart disease and pregnancy disorders, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances resist breaking down in the environment. (Becker, 5/21)

Berkeleyside: Berkeley's Plan To Balance Budget Violates Voters' Trust, Critics Say
Berkeley leaders could use $2.5 million from a tax measure pitched to voters as a source of new funding for affordable housing to instead balance the city’s budget. That’s the most controversial idea the City Council is considering to address a projected $26.8 million deficit for the coming fiscal year, because there is little indication officials are eyeing the kinds of widespread layoffs or service cuts that have made for painful budget debates in other cities. (Savidge, 5/21)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County Dissolves Mental Health Advisory Boards
Residents with experiences living with mental illness and substance abuse will sit on a new commission, advising the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on how to improve behavioral health policy, programs and procedures in the region. On Tuesday afternoon, the county established the Behavioral Health Commission, which will start work in the next 90 days. In creating the commission, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the dissolution of the county’s Mental Health Board and Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board. The tasks of the two groups will be delegated to the new commission. (Hall, 5/21)

AP: In Lawsuit Over Teen's Death, Judge Rejects Arguments That AI Chatbots Have Free Speech Rights
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected arguments made by an artificial intelligence company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment — at least for now. The developers behind Character.AI are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the company’s chatbots pushed a teenage boy to kill himself. The judge’s order will allow the wrongful death lawsuit to proceed, in what legal experts say is among the latest constitutional tests of artificial intelligence. (Payne, 5/21)

KQED: Is Social Media Making Children More Depressed? UCSF Research Suggests A Link
Higher social media usage could be linked to increased rates of depression among young adolescents, according to a new study published Wednesday by researchers at UCSF. The nationwide study, which tracked the cognitive development of nearly 12,000 children and adolescents over the course of a few years, found that their social media use rose significantly between the ages of 9 and 13. Depressive symptoms likewise increased in these children by more than 30% during the same time period, with the study suggesting that the two may be related. (Lim, 5/21)

Newsweek: Gen Z More Likely Than Boomers To Say People In Therapy Are 'Mentally Weak'
Despite often being seen as more progressive, Gen Z is surprisingly more anti-therapy than many of their elders. A new report from BetterHelp reveals a generational divide exists when it comes to the stigma of therapy, and perhaps not in the way you'd expect. Demand for mental health therapy has been skyrocketing in recent years. The number of U.S. adults who received psychotherapy went up from 6.5 percent in 2018 to 8.5 percent in 2021, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry this year. (Blake, 5/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Will Mayor Lurie Try To Kill A Plan To Mandate Shelters Across S.F.?
Mayor Daniel Lurie has yet to have a major policy disagreement with most San Francisco supervisors, but that might be changing as local lawmakers consider a plan to spread homeless shelters more evenly throughout the city. Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, a moderate who broadly shares Lurie’s politics, introduced legislation this month that seeks to put at least one shelter or behavioral health facility in every supervisor district and prohibit new sites in areas already saturated with them. Lurie has said little about the proposed law publicly, but privately, his office has suggested amendments that would gut the ordinance. (Morris and Angst, 5/21)

Los Angeles Times: California School Enrollment Continues To Drop As Poor And Homeless Student Numbers Rise 
California public school enrollment has declined for the seventh straight year and the number of students from low-income and homeless families has increased as many school districts throughout the state face financial pressures to downsize. (Blume and Gold, 5/21)