Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
For Young People With Psychosis, Early Intervention Is Crucial
California budget provides $20 million to expand early psychosis treatment around the state. (Brian Rinker, )
Good morning! A fired executive from San Francisco-based Juul has filed a lawsuit claiming the company knowingly shipped out tainted nicotine pods. More on that below, but first, here are some of your other top California health stories for the day.
Levels Of Disruption Caused By PG&E Power Outages A 'Career First' For Some California Health Care Providers: Health care leaders in the Sacramento area talked about how the outages are affecting quality of care. “I actually have never experienced a power outage where we were on emergency generator backup for 40 hours or more,” said Dr. Brian Evans, the chief executive officer at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley. “We’ve had short-term disruptions, but typically it wasn’t one of these planned outages that lasted for quite some time. I would say, for me personally, it’s been a career first.” Across California, wildfires and outages have forced healthcare providers to close hospitals and medical clinics, or greatly limit services. Both Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health evacuated their hospitals in Santa Rosa last weekend, the second time in three years the medical centers had to be abandoned as flames and fumes approached. At least eight nursing homes also had to evacuate, and state officials requested additional beds from assisted living facilities to accommodate senior citizens and feeble patients. The stress of it all is beginning to take a toll. Read more from Cathie Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.
In other fire news:
The New York Times: ‘Devil Winds’ Drive Southern California Fires
Los Angeles Times: Extreme Winds And Explosive Fires Maintain Hold On California
Capital Public Radio: Air Alert Issued In San Joaquin County Due To Drift From Kincade Fire
Sacramento Bee: Spoiled Food And Missing Medicine: How PG&E Shutoffs Hit A California Mobile Home Park
28% Of Californians Who Qualify For SNAP Don’t Enroll. Officials, Health Leaders Try To Get Creative In Reaching Them: Only 72 percent of Californians who qualify for SNAP — which is called CalFresh in the state — receive the benefit, which most experts chalk up to a convoluted application process. The rate is so dismal that State Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) has drafted legislation that would require the state to increase participation to 95 percent by 2024. But politicians aren’t the only ones trying to get more low-income Californians to sign up for the benefit. On Monday, Kaiser Permanente launched a new campaign with a goal of enrolling hundreds of thousands of its members in CalFresh. It will start by sending patients text messages to encourage them to apply, and it will provide resources to help guide them through the process. Read more from Tara Duggan of the San Francisco Chronicle.
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
Los Angeles Times:
Legislators And Others Push For Stronger Regulation Of Addiction-Treatment Industry At Costa Mesa Hearing
Of all the things experts believe are needed to more effectively regulate and oversee California’s substance abuse treatment industry, perhaps the most important can be summed up in one word: teeth. The term came up several times at Costa Mesa City Hall on Wednesday as legislators, law enforcement officials, health professionals and industry representatives emphasized the need to fashion a robust regulatory framework that includes the resources to monitor and ensure the quality of treatment facilities while providing for enforcement that has, yes, some teeth. (Money, 10/30)
KPBS:
California Doctors Drafting Policies To Help Tackle Homelessness
Medical professionals have long considered homelessness a public health matter and a new state law has put doctors on the front lines of managing the issue. Hundreds of physicians are now offering their perspective to improve policies that aid the state's large unsheltered population. (Mento, 10/31)
CalMatters:
In California, The Teen Birth Rate Has Hit A Record Low. How?
Diana Shalabi had to be sure. She was 15 when she told her dad she needed cash for a high school football game. Actually, it was for pregnancy tests. Test after test confirmed the news she wasn’t ready to face. “I was like, ‘this is not happening,’ ” Shalabi said. “I was crying every day.” That was four years ago, and she gave birth to a daughter, Amina. Her marriage to the baby’s father lasted less than a year. Today she says she has sole responsibility for Amina, and they live in Delano, a farming town of 52,000 north of Bakersfield in Kern County. (Castillo, 10/30)
Capital Public Radio:
Health Care Benefits In Gig Companies’ Ballot Proposal Wouldn’t Apply To Most Of Their Drivers
The California ballot measure filed this week by gig companies such as Uber and Doordash promises new health care subsidies for app-based drivers in exchange for keeping their workers classified as independent contractors. But based on the campaign’s own comments at its news conference, very few of their drivers would ever receive those subsidies. (Adler, 10/30)
The Associated Press:
Former Juul Exec Alleges Company Shipped Tainted Products
A Juul Labs executive who was fired earlier this year is alleging that the vaping company knowingly shipped 1 million tainted nicotine pods to customers. The allegation comes in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by lawyers representing Siddharth Breja, a one-time finance executive at the e-cigarette maker. The suit claims that Breja was terminated after opposing company practices, including shipping the contaminated flavored pods and not listing expiration dates on Juul products. (10/30)
BuzzFeed News:
Juul Shipped At Least A Million Contaminated Nicotine Pods, New Lawsuit Says
In another instance, Breja says he was worried when the company, in February 2019, wanted to resell pods that were at that point almost one year old. He protested their resale and urged the company to at least include an expiration or “best by” date, or a date of manufacture, on the packaging. (Lee, 10/29)
The New York Times:
Juul Knowingly Sold Tainted Nicotine Pods, Former Executive Says
Mr. Breja detailed a culture of indifference to safety and quality-control issues among top executives at the company and quoted the then-chief executive Kevin Burns saying at a meeting in February: “Half our customers are drunk and vaping” and wouldn’t “notice the quality of our pods.” Mr. Burns, who left the company in September, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon strongly disputing the quote. “I never said this, or anything remotely close to this, period,” the statement said. “As CEO, I had the company make huge investments in product quality, and the facts will show this claim is absolutely false and pure fiction.” (Kaplan and HOffman, 10/30)
The Hill:
Lawsuit Claims Juul Knowingly Sold 1 Million 'Contaminated' Pods
In his lawsuit, Breja did not say what the shipped pods were allegedly contaminated with, but he noted they were mint flavored — one of the company's best-selling products. (Hellmann, 10/30)
The Wall Street Journal:
Vulnerable House Democrats Wary Of Campaigning For Medicare For All In 2020 Race
Some Democratic lawmakers key to holding the House majority worry that the health-care pledges made by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders could hurt their re-election chances. Of the 17 candidates in the Democratic primary race, Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren have offered the clearest support for a single-payer health-care system, which would largely end private health insurance. Both candidates are consistently in the top three spots in national polls, along with former vice president Joe Biden, who supports giving people the option of buying into a government-run insurance program. (Andrews and Collins, 10/31)
The New York Times:
Why ‘Medicare For All’ Could Both Raise Taxes And Lower Costs
[These charts] compare two leading sets of health care proposals advocated by Democrats running for president. The first, a “public option” plan, is similar to proposals from Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and other candidates. It would allow most Americans to buy insurance from the government and make other changes that would enable fewer people to go without coverage, but it would preserve much of the existing health insurance system. The second, a “Medicare for all” plan introduced by Bernie Sanders and endorsed by Elizabeth Warren, would replace most Americans’ current health insurance with a generous government-run plan that covers more benefits. (Sanger-Katz, 10/31)
The Associated Press:
Stable Costs But More Uninsured As 'Obamacare' Sign-Ups Open
More Americans are going without health insurance, and stable premiums plus greater choice next year under the Obama health law aren't likely to reverse that. As sign-up season starts Friday, the Affordable Care Act has shown remarkable resiliency, but it has also fallen short of expectations. Even many Democrats want to move on. (10/31)
Politico:
Obamacare Is Stronger Than Ever — And A Trump-Backed Lawsuit Could Destroy It.
Three years into a presidency that promised to kill Obamacare, the health care law has never been stronger. Millions of people buying coverage during the enrollment period starting Friday will find that average premiums have dropped across the country. When consumers go to HealthCare.gov, they’ll be paying 4 percent less on average for the most popular health plans — with six states reporting a double-digit decline. (Goldberg, 10/31)
Politico:
Senate Democrats Fail In Bid To Block Trump’s Obamacare Opt-Out
A largely symbolic attempt to kill a Trump administration policy allowing states to skirt Obamacare mandates fell well short in the Senate on Wednesday, even after Sen. Susan Collins crossed party lines to support the measure. The Senate voted 43-52 to reject the resolution, which aimed to block new guidance that provides states greater leeway to overhaul their insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act. (Cancryn, 10/30)
The Associated Press:
US Sued Over Health Insurance Rule For Immigrant Families
A lawsuit Wednesday accused the Trump administration of preventing Americans from bringing their foreign spouses and parents to live with them in the United States by requiring those immigrants to prove they can afford health care before they get visas. Seven U.S. citizens and a nonprofit organization filed the federal lawsuit in Portland, Oregon, over the rule that's set to take effect Sunday. It applies to people seeking immigrant visas from abroad, not those already in the country, and doesn't affect asylum seekers, refugees or children. (10/30)
Stat:
Insurance, Pharma Figures Spar Over Impact Of Pelosi Drug Pricing Bill
Pharmaceutical and health insurance industry representatives on Wednesday sparred over the potential impacts of legislation to lower drug prices, underscoring an emerging flashpoint here as Congress attempts to broker sweeping pharmaceutical industry reforms. The debate centered on a recent analysis showing Democrats’ signature drug pricing legislation would reduce the number of new drugs approved in the U.S. by eight to 15 in the coming decade. Yet Matt Eyles, the CEO of the insurance lobbying group America’s Health Insurance Plans, disagreed with the projection. (Facher, 10/30)
Reuters:
Novartis' Zolgensma Study Halted By FDA Amid Safety Questions
U.S. regulators have halted a trial of Novartis's Zolgensma treatment after an animal study raised safety concerns, the company said on Wednesday, in a setback for the drugmaker's plan to expand its use to older patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's partial hold on the so-called STRONG trial impacts patients aged up to five with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) who were to receive a higher dose of the gene therapy via a spinal infusion. (10/30)
Stat:
Why Bill Gates' Spending On Alzheimer's Research Is Modest
He’s one of the richest men in the world. He’s sought to eradicate malaria, pledged $10 billion to help fund childhood vaccinations, and poured another $3 billion into fighting HIV. But Bill Gates has been far more restrained in bankrolling research into Alzheimer’s disease. One of the first investments made by the billionaire’s Gates Ventures was in the Dementia Discovery Fund, which invests in novel science. But, all told, Gates’ Alzheimer’s investments only total roughly $100 million, which even Gates’ chief science adviser, Niranjan Bose, acknowledges is a “drop in the bucket.” (Florko, 10/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Link Between Diet, Exercise And Alzheimer’s
In his 40s and a self-described fitness nut, Stephen Chambers doesn’t seem like someone who would be worrying about Alzheimer’s. But when his father was diagnosed with the disease about five years ago, he went to the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic in New York to see what he could do. Though he had no noticeable memory issues, cognitive testing showed less than ideal levels in certain areas. His neurologist told him there were a number of lifestyle changes that might help his cognition and possibly reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. (Reddy, 10/30)