Ventura County Star: The Medi-Cal War: Critics Of Gold Coast Health Plan Propose Replacing It
Leaders of a powerful private clinic system are pushing for state legislation that would rebuild Medi-Cal in Ventura County and could eliminate the publicly funded Gold Coast Health Plan that delivers health insurance to nearly 200,000 people. The proposal being pitched by Clinicas del Camino Real representatives to state legislators would create a two-plan system in which Medi-Cal members would pick between competing insurance organizations. Under the current system, approved by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and launched in 2011, Gold Coast operates what its critics describe as a monopoly, administering insurance for virtually all low-income residents eligible for Med-Cal. It has an operating budget of $714 million. (Kisken, 2/15)

East Bay Times: El Camino Hospital’s Subsidiary Bids $1.27 Million For Five Verity Medical Clinics 
A subsidiary of El Camino Hospital has offered to buy five health clinics for $1.27 million from Verity Medical Foundation, whose parent company is going through bankruptcy. The El Camino Hospital Board voted unanimously Wednesday evening to submit an offer on behalf of Silicon Valley Medical Development for Good Samaritan Clinic, McKee Clinic, and Willow Glen Clinic in San Jose, Gilroy Primary Care, and Morgan Hill Medical Associates. If the bankruptcy court approves the sale, it is expected to close April 1, according to a spokesperson for Silicon Valley Medical Development. (Vo, 2/15)

The California Health Report: Pharmacists Can Now Prescribe Birth Control, But Few Do
A California law that went into effect in 2016 allows  pharmacists to prescribe, not just dispense, many forms of birth control. But three years in, only fifteen percent of pharmacies offer the option and too few women know about it. Starting April 1, Medi-Cal will reimburse for the counseling fee that pharmacists typically charge, which is usually in the range of $45, for women who use the insurance plan for low-income people. Women’s health advocates are hopeful that will increase the number of pharmacists prescribing and the number of women who find and make use of the option. (Kritz, 2/15)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: ‘No One Can Do This Alone:’ Postpartum Depression Clouding Motherhood Draws New Concern, Treatment
[Chelsea] is one of what are likely thousands of local survivors of postpartum depression and related mood disorders that strike one in five new mothers in California during pregnancy or the first year of their baby’s life, turning the early days of motherhood into harrowing nightmares. Experts say most women, about 80 percent, will experience the so-called “baby blues” in the first week or two after childbirth — when plummeting hormone levels and related shifts in brain chemistry, abetted by sleep deprivation and other physical changes, cause mood changes, fatigue, weepiness and worry. (Callahan, 2/16)

CALmatters: Should California Buy Disaster Insurance?
Hoping to save California taxpayers some money after spending nearly $1 billion to fight wildfires last year, three officials say it’s time to look at purchasing disaster insurance for the state. Napa Democratic Sen. Bill Dodd, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Treasurer Fiona Ma announced Senate Bill 290, which would authorize the state to explore purchasing a policy to cover wildfires, earthquakes, floods and other disasters. (Lin, 2/14)

NPR: Tiny Homes For Homeless Get The Go-Ahead In The Wake Of California's Worst Wildfire
Before the state's most destructive wildfire tore through Butte County, Calif., detailed plans for a tiny home village for the homeless in the northern California city of Chico were met with a mix of indifference, NIMBY-ism and outright rejection from a previous city council. But November's Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and incinerated some 14,000 area homes, breathed new life into plans for a community of one-room wooden homes to help house some of Butte County's homeless. (Westervelt, 2/18)

The California Health Report: Citizenship Question On 2020 Census Could Harm Central Valley, Study Finds 
Census information guides the distribution of more than $115 billion in federal funding to California, according to a report by The George Washington University. This includes funding for a wide range of health, social safety net, workforce training and infrastructure programs. Among them are food stamps, Medi-Cal and community health centers, childcare subsidies, housing vouchers, business and industry loans, free and reduced price school meals, federal student loan assistance and grants for highway planning and construction. The projected undercount in the Central Valley could result in a loss of about $200 million in federal funding a year to the region, or $2 billion over the next decade, researchers estimated.  (Boyd-Barrett, 2/18)

Los Angeles Times: Fractures, Trauma, Amputations: What Medics See When They Rescue Migrants At The Border
We found her in a ditch a few steps away from the rusted border fence on the east side of Nogales, Ariz., an inch-and-a-half laceration on her swollen forehead. She came from Guerrero, one of the most violent states in Mexico, and could not remember how she landed on the rugged surface after her grip on the top of the barrier failed and she fell. (Jusionyte, 2/17)

Texas Tribune: Adult Migrant From Mexico Dies In Border Patrol Custody
An adult migrant has died after being taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody this month in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. The 45-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico died Monday morning after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver. The immigrant's death was first reported by USA Today. According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release, the immigrant was encountered by the police department in Roma, Texas, a small border community between Laredo and Mission, on Feb. 2. The person, who wasn’t identified, then requested medical attention. (Aguilar, 2/18)

The California Health Report: In Los Angeles, A Novel Plan To End Congenital Syphilis
Melissa Papp-Green opens her iPhone to a text about a syphilis test. The text offers Papp-Green, perched in a cubicle at the Los Angeles County public health department, a window into a doctor’s office miles away, where providers are confronting an epidemic of congenital syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease passed from mothers to newborns. The text confirms an OB-Gyn is following old guidelines to test for syphilis. It’s an important data point for Papp-Green, a county public health educator. She spends much of her day focused on wiping out STDs in Los Angeles County, which led the nation in early syphilis cases in 2017. (Knight, 2/19)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Sexually Transmitted Disease Spikes In Sonoma County, With Homeless People At High Risk
Despite aggressive public health efforts to halt the spread of syphilis, the number of syphilis cases in Sonoma County continues to grow at an alarming rate — nearly 48 percent in the past year. The local increase mirrors the findings in a national report last week that shows a growing link between drug use and the incidence of syphilis among women and heterosexual men. ...The number of syphilis cases in Sonoma County went from 41 in 2013 to a projected 231 in 2018 — about a 460 percent increase, according to county public health data reported to the state. (Bordas and Espinoza, 2/19)

Sacramento Bee: California Hits 207 Flu Deaths Earlier Than Last Year
Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is classifying this flu season as low in severity, California medical providers have reported more deaths related to influenza during this flu season than they did for the comparable period a year ago. No one really knows why flu-related deaths can be higher during seasons of low flu activity, said Dr. Nichole Braxley, the medical director for the emergency room at Mercy San Juan Medical Center, but the statistical contrast has sparked conversations among physicians at her hospital. (Anderson, 2/19)

East Bay Times: South Bay’s Gender Health Center Promotes ‘Healthy Equity’
For transgender, nonbinary and gender diverse individuals, gender identity carries with it a host of medical, social and emotional issues that aren’t always fully addressed by the healthcare system. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s new Gender Health Center aims to provide services for these populations under one roof at the downtown San Jose facility. Dr. Jackie Newton, MD, co-founder of the center, said these services need to be multi-disciplinary, so center staff is taking a collaborative approach to patient care. (Gelhaus, 2/17)

Los Angeles Times: Why American Voters Were Primed For A President Who Talks Like Trump
When in the grips of oratorical passion, President Obama liked to paraphrase the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. about the “long arc of history” bending toward justice. But when it comes to the oratory of American politicians, history’s long arc is bending away from such lofty rhetorical flourishes. New research finds that the punch-and-jab style of President Trump’s public speech — pugnaciously declarative, larded with personal pronouns, and light on the kinds of phrases that soften a claim or elevate an idea — appears to be just where presidential discourse is headed. (Healy, 2/15)

Sacramento Bee: Mercy Nurses, Sacramento County Shelter Team Up To Care For Homeless
Lifelong Carmichael resident Michelle Cook thought the dark blotches in the wound on her leg were just scabs until nurses from Mercy San Juan Medical Center told her, no, it was infected. Cook met the nurses after seeking shelter for a night at Carmichael’s Christ Community Church on Manzanita Avenue. Homeless since Jan. 1, Cook said she’s looking into programs that offer transitional housing. “I can’t stay on the streets. I’m 53 years old, and I just can’t do it. It tears me up,” she said. “It’s embarrassing to be out there, the way people look at you and treat you. I didn’t choose this, but they still stereotype. It’s hurtful.” (Anderson, 2/19)

Los Angeles Times: Scientist Says Some Pollution Is Good For You — A Disputed Claim Trump’s EPA Has Embraced
In early 2018, a deputy assistant administrator in the EPA, Clint Woods, reached out to a Massachusetts toxicologist best known for pushing a public health standard suggesting that low levels of toxic chemicals and radiation are good for people.“I wanted to check to see if you might have some time in the next couple of days for a quick call to discuss a couple items …,” Woods wrote to Ed Calabrese. Less than two weeks later, Calabrese’s suggestions on how the EPA should assess toxic chemicals and radiation were introduced, nearly word for word, in the U.S. government’s official journal, the Federal Register. (Rust, 2/19)

Orange County Register: LA County Board Of Supervisors Will Likely Vote To Oppose Quemetco’s Expansion, Push For More Lead Pollution Tests
In a motion set for a vote on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors stands ready to oppose expansion of a lead-acid battery recycling facility in City of Industry with a history of state and local violations. The five-member board is prepared to throw its full weight behind a position previously expressed by Supervisor Janice Hahn in a three-fold motion that asks the state to deny a permit that would allow Quemetco to increase operations by 25 percent and operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. (Scauzillo, 2/18)

Los Angeles Times: Family Of Mentally Ill Anaheim Man Say Police Choked And Beat Him During Fatal 2018 Arrest
The family of a mentally ill Anaheim man who died in police custody last year has accused the arresting officers of choking him and failing to render medical aid after the violent clash, according to a federal lawsuit. Justin Perkins, 38, was beaten with batons and choked by two Anaheim officers at an apartment complex around 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 27, the lawsuit alleges. Perkins collapsed after the altercation, and the suit accuses the officers — identified as Shao Wang and Kenny Lee — of failing to get him medical aid for nearly 45 minutes. (Queally, 2/18)

San Jose Mercury News: East Bay Nun, Founder Of Bay Area Crisis Nursery Fired
On a recent Christmas, Sister Ann Weltz received a letter from a mother who years ago dropped her 2-year-old daughter at the Bay Area Crisis Nursery for one night’s care. The woman had been jobless and homeless and planned to spend the night of respite working with social workers on a plan to place her daughter up for adoption to give her a better life. But Sister Ann talked her out of it. And about 15 years later, the woman wrote to share her news: she was starting law school — and her little girl was heading to college. (Gafni, 2/16)

San Jose Mercury News: California Mail Carrier’s Heat-Related Death Prompts Bill To Require Air Conditioning In U.S. Postal Service Mail Trucks
Seven months after a mail carrier’s heat-related death in Woodland Hills, U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas introduced a bill Friday that if enacted would require all U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles to be equipped with air conditioning within three years. U.S. Postal Service carrier Peggy Frank, 63, was found dead in her non-air-conditioned mail truck on July 6, a day that temperatures soared to 117 degrees. The North Hills resident died of hyperthermia, an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the body to deal with heat coming from the environment. (Gazzar, 2/16)

The Washington Post: At Least 20 Abortion Cases Are In The Pipeline To The Supreme Court. Any One Could Gut Roe V. Wade. 
The Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 vote this month to block a restrictive Louisiana abortion law from taking effect provided some measure of consolation to reproductive rights advocates who feared the court’s new conservative majority would act immediately to restrict access to the procedure. But that relief is likely to be short lived. In the pipeline are at least 20 lawsuits, in various stages of judicial review, that have the potential to be decided in ways that could significantly change the rights laid out in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, and refined almost two decades later in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The 1992 decision said a state may place restrictions on abortion as long as it does not create an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to abortion. (Cha, 2/15)

The Washington Post: Democrats Call On Trump Administration To Delay Title X Family Planning Rule, Citing ‘Serious Concerns’
Democratic members of Congress are asking the Trump administration to slow down efforts to overhaul the $260 million family planning program, citing issues with what they call an “unconventional and nontransparent” review process. The proposed changes to the Title X program, which were announced last May, are a top priority of conservatives who helped elect the president. They would bar clinics that provide abortion services or referrals from receiving federal family-planning funds. A wide range of critics — from medical groups to abortion rights activists — have decried the effort as an attack on Planned Parenthood, which stands to lose millions of dollars a year if the changes go into effect. (Cha, 2/15)

The New York Times: Embryo ‘Adoption’ Is Growing, But It’s Getting Tangled In The Abortion Debate
As evangelical Christians, Paul and Susan Lim believe that life begins at conception. So when they decided to have a third child, in vitro fertilization was out of the question, since the process often yields extra embryos. But “adopting” the frozen embryos of another couple who had gone through I.V.F. was not. Dr. Lim called it a “rescue operation.” To him, transferring donated embryos to his wife’s uterus was akin to saving a life. “These children are being abandoned in a frozen state,” he said. “If they don’t get adopted, they’re dead.” (Lester, 2/17)

The Wall Street Journal: South Dakota Senator Moves For Evaluation Of Indian Health Service
Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, introduced legislation Thursday calling for a broad assessment of the U.S. Indian Health Service, following an investigation of the agency by The Wall Street Journal and the PBS series Frontline. The bill calls for a sweeping evaluation of the agency’s performance, including its long-term vacancies, how it allocates money to its more than two dozen hospitals and the competency of the agency’s leadership. The Journal/Frontline investigation revealed the Indian Health Service mishandled allegations of sexual assault by a pediatrician it employed for decades and routinely hired physicians with troubled backgrounds to fill slots at its remote hospitals on Native American reservations. (Weaver and Frosch, 2/15)

The Hill: Congress Allows Violence Against Women Act To Lapse
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which provides funding and grants for a variety of programs that tackle domestic abuse, lapsed at the end of Friday after Congress failed to pass an extension before leaving for its one-week recess. Lawmakers squabbled over whether a clean extension of the landmark legislation, which was first signed into law in 1994, should be wrapped into a massive must-pass government funding deal that was signed by President Trump on Friday. (Brufke, 2/16)

ProPublica: The VA Is Paying for a Top Official’s Cross-Country Commute
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid $13,000 over a three-month period for a senior official’s biweekly commute to Washington from his home in California, according to expense reports obtained by ProPublica. The official, Darin Selnick, is a senior adviser to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie and has played a key role in developing the administration’s controversial new rules on referring veterans to private doctors. The proposal, announced last month, has drawn opposition from some lawmakers and veterans groups. (Arnsdorf, 2/15)

The New York Times: As Measles Outbreak Flares, Vaccination Rates Soar And Some Come Off The Fence
The one-day immunization clinic at David Douglas High School in Portland, Ore., was hectic on Saturday, with a wait of 45 minutes to over an hour just to see a nurse. But Cameron Wagner said that after balking this long at getting her 4-year-old son vaccinated, out of concerns about potential side effects, a few more minutes would not matter. “I’ve talked to more doctors and have weighed the options, and decided to come in and get a shot,” said Ms. Wagner, 46, a massage therapist. (Johnson, 2/16)

The Hill: Washington State House Committee Passes Bill To Ban Personal, Philosophical Vaccine Exemptions 
A Washington state House committee on Friday passed a bill to ban the personal or philosophical exemption for the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) for school-age children amid an outbreak of the virus. The bill passed through the state's Health Care and Wellness Committee, despite opposition from critics who say parents should have a right to choose whether to vaccinate their children, The Seattle Times reported. (Gstalter, 2/16)

The Wall Street Journal: ‘I Had No Idea I Was Having A Heart Attack’: For Women, The Signals Often Aren’t Clear
On a sunny day in Bellevue, Wash., in June 2011, I had just completed a workout class when I experienced a bizarre sensation of intense, full-body muscle fatigue. I broke into a bone-chilling sweat. My upper left arm throbbed, a deep ache next to the bone. I was heaving for air at a rapid clip. I grew nauseated. A fist was pressing through my chest to my spine. I was 56 years old, an exercise enthusiast, a nonsmoker and a retired cardiac-care nurse. And yet I had no idea that I was having a heart attack. It felt nothing like I’d imagined. It turns out that it’s hard to recognize a heart attack as it happens. (Oliveira, 2/18)