- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- As Marijuana Laws Relax, Doctors Say Pregnant Women Shouldn't Partake
- Sacramento Watch 1
- Bill Requiring Public Universities To Offer Medication Abortion Passes Calif. Senate
- Covered California & The Health Law 1
- Confusion Over Individual Mandate Reigns As Enrollment Deadline Inches Closer
- Marketplace 1
- Amazon Partners With Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan To Tackle 'Ballooning' Employee Health Care Costs
- Around California 2
- Hospitals Have Been Overwhelmed By Influx Of Patients This Flu Season
- Suit Filed To Halt Orange County's Efforts To Dismantle Homeless Encampment
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
As Marijuana Laws Relax, Doctors Say Pregnant Women Shouldn't Partake
Some mothers who smoke pot see it as a harmless remedy for everything from pain to postpartum depression. But doctors say the active ingredients in marijuana can be passed onto the baby and may affect developing nervous systems. (Sarah Varney, )
More News From Across The State
Bill Requiring Public Universities To Offer Medication Abortion Passes Calif. Senate
Medication abortion can be administered up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. One medication is administered in the clinic and a patient is given a second drug to take later at home.
The Associated Press:
California Senate Approves Medication Abortion On Campuses
California would be the first state to require public universities to offer medication abortion under legislation approved in the state Senate Monday, a bill that if signed into law would mark a vast expansion of a service that's rare on college campuses. None of the 34 University of California or California State University campuses currently offer abortion services at their health centers, instead referring students to outside providers. A group of private donors, some of them anonymous, plan to pay for up to $20 million in startup costs, including ultrasound equipment and training for both medical and billing staff. (Cooper, 1/29)
In other news from Sacramento —
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bill Would Expand Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplaces To All Of California
This bill mimics a recently implemented San Francisco ordinance, which as of Jan. 1 required businesses — both public and private — to provide lactation facilities to their workers by 2019, or face fines. Lactation rooms in offices mean mothers won’t have to choose between staying at home to express milk or doing it in an uncomfortable environment, like a restroom stall. (Thadani, 1/29)
Capital Public Radio:
California's Right-To-Die Law Still Has Some Kinks, Hearing Finds
Terminally ill patients can now legally choose to end their lives in California, but family members say taking advantage of the new policy is easier said than done. ...Other families had different problems. They couldn’t find doctors to prescribe the medication, or staff treating their loved ones in care facilities wouldn’t talk about the law at all. (Caiola, 1/29)
Covered California & The Health Law
Confusion Over Individual Mandate Reigns As Enrollment Deadline Inches Closer
Covered California officials say they're fielding questions about whether the individual mandate is in effect for this year. It is.
San Jose Mercury News:
Midnight Wednesday Is Sign-Up Deadline For 2018 Health Plans
As Wednesday’s midnight deadline approaches to enroll in a 2018 healthcare plan under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance broker Jonathan Greer is fielding calls from harried consumers buying policies at the last minute. He’s noticed, however, that many people are still confused about the recent repeal of the law that affects individuals.(Seipel, 1/29)
Amazon Partners With Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan To Tackle 'Ballooning' Employee Health Care Costs
The three corporate giants will create an independent company that will focus on technology to provide simplified, high-quality health care for their employees at a reasonable cost, the companies say. The health care industry has been nervously anticipating Amazon's entry as a competitor.
The Washington Post:
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway And JP Morgan Chase Join Forces To Tackle Employees’ Health Care Costs
Three major employers, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase, announced Tuesday they were partnering to create an independent company aimed at reining in health care costs for their employees. The independent company would be jointly led by executives from all three companies and would be focused on technology that could increase transparency and simplify health care, according to the joint announcement. It will be free from the need to deliver a profit. (Johnson, 1/30)
The New York Times:
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway And JPMorgan Team Up To Disrupt Health Care
The three companies provided few details about the new entity, other than saying it would initially focus on technology to provide simplified, high-quality health care for their employees and their families, and at a reasonable cost. They said the initiative, which is in the early planning stages, would be a long-term effort “free from profit-making incentives and constraints.” (Wingfield, 1/30)
Bloomberg:
Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan Move To Target Health-Care Costs
The health-care industry has been nervously eyeing the prospect of competition from Amazon for months. While the new company created by Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan would be for their U.S. staff only, this is the first big move by Amazon into the industry. The new collaboration could pressure profits for middlemen in the U.S. health-care supply chain. (Tracer and Somayaji, 1/30)
CNBC:
Amazon, Berkshire And JPMorgan Chase To Partner On Health Care
"The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett said in a statement. "Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable. Rather, we share the belief that putting our collective resources behind the country's best talent can, in time, check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes." (Cox, 1/30)
Hospitals Have Been Overwhelmed By Influx Of Patients This Flu Season
Some are barring visitors from the waiting room to save chairs for patients, while others have had to set up tents to accommodate the overflow.
Fresno Bee:
If You Want Quick Care For The Flu, Don’t Go To A Hospital
Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno has been so busy this winter that the hospital has had to put the emergency department on lockdown, barring visitors from the waiting room to make seats available for patients. Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia is using a tent as an overflow waiting room for patients and family members who accompany them. Many of the patients in hospital emergency departments have the flu. This year’s virus strains are extremely infectious and harmful. California has reported 97 influenza deaths of people younger than age 65 through Jan. 20. (Anderson, 1/29)
In other news from across the state —
KPCC:
Orange County Woman, Whose Stem Cell Transplant Was Delayed By Officials, Dies
A Garden Grove woman with leukemia, who last fall pegged her hopes for recovery on a stem cell transplant from her sister in Vietnam, has died. Helen Huynh, 61, died from complications from pneumonia on Friday, her daughter Yvonne Murray said Monday. (Replogle, 1/29)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento School Program Teaches Girls How To Avoid Sex Trafficking
As California faces some of the highest numbers of sex trafficking victims in the country, the high-energy program attempts to empower girls before they become vulnerable. It teaches girls self-worth and focuses on building inner strength. (Lambert, 1/29)
Los Angeles Times:
Anxiety After Possible Tuberculosis Case At Burbank High School
Anxious parents peppered Los Angeles County health officials with questions about the safety of their children after an individual at Johns Burroughs High School was diagnosed with a possible case of tuberculosis recently. The two dozen parents who attended a special meeting held at the school wanted to know if their children had been exposed to the disease and if there was a risk of it spreading to the general public. Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health worked at assuaging their fears. (Nguyen and Carpio, 1/29)
Suit Filed To Halt Orange County's Efforts To Dismantle Homeless Encampment
People began relocating to a three-mile stretch of the Santa Ana River Trail last winter from the dismantled Fountain Valley encampment along the bike path.
The Associated Press:
Lawsuit Seeks To Stop Big California Homeless Camp Shutdown
A religious organization that serves the poor in Southern California filed a lawsuit Monday to try to stop local governments from forcing homeless people out of a big encampment along a riverbed trail. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by the Orange County Catholic Worker group and seven homeless people claims a broad range of violations of constitutional protections by the governments of Orange County and the cities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Orange. (1/29)
Orange County Register:
Nonprofit Group Sues The County To Stop Clearing Of Homeless Encampments Along Santa Ana Riverbed
“My personal rights, my civil rights, my constitutional rights have been violated,” said Larry Ford, one of seven homeless people on whose behalf the lawsuit was filed, along with the nonprofit homeless services provider Catholic Worker of Orange County. “It comes down to we have the right to be somewhere.” But county leaders say that “somewhere” can no longer be at the riverbed for people like Ford, who relocated last winter from the dismantled Fountain Valley encampment along the bike trail. (Walker and Graham, 1/29)
Wearables Don't Really Make People Healthier, But Don't Write Them Off Quite Yet
Researchers say the technology is ripe to be improved upon so that it will eventually be good enough to change health outcomes.
KQED:
Here’s What Two Systematic Reviews Of Digital Health Found
The primary question the researchers wanted to answer: Do these wearable biosensors make patients healthier? Not very much, was the conclusion. The analysis found no significant difference in health outcomes like weight or blood pressure for patients who used the devices and patients who didn’t. (Venton, 1/29)
In other public health news —
Los Angeles Times:
Sleep Cycle Troubles May Be Early Sign Of Alzheimer’s Disease
A new study finds that, in older people who show no signs of cognitive impairment, those with a sleep-wake cycle that is subtly off-kilter are more likely to have amyloid protein deposits in their brains. Those amyloid "plaques" are a hallmark of Alzheimer's, and they can develop years before symptoms of memory loss or thinking problems are evident. (Healy, 1/29)
Los Angeles Times:
Mental Illness Or Brain Injury? Driven By Voices To Commit Crime, Titus Young Is In Prison But Still Believes He Could Play In The NFL
The former NFL wide receiver with “FEAR GOD” etched on his biceps and his mother’s name written over his heart opened the worn black composition book with a faded newspaper photograph of retired NBA player Metta World Peace taped to the cover. Titus Young was once classified among the most dangerous inmates at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles and spent most of his days in lockdown. In early 2017, he started to write. (Fenno, 1/29)
Health care barely made an appearance in talking points the White House distributed to surrogates over the weekend. Some say it's because focusing on the topic would unnecessarily spotlight Republicans' failure over the past year to replace the Affordable Care Act.
Politico:
5 Things To Watch At Trump's First State Of The Union
State of Union speeches give presidents the chance to make their best case for the year ahead – and that pressure is particularly acute for President Donald Trump as he tries to help his party keep control of both chambers of Congress in the midterms. ... Recent polling from POLITICO/Morning Consult showed that 59 percent of voters surveyed want Trump to talk about improving the health care system, followed by 58 percent who want discussion of creating jobs and improving the economy. ... “I hope he makes some mention of it because it is important to conservative voters,” said Lanhee Chen, the policy director of the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign. (Cook, 1/30)
In other national health care news —
The Hill:
Dems Demand Answers From Trump Admin About Family Planning Program
Top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are demanding the Trump administration explain why it's running months behind in a process to fund organizations that supply reproductive health services to low-income women. There are about 60 days before Title X family planning grants expire for some recipients, and in the past, they've typically been given 60 to 90 days to apply for more funding. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also needs time to review and approve applications. (Hellmann, 1/29)
The New York Times:
Senate Rejects Measure To Ban Abortion After 20 Weeks Of Pregnancy
The Senate rejected a bill on Monday to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a largely symbolic vote aimed at forcing vulnerable Democrats to take a stand that could hurt their prospects for re-election in states won by President Trump. By a vote of 51 to 46, the measure fell well short of the 60-vote threshold required for the Senate to break a Democratic filibuster. The outcome was not a surprise, and the vote fell mostly along party lines. (Stolberg, 1/29)
Kaiser Health News:
No Car, No Care? Medicaid Transportation At Risk In Some States
Unable to walk or talk, barely able to see or hear, 5-year-old Maddie Holt waits in her wheelchair for a ride to the hospital. The 27-pound girl is dressed in polka-dot pants and a flowered shirt for the trip, plus a red headband with a sparkly bow, two wispy blond ponytails poking out on top. Her parents can’t drive her. They both have disabling vision problems; and, besides, they can’t afford a car. When Maddie was born in 2012 with the rare and usually fatal genetic condition called Zellweger syndrome, Meagan and Brandon Holt, then in their early 20s, were plunged into a world of overwhelming need — and profound poverty. (Aleccia, 1/30)
Kaiser Health News:
Idaho ‘Pushing Envelope’ With Health Insurance Plan. Can It Do That?
For the past year, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have led a charge to roll back the Affordable Care Act, signaling an openness to state changes. Now, Idaho has jumped in, saying it will allow insurers to ignore some ACA rules on plans not sold on the marketplace, aiming to make these state-based plans less costly. Several of the changes are viewed by the law’s supporters as hits to its core consumer protections. (Appleby, 1/30)
The Wall Street Journal:
Chemotherapy, A Trusty Weapon Against Cancer, Falls Out Of Favor
Chemo or no chemo? That is the question. Doctors are at odds over whether some women with breast cancer should have chemotherapy—one treatment among the arsenal long seen as crucial to fighting the disease, along with surgery and radiation. Many oncologists are shunning chemo as risky and ineffective at combating some early-stage breast tumors. Traditionally, the majority of women with invasive breast cancer were treated with some combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. (Lagnado, 1/29)
The Associated Press:
Child Experts: Just Say 'No' To Facebook's Kids App
Child development experts and advocates are urging Facebook to pull the plug on its new messaging app aimed at kids. A group letter sent Tuesday to CEO Mark Zuckerberg argues that younger children — the app is intended for those under 13 — aren't ready to have social media accounts, navigate the complexities of online relationships or protect their own privacy. (1/30)
The New York Times:
Strava Fitness App Can Reveal Military Sites, Analysts Say
A fitness app that posts a map of its users’ activity has unwittingly revealed the locations and habits of military bases and personnel, including those of American forces in Iraq and Syria, security analysts say. The app, Strava, which calls itself “the social network for athletes,” allows millions of users to time and map their workouts and to post them online for friends to see, and it can track their movements at other times. The app is especially popular with young people who are serious about fitness, which describes many service members. (Perez-Pena and Rosenberg, 1/29)
The New York Times:
Scientists Discover A Bone-Deep Risk For Heart Disease
It’s been one of the vexing questions in medicine: Why is it that most people who have heart attacks or strokes have few or no conventional risk factors? These are patients with normal levels of cholesterol and blood pressure, no history of smoking or diabetes, and no family history of cardiovascular disease. Why aren’t they spared? To some researchers, this hidden risk is the dark matter of cardiology: an invisible but omnipresent force that lands tens of thousands of patients in the hospital each year. But now scientists may have gotten a glimpse of part of it. (Kolata, 1/29)
The Washington Post:
How Many Eggs A Woman Should Freeze Depends On Her Age And These Other Factors
Actress Olivia Munn revealed on a podcast in 2016 that she had frozen her eggs. She was 35 at the time. “Every girl should do it,” she said confidently. “For one, you don't have to race the clock anymore. You don't have to worry about it, worry about your job or anything. It's there. ”When some celebrities, fertility clinic representatives and other proponents talk about egg freezing, they often make it sound like a sure thing. You go in, get your eggs put on ice, then go back a few years later. A doctor fertilizes them, puts the embryos inside you, and months later a baby pops out.If only it were that easy. (Cha, 1/29)