Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
‘Climate Grief’: Fears About The Planet’s Future Weigh On Americans’ Mental Health
Although there’s no official clinical diagnosis, the psychiatric and psychological communities have names for the phenomenon of worrying about the Earth’s fate: “climate distress,” “climate grief,” “climate anxiety” or “eco-anxiety.” The concept also is gradually making its way into the public consciousness in television shows and movies. (Victoria Knight, )
Good morning! A judge lowered a jury’s damage award from $80 million to $25 million for a California cancer victim who used Monsanto’s Roundup weed-killer. Read more about the decision below, but first here are your other top California health stories for the day.
A Year Out Of Medical School And No Debt: How California Is Paying Off Loans To Get Doctors To Take Low-Income Patients: In exchange for paying off the debt for selected physicians and dentists California is requiring the providers pledge that at least 30% of their caseloads will be devoted to Medi-Cal patients for five years. California will spend $340 million paying off doctors’ debts using Proposition 56 tobacco tax revenue. This month, the state offered its first awards — 40 dentists received $10.5 million in debt relief while 247 physicians received $58.6 million. The number of physicians who accept Medi-Cal patients — and the low reimbursement rate that comes with them — hasn’t kept pace with the rapid expansion of the state’s healthcare program for the poor, which covers 1 in 3 residents in the state. “California is facing a perfect storm — elderly who will need care and a lack of healthcare providers,” said Karen Bradley, president of the California Assn. for Nurse Practitioners. Read more from Melody Gutierrez of the Los Angeles Times.
Buying Hormones On Street Corners: How Uninsured Transgender Patients’ Unique Medical Needs Make A Bad Situation More Difficult: Being uninsured already impedes medical care, but that’s only exacerbated for transgender patients, who often have costly procedures and treatments to try to pay for. Hormonal therapies used in gender transitions can run thousands of dollars, not to mention the exorbitant costs for sex-reassignment and cosmetic surgeries. The need for mental health and therapeutic services tends to be particularly high among the transgender community as well, given the emotional issues and social stigmas they routinely encounter. And although estimates vary, national studies show that transgender adults are more likely to be without health insurance than the population as a whole, complicating efforts to provide the trans community with the medical services they need and desire. Transgender people also tend to distrust insurance because of discrimination they may have experienced in health care settings, advocates say. Read more from Deepa Bharath of the USC Center for Health Journalism Collaborative.
High Cost Of Living In California Contributing To So Many Of State’s Children Growing Up Impoverished: Even for families that are able to make rent or pay a mortgage, the high cost of housing in Santa Cruz County may put a strain on their ability to pay for other basic necessities, like food. “One of the things that we are seeing is that people who would be considered middle class come in and use our services,” said Suzanne Willis, the development and marketing officer at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Santa Cruz, which serves roughly 55,000 people per month, half of whom are children. “We are in this area where we have low wages and a super high cost of living, and it’s making it hard for any family to survive.” Social safety net programs may not capture all families who need support. To be eligible for CalFresh, the state’s primary food assistance program, a household of four needs to earn less than $4,184 per month. Households making more could find themselves caught between the cracks: Earning too much to be considered poor by official poverty metrics, but not enough to make ends meet after spending the bulk of their incomes on housing. Read more from Erica Hellerstein of the Mercury News.
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
San Francisco Chronicle:
Judge Lowers Monsanto Damage Award To Sonoma Man By $55 Million
The judge in the first federal court trial of lawsuits by cancer victims who used Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide criticized the company’s apparent indifference to health and safety Monday but said he was legally required to reduce a jury’s damage award. (Egelko, 7/15)
The Associated Press:
US Judge Slashes $80 Million Award In Monsanto Cancer Case
In March, a jury found that glyphosate was a likely cause of 70-year-old Edwin Hardeman’s diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Jurors awarded him $200,000 for economic losses, $3 million for past pain and suffering, another $2 million for emotional distress in his future years, and $75 million in punitive damages. Hardeman’s cancer is in remission. Chhabria refused Friday to overturn the jury’s verdict that Monsanto’s product was a likely cause of Hardeman’s cancer. (7/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
Judge Cuts $55 Million From $80 Million Roundup Verdict
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said the $75 million in punitive damages awarded to Mr. Hardeman by the six-person jury was excessive compared with the $5.3 million in other damages. The judge said $20 million in punitive damages, or roughly four times the compensatory damages, was more appropriate under U.S. Supreme Court guidelines. “Based on the evidence that came in at trial, Monsanto deserves to be punished,” Judge Chhabria wrote in his Monday ruling. The judge concluded that while the science is still mixed on whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the company didn’t seem to care about investigating whether its product may be carcinogenic. (Randazzo, 7/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Mayor Angered It Takes So ‘Damn Long’ To Build Housing As Homelessness Spikes
For years, San Francisco’s homeless count had stayed pretty consistent. Up 2% one year, down 3% another. Basically, the city was treading water on its most pressing crisis. But this year’s homeless count showed San Francisco is drowning. ...I asked [London] Breed what she thought of these horrible figures. (Knight, 7/16)
San Francisco Chroncile:
SF Proposes First ‘Safe’ Parking Lot For Homeless Living Out Of Vehicles
San Francisco plans to open its first facility to serve the rising population of homeless people living out of their vans and RVs. A parking lot near the Balboa Park BART Station will be turned into a “triage lot,” where people can park their vehicles overnight and access showers, bathrooms and services to help them find other housing options. (Thadani, 7/15)
KQED:
For Many, Overcoming Opioid Addiction Means Medication For Life
While the opioid crisis has not hit California as hard as some of the Eastern states, roughly 2,000 Californians die each year of an opioid overdose. In a bid to combat this, California's Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has invested $265 million since 2017 to increase access to medication-assisted treatment throughout the state. Tomás' story offers a window into what America's opioid crisis may look like in the future: people on medication to treat their addiction for years, or even for the rest of their lives. (Klivans, 7/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
PG&E Makes Thousands Of Repairs After Inspections
PG&E Corp. said it is working to repair nearly 10,000 problems it discovered throughout its electrical system as it steps up efforts to prevent its equipment from sparking more wildfires. The company posted to its website the results of an accelerated inspection process that began late last year. The company said it discovered more than 1,000 immediate safety risks and has repaired nearly all of them, as well as thousands of other lower-priority ones. But it is still working through more than 3,700 repairs as California’s wildfire season proceeds. (Blunt and Gold, 7/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
PG&E Says Power Line Inspections Revealed 10,000 Problems — Some Needed Immediate Fixing
While scrambling in recent months to try to avoid setting off another deadly wildfire, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. found nearly 10,000 problems with its power equipment — including some that needed immediate action to be made safe, the utility said Monday. (Morris and Asimov, 7/15)
The New York Times:
‘Toxic Stew’ Stirred Up By Disasters Poses Long-Term Danger, New Findings Show
New research shows that the extreme weather and fires of recent years, similar to the flooding that has struck Louisiana and the Midwest, may be making Americans sick in ways researchers are only beginning to understand. By knocking chemicals loose from soil, homes, industrial-waste sites or other sources, and spreading them into the air, water and ground, disasters like these — often intensified by climate change — appear to be exposing people to an array of physical ailments including respiratory disease and cancer. (Flavelle, 7/15)
CalMatters:
Needles' Gun 'Sanctuary' Reflects An Often Forgotten California
The whole business began with a backyard barbecue.Tim Terral, a 50-year-old cable company worker recently elected city councilman in Needles, on the rural eastern edge of California, planned a cookout for some buddies who live just over the state line in Arizona. Nobody wanted to come.Under California law, they couldn’t bring their loaded firearms across the state line, so they all decided to stay home. (Glionna, 7/15)
Sacramento Bee:
Butte County Measles Outbreak Comes To An End
The measles outbreak in Butte County that began March 24 has ended, health officials announced Monday. A total of 13 measles cases were confirmed from the initial outbreak through May 31, according to a news release from the Butte County Public Health agency. Health officials consider a measles outbreak contained when two incubation periods pass without any new cases. Each incubation period lasts seven to 21 days – the time during which symptoms may develop in a person who has been exposed to the measles virus, according to the release. (Garza, 7/15)
San Francisco Chroncile:
Rare Disease Discovery: Antibodies Fighting Cancer Go On To Attack Brain
Three years after he was successfully treated for testicular cancer, Glenn Sauber began suffering disturbing neurological symptoms. (Allday, 7/15)
San Diego Union-Times:
Adult Center Accepts Caregiver Respite Vouchers
Generations Day Care is one of the first vendors in the Ramona area to participate in a county voucher program that helps defray the costs of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia-related respite care. The pilot program dubbed Respite Well began a trial rollout in March. It is designed to help caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s and dementia afford respite for themselves. Vouchers are provided as a subsidy so that San Diego County contributes 50 percent to respite expenses. (Gallant, 7/15)
Reuters:
Biden Healthcare Plan Draws Contrast With White House Rivals
Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden unveiled a $750 billion healthcare plan on Monday that he said would strengthen the Affordable Care Act, drawing a contrast with rivals who back a more sweeping "Medicare for All" government-run system. Biden portrayed White House rivals led by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who back a single-payer plan that eliminates private insurance, as a threat to former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare. (7/15)
The New York Times:
Joe Biden, Echoing Obama, Pledges To Shore Up The Affordable Care Act
It was the singular promise that doomed the public perception of President Barack Obama’s health care law — and now former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is using it on the campaign trail. “If you like your health care plan, your employer-based plan, you can keep it,” Mr. Biden told an AARP forum on Monday. “If you like your private insurance, you can keep it.” Mr. Biden restated nearly verbatim Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act promise — which was named Politifact’s “Lie of the Year” in 2013 and has been ridiculed by Republicans for years — as he detailed for the first time how he would tackle health care as president. (Epstein and Goodnough, 7/15)
The Hill:
Biden: If You Like Your Private Health Insurance, 'You Can Keep It'
But the law has provided 20 million people with health insurance, and it’s now more popular than ever. Biden is running on protecting ObamaCare. He is banking the law’s popularity will convince voters that his plan of shoring up the law with more subsidies and a public option is a better approach than Medicare for All. “You get your choice, you get full coverage … I think it’s the quickest, most reasonable, rational and best way to get to universal coverage,” he said. (Weixel, 7/15)
The Associated Press:
Biden Cancer Nonprofit Suspends Operations Indefinitely
A nonprofit foundation set up by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden that relied on health care world partnerships to speed a cure for cancer has suspended its operations, it announced Monday. The Biden Cancer Initiative's sudden move to cease its activities comes two years after it was founded in 2017 by the former vice president and his wife, Jill, as a philanthropic extension of Biden's stewardship of the White House Cancer Moonshot program. (7/15)
Politico:
How Kamala Harris Would Address Rising Drug Prices
Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced a plan to reduce prescription drug costs and rein in pharmaceutical companies, including linking the price of drugs to their prices in other countries. The California senator is expected to promote the plan at an AARP forum in Davenport, Iowa. (Siders, 7/16)
The Associated Press:
Medicare Moving Toward Covering Acupuncture For Back Pain
Medicare says it's moving toward potentially covering acupuncture for chronic low back pain as an alternative to opioid painkillers that can become addictive. The agency announced its initial decision Monday. For now, access will be limited to seniors signed up in government-approved clinical studies. Medicare says more evidence is needed before broad approval can be considered. (7/15)
The Associated Press:
Trump Abortion Restrictions Effective Immediately
Taxpayer-funded family planning clinics must stop referring women to abortion providers immediately, the Trump administration said Monday, declaring it will begin enforcing a new regulation hailed by religious conservatives and denounced by medical organizations and women's rights groups. The Health and Human Services department formally notified family planning clinics that it will begin enforcing the ban on abortion referrals, along with a requirement that clinics maintain separate finances from facilities that provide abortions. (7/15)
The New York Times:
$3.6 Million In Pay For Head Of Nonprofit Shelter Operator
The leader of the nation’s largest provider of migrant shelters for children was paid $3.6 million during the charity’s most recent tax year, even as the nonprofit organization came under intense scrutiny for its high compensation packages for executives and for its decision to accept children separated from their families by the Trump administration. Juan Sanchez, the chief executive of Southwest Key Programs, received that income, which included life insurance and retirement benefits, between September 2017 and August 2018. (Barker, Kulish and Ruiz, 7/15)
Reuters:
Netflix Deletes Suicide Scene From Popular Youth Show,' 13 Reasons Why'
Netflix Inc. is removing a controversial graphic scene depicting a youth suicide from its popular young adult drama "13 Reasons Why", following advice from medical experts, the company said on its Twitter account early on Tuesday. The show, based on a book of the same name, depicts the suicide of the protagonist in the last episode of season 1, with a scene of the youth Hannah slitting her wrists in a bathtub. (7/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Blood Test For Alzheimer’s Disease Moves Closer To Becoming A Reality
Doctors are hoping for something to use during routine exams, where most dementia symptoms are evaluated, to gauge who needs more extensive testing. Current tools such as brain scans and spinal fluid tests are too expensive or impractical for regular checkups. "We need something quicker and dirtier. It doesn't have to be perfect" to be useful for screening, said Maria Carrillo, the Alzheimer's Assn.'s chief science officer. Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, called the new results "very promising" and said blood tests soon will be used to choose and monitor people for federally funded studies. It will take a little longer to establish their value in routine medical care, he said. (Marchione, 7/15)
Politico:
Some Providers Fear 'Brave New World' Of Freed Patient Health Data
Hospital executives, with some support in Congress, are lobbying for more regulation to protect health information from unscrupulous data mongers. But HHS is pushing forward with rules that leave that responsibility in patients’ hands. As federal rule-makers grapple with making patient data more easily shareable, some health leaders fear that their actions could lead to a proliferation of apps selling or exploiting medical data. They worry that patients are likely to sign away their rights to data — perhaps including detailed family histories — without realizing what they're doing. (Ravindranath, 7/15)