KPBS: Consumer Advocates: Obamacare Repeal Would Be Disastrous For California
A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals how dependent Californians are on federal subsidies to buy health insurance, a key component of the Affordable Care Act that GOP officials want to dismantle. The report reveals 1.2 million people who are enrolled in a Covered California plan are receiving subsidies this year. They’re getting an average of $309 a month in federal tax credits. Anthony Wright, executive director of the non-profit group Health Access California, said if federal subsidies are eliminated, most people will just drop their coverage. (Goldberg, 12/7)

Stat: CRISPR Hearing Puts University Of California On The Defensive
If the number and tenor of questions addressed to each side during oral arguments in the CRISPR patent fight is any indication of what the patent judges are thinking, the University of California has a steep hill to climb if it wants to overturn the 2014 decision awarding key CRISPR patents to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and win them for itself. A 45-minute hearing on Tuesday morning before a three-judge panel of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the arm of the US Patent and Trademark Office that hears challenges to patent decisions, offered the only oral arguments in the bitter fight over whether UC or the Broad deserves key patents on the CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology. (Begley, 12/6)

KPBS: A New Mother's Dilemma: Hospital Staff Play Crucial Role In Breast-Feeding 
Fortunately, Kai was born at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, where they have six board-certified lactation consultants on staff. Lactation consultants at this hospital check in with every new mom and make sure that they aren’t having any problems with breast-feeding... All of the staff at Scripps Encinitas have been trained on best practices to promote breast-feeding. Wolfrum said these include helping moms to initiate breast-feeding within an hour of birth. (Goldberg, 12/7)

Sacramento Bee: Mothers Donate Breast Milk At A Collection Spot In Sacramento 
Heeding a statewide call for mothers’ milk, a handful of parents came with babies in tow or toting coolers of frozen breast milk to free drop-off events this week in Sacramento. Mila Linhart, 4 months old, was sweetly oblivious as her mother handed over about 400 ounces of frozen breast milk on Tuesday, surplus that Elizabeth Pontarelli wanted to share with preemie babies like her daughter. (Buck, 12/6)

Sacramento Bee: Rideout Health Settles For $2.4 Million In Alleged Drug Management, Record-Keeping Violations 
Rideout Health, the Yuba-Sutter county nonprofit healthcare system, will pay $2.4 million to settle federal claims that it allegedly mishandled records for thousands of drug transactions within three of its healthcare facilities, according to a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice. ... The alleged violations were first investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration after it received information from the California State Board of Pharmacy that the system’s Fremont Medical Center was operating with an expired DEA registration. (Chavez, 12/6)

Capital Public Radio: Statewide Campaign Aims To Decrease Driving While Under The Influence Of Drugs 
The California Office of Traffic Safety has launched a campaign aimed at the rise in people driving while high on drugs. Last month, California voters legalized the use of recreational marijuana. The "D-U-I Doesn't Just Mean Booze" campaign highlights the consequences of using prescription and illegal drugs while operating a vehicle. (Johnson, 12/6)

In other public health news —

Sacramento Bee: In Sacramento, More Discover Health Benefits Of Fermented Foods 
The surge in popularity of fermented foods in recent years – eating them, creating them at home, exploring different cultures and cuisines – is based largely on the idea that this stuff can be really good for you.In today’s filtered, purified, sanitized, antibacterial world, you might think avoiding bacteria of any kind is a good thing. Turns out, plenty of bacteria, invisible to the naked eye, are plastered all over our food and working on our behalf. (Robertson, 12/6)

Los Angeles Times: Mass Shootings Can Be Prevented, This Anti-Gun-Violence Group Says: Here's A PSA To Show You How
Mass shootings are preventable, an anti-gun violence group says in a video PSA — and it has released a guide on how to spot the warning signs. The video, produced by a nonprofit formed by families of victims of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, starts out by focusing on a red-haired teenager who is bored at school. It follows the teen, Evan, as he exchanges messages engraved on a library desk with a mystery girl. Just as the two finally meet at the school gymnasium, another teen armed with a rifle appears in the doorway, sending students fleeing. (Agrawal, 12/6)

Orange County Register: Lawsuit Filed In Case Of Girl Who Lost Part Of Jaw In Anaheim Dental Infection Outbreak 
A negligence lawsuit on behalf of an 8-year-old girl who had part of her jaw bone removed after contracting an infection from contaminated water was filed Monday against Children’s Dental Group. Irvine attorney Daniel Hodes is representing Ericka Lorena Mendez and her guardian Kimberly Eufrasio. According to the suit filed in Orange County Superior Court, Eufrasio brought Ericka to Children’s Dental Group’s Anaheim clinic in June where she was told Ericka needed a pulpotomy or “baby tooth root canal.” (Perkes, 12/6)

In other news from across the state —

Fresno Bee: County Workers Get More Money For Insurance As Pension Debt Looms
Fresno County supervisors voted Tuesday to give employees $50 more per pay period to cover their higher health insurance rates, but another financial problem looms that could jeopardize the county’s ability to maintain those payments. The increased contribution costs the county about $9.1 million this year. The cost to the county’s general fund is $1.6 million, and the remainder is coming from state and federal funds that cover the wages of most county employees. The county will use surplus general fund dollars to cover its portion. (Benjamin, 12/6)

Sacramento Bee: Conjoined Twins Eva And Erika Sandoval Begin Separation Surgery 
Fused from the chest down, the twins from Antelope have managed to grow into talkative, playful toddlers while sharing a liver, bladder and some digestive tract as well as a third leg. Their parents and Stanford doctors, however, decided to go ahead with the dangerous surgery because of growing health risks if the twins stayed conjoined. Only a few hundred surgeries have ever been performed successfully to separate conjoined twins, and doctors calculated a 30 percent chance that one or both twins wouldn’t make it through Tuesday’s operation. (Caiola, 12/6)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Can Resume Shipping Sewage Sludge To Kern County After Judge Overturns Voters' Ban 
A judge has struck down a voter initiative passed in 2006 that banned dumping of about 450,000 tons a year of treated human waste from Southern California on Kern County farmland. Tulare County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Hicks, in a 48-page opinion issued Monday, ruled that Measure E “is invalid and void for all purposes, for the dual reasons that it exceeds Kern’s police power and is preempted by state law.” (Sahagun, 12/6)

The Associated Press: Study: 'Obamacare' Repeal-Only Would Make 30M Uninsured
Repealing President Barack Obama's health care law without a clear replacement risks making nearly 30 million people uninsured, according to a study released Wednesday. Republicans say that won't happen because they are working on replacement legislation for a President Donald Trump to sign. Nonetheless, the complex two-stage strategy the GOP Congress is contemplating has raised concerns. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/7)

The Washington Post: Hospitals Warn Trump, Congress Of Massive Losses With Affordable Care Act Repeal
The nation’s hospital industry warned President-elect Trump and congressional leaders on Tuesday that repealing the Affordable Care Act could cost hospitals $165 billion by the middle of the next decade and trigger “an unprecedented public health crisis.” The two main trade groups for U.S. hospitals dispatched a letter to the incoming president and Capitol Hill’s top four leaders, saying that the government should help hospitals avoid massive financial losses if the law is rescinded in a way that causes a surge of uninsured patients. (Goldstein, 12/6)

The New York Times: Health Insurers List Demands If Affordable Care Act Is Killed
The nation’s health insurers, resigned to the idea that Republicans will repeal the Affordable Care Act, on Tuesday publicly outlined for the first time what the industry wants to stay in the state marketplaces, which have provided millions of Americans with insurance under the law. The insurers, some which have already started leaving the marketplaces because they are losing money, say they need a clear commitment from the Trump administration and congressional leaders that the government will continue offsetting some costs for low-income people. (Abelson, 12/6)

The New York Times: Senate Republican Leaders Vow To Begin Repeal Of Health Law Next Month
Senate Republican leaders, after meeting with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, said on Tuesday that they would move immediately next month to start repealing the Affordable Care Act, despite qualms among some of their members. ... Republicans have not fleshed out a plan to replace the 2010 health care law, President Obama’s signature legislative achievement. But on Tuesday they laid out their principles for a replacement plan and said they would try to minimize disruption for the 20 million people who have gained coverage under the law. (Pear, 12/6)

In other national health care news —

The Wall Street Journal: Women Face 20% Higher Health-Care Costs In Retirement, Survey Finds
When it comes to saving for health-care costs in retirement, women need to set aside more—almost 20% more, on average—to cover their medical bills in the final years of their lives. That is the conclusion of a report released Wednesday by HealthView Services, a Danvers, Mass., company that provides retirement health-care cost data and tools to financial advisers. The reason for the gap is simple: longevity. On average, women live about two years longer than men. As a result, a 65-year-old woman has a life expectancy of 89, versus 87 for a man of the same age. (Tergesen, 12/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Pharma, Short On Blockbusters, Outsources The Science
French drug giant Sanofi SA is betting that a biotech partnership named after a Star Trek premise will help it crack one of the biggest mysteries in pharmaceutical research: molecules that drive diseases, including some cancers, that have been considered “undruggable” because of their shape. Four-and-a-half years in, Sanofi now believes its partnership, Warp Drive Bio, is close to getting its first new drug candidate. But the path has been painful. The venture has gone through three CEOs, two organizational structures, dizzying shifts in priorities—and so far, no marketable products. (Rockoff, 12/6)