Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California Bill Would Fight Deals That Delay Generic Drugs
As California Attorney General Xavier Becerra cracks down on pharmaceutical companies he said paid competitors to delay generic versions of their drugs, he’s also pushing for legislation that would give his department tools to catch more of them. It’s the first of its kind in the nation. (Ana B. Ibarra, )
Good morning! There was an intra-party brawl over health care at the first night of the latest set of Democratic debates. Check out more on that below, but first here are your top California health stories for the day.
San Francisco Spends More Than $300 Million A Year Fighting Homelessness. Why Is It Not Working?: On June 18, 36 Chronicle journalists spread across the city to document a typical 24-hour period in this epidemic, witnessing an unrelenting cycle of striving and suffering, of some people finding their footing and others falling through. … Jeff Kositsky drives down Evans Avenue in the Bayview district, toward the water, chasing a report of a surge of occupied RVs. This is the kind of thing Kositsky, head of the city's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, does on his way into the office. He likes to stay in touch with the street. And this tip is especially relevant. Since 2017, the number of people living in RVs, cars and other vehicles has jumped by 45% to 1,794 — a growing crisis tagged to rising rents that the city is struggling to address. “Is success that they leave and don’t come back?” he asks. “Or is it just that they drive around the corner and move somewhere else? It’s hard to know what success means.” Read more about the day from the San Francisco Chronicle journalists.
Meanwhile, advocates are dubious about the state’s recently proposed “right to shelter” plan, which would legally obligate homeless people to accept a shelter bed if offered. No legislation has been proposed yet. But two civil rights groups say that such a law would be bad policy and potentially violate a person’s Constitutional rights. Read more from Chris Nichols of Capital Public Radio.
While Mass Shootings In California Haven’t Become More Prevalent, They Have Become More Deadly: An analysis of state data found that over the past two decades, there have been at least 67 mass-casualty shootings in California, claiming a total of 251 lives and leaving scores more injured or traumatized. By that standard, the number of mass shootings has ebbed and flowed in California since the late 1990s, neither increasing nor decreasing dramatically. But when the tragedies do occur, they have grown more devastating, a trend researchers have also noted nationally. Of the 10 worst shootings in California between 1999 and 2018 — those that claimed five or more lives — all but two occurred in the relatively short window between 2011 and 2018. Read more from Joaquin Palomino 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
Sacramento Bee:
Newsom Signs Law To Prohibit Condoms As Evidence Of Sex Work
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Tuesday that prohibits condoms as evidence of prostitution when prosecuting someone for sex work crimes. Sex workers are also protected under the new law from arrest when they report rape and other serious felonies. (Wiley, 7/30)
Oakland Tribune:
Contra Costa Supervisors Approve Mental Health Care Facility In Walnut Creek
After a lengthy discussion about the need for more mental health facilities and treatment, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed Tuesday to convert an elder care facility to a treatment center for people experiencing mental health crises. In doing so, the board denied an appeal by two neighbors who wanted the project blocked because they feared it threatens public safety and could lower property values. Dr. Gregory Braverman and his organization, National Psychiatric Care and Rehabilitation Services, wants to turn an elderly care facility at 2181 Tice Valley Blvd. in unincorporated Walnut Creek into a social rehabilitation facility for up to 12 clients the first six months and up to 16 afterwards. (Sciacca, 7/31)
Los Angeles Times:
E. Coli Deaths And Infections Spark Claims Against San Diego Fair Board
One month after an E. coli outbreak shut down all animal exhibits at the San Diego County Fair, three families have filed claims against the government agency that runs the annual event. They allege more could have been done to prevent the serious infections that killed one young boy and sickened nearly one dozen children. (Sisson, 7/30)
Los Angeles Times:
San Diego Inmate Awarded $12M After Injury In County Jail
A San Diego Superior Court jury has awarded more than $12 million to a North County man who suffered irreparable brain damage after sheriff’s deputies arrested him on suspicion of public drunkenness, interrupting paramedics who were treating him. It is one of the largest jury awards in recent history involving San Diego County, which has seen a growing number of lawsuits against the Sheriff’s Department filed by injured jail inmates and family members of inmates who died in custody. (Davis and McDonald, 7/30)
Sacramento Bee:
Family Of Brandon Smith Sue Sacramento For Police Custody Death
The mother and children of a man who died in Sacramento police custody last year have sued the city of Sacramento and Sacramento County in federal court. Brandon Smith’s mother, Yolanda Smith, along with his three minor children, represented by guardian Keyanna Washington, filed the wrongful death lawsuit last week in federal court. (Clift, 7/30)
Sacramento Bee:
UC Davis Set Up Free Sunscreen Dispensers In Roseville, Davis
With the Central Valley heating up to triple-digit summer temperatures, parks and swimming pools are once again very popular – and potentially perilous – destinations in the Sacramento region. This year, UC Davis is helping residents protect themselves from harmful UV rays by giving out free sunscreen at more than a dozen locations in Roseville and Davis. The 6-foot-tall “tower” dispensers are hard to miss, standing in the shade under big white umbrellas and featuring four perenially popular letters – “FREE” – in large white-on-blue characters. (Ghisolfi, 7/31)
Sacramento Bee:
Elk Grove Mother And Son Open Senior Care And Support Business
Elk Grove businesswoman Rachael Hoskins began addressing senior hunger and isolation as a volunteer in 1994 – to fight her own ageist prejudice, she said. After her father died of lung cancer, Hoskins felt resentment, even rage, toward a group that to her appeared passive and unappreciative of life. For nearly a decade, Hoskins walked the streets of Southern and later Northern California with her toddler son Jesse, giving out meals and resources, and learning to empathize with older adults abandoned in the streets or neglected in housing facilities. (Ghisolfi, 7/30)
The New York Times:
Democratic Debate Turns Ferocious Over Health Care
It took only one question — the very first — in Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential primary debate to make it clear that the issue that united the party in last year’s congressional elections in many ways now divides it. When Jake Tapper of CNN asked Senator Bernie Sanders whether his Medicare for All health care plan was “bad policy” and “political suicide,” it set off a half-hour brawl that drew in almost every one of the 10 candidates on the stage. Suddenly, members of the party that had been all about protecting and expanding health care coverage were leveling accusations before a national audience at some of their own — in particular, that they wanted to take it away. “It used to be Republicans that wanted to repeal and replace,” Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana said in one of the more jolting statements on the subject. “Now many Democrats do as well.” (Goodnough, 7/30)
The Washington Post:
Evolution Or Revolution? Democrats’ Ideological Divisions Broke Into The Open In Their Detroit Brawl
The targets Tuesday were two of the most liberal and leading candidates in the field, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.), who were accused of embracing “free-everything . . . fairy tale” policies and making “impossible promises” that could compromise the party’s chances of winning back voters they lost in 2016 — a loss that cost them the White House. Warren and Sanders more than stood their ground during two spirited hours of sharp and passionate exchanges. (Balz, 7/31)
The New York Times:
Sanders And Warren Battle Accusations Of ‘Fairy Tale’ Promises As Intraparty Rift Flares
The most protracted exchanges of the night, and by far the most substantive ones, concerned Mr. Sanders’s signature proposal to replace private health insurance with a single-payer system of the kind employed in Canada and a number of European countries. Mr. Delaney and the other moderates attacked the proposal from the first minutes of the debate, calling it a politically toxic idea that would void the health care plans of union members and of employees of private businesses. “We don’t have to go around and be the party of subtraction, and telling half the country, who has private health insurance, that their health insurance is illegal,” Mr. Delaney said. (Burns and Martin, 7/30)
Politico:
Moderates Go After Progressives In Dem Debate
Warren added that Democrats aren’t trying to take away health care from Americans. “That’s what the Republicans are trying to do,” she said. “And we should stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to best provide that health care.” (McCaskill, 7/30)
The Washington Post:
Here Are The Democrats’ Three Key Disputes About Medicare-For-All
Sanders has said that his single-payer plan would raise taxes on the middle class but that amount would be more than offset because people would no longer pay deductibles, co-payments or premiums for health insurance. Sanders has said one option to fund Medicare-for-all would be from a 4 percent tax on employees, exempting families earning less than $29,000. Warren appeared to join Sanders in making that argument under pressure from CNN’s Jake Tapper to answer whether she supports raising middle-class taxes to pay for the plan. ... But other candidates have sought to embrace proposals that are less expensive. (Stein, 7/31)
Politico:
Democrats Brawl Over 'Medicare For All' During Debate
The Tuesday debate will tee up an an even starker contrast on health care on Wednesday, when former Vice President Joe Biden is again likely to advocate for a more incremental health plan that pulls the party back from its leftward lurch and Sen. Kamala Harris promotes her new twist on Medicare for All. Harris' new plan, which she released on Monday, could upend the dynamics of an issue that's energized Democratic voters — but one that more moderate Democrats worry will hurt the party’s shot at defeating President Donald Trump. (Pradhan and Cancryn, 7/30)
The Washington Post Fact Check:
Fact Check Of Second Democratic Debate
“Tonight in America as we speak, 87 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured but the health-care industry made $100 billion in profits last year," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). In the first part of his statement, Sanders is quoting from a 2019 report from the Commonwealth Fund. The report said that the number of people who are uninsured — 24 million — had declined since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, but that more people are “underinsured.” That term refers to out-of-pocket costs that exceed 10 percent of income (or 5 percent of income if low-income, as well as deductible that were more than 5 percent of income. It also covers people who may have had a gap in insurance coverage. The report said that 43.8 million people had insurance but were underinsured, while 19.3 million people had a coverage gap. (Kessler, Rizzo and Kelly, 7/30)
The New York Times:
Pete Buttigieg On Gun Violence: ‘I Was Part Of The First Generation That Saw Routine School Shootings’
Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Gov. Steve Bullock on Tuesday night both spoke in stark terms about how the epidemic of gun violence had personally affected them. During the Democratic presidential debate, Mr. Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., recalled being in high school when two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. “I was part of the first generation that saw routine school shootings,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “We have now produced the second school shooting generation in this country. We dare not allow there to be a third.” (Corasaniti, 7/30)
Sacramento Bee:
2020 Debate: Gilroy Victim Stephen Romero, 6, Invoked On Guns
A candidate debating gun control at Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary debate invoked the youngest victim of the mass shooting Sunday at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California. “When that little 6-year-old boy died, Stephen Romero, when his dad said, ‘he’s only 6 years old’ — all I can say is: He’s 6 years old. We have to remember that,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as she called for gun control measures such as universal background checks. (Gilmour, 7/30)
The Hill:
Bullock To Warren On Immigration: 'You Are Playing Into Donald Trump's Hands'
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) on Tuesday accused Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) of playing into President Trump’s hands on immigration by calling to decriminalize illegal border crossings. In a heated exchange during Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate, Warren argued that the law criminalizing border crossings allowed Trump to separate families and jail children. “We need to fix the crisis at the border, and a big part of how we do that is we do not play into Donald Trump’s hands, but he wants to stir up the crisis at the border, because that’s his overall message,” Warren said. (Elis, 7/30)
The Washington Post:
ACLU: U.S. Has Taken Nearly 1,000 Child Migrants From Their Parents Since Judge Ordered Stop To Border Separations
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union told a federal judge Tuesday that the Trump administration has taken nearly 1,000 migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border since the judge ordered the United States government to curtail the practice more than a year ago. In a lengthy court filing in U.S. District Court in San Diego, lawyers wrote that one migrant lost his daughter because a U.S. Border Patrol agent claimed that he had failed to change the girl’s diaper. (Sacchetti, 7/30)
The New York Times:
No More Family Separations, Except These 900
Family breakups have been imposed with even greater frequency in recent months under the Trump administration’s most widely debated immigration policy, ostensibly to protect the welfare of the children, but in many cases because of relatively minor criminal offenses in a parent’s past, such as shoplifting or public intoxication, according to tallies the Justice Department provided to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging the separations. Earlier this month, the acting Homeland Security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, said in testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee that separations were “rare” and made only “in the interest of the child.” (Jordan, 7/30)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Administration Has Separated 900 Migrant Children Despite Order To Stop Practice
The ACLU has been receiving monthly updates from the government on new separations over the past year. Of the 911, 678 were based on criminal conduct, 71 on gang affiliation, 20 for allegations of unfitness or safety concerns, 46 for unverified familial relationship and 24 for parental illness.The government’s explanations don’t get more specific than that in many cases, although the ACLU has been rounding out the record with sworn declarations from the network of attorneys who have been representing separated families. One father was separated with his three young daughters because he has HIV, according to one attorney. Another mother who broke her leg at the border did not immediately have her 5-year-old child returned once she was released. (Davis, 7/30)