Los Angeles Times: Judge Allows Anthem To Continue Sales Of Stripped-Down Insurance Policies
A judge ruled Tuesday against a restraining order that would have stopped Anthem Blue Cross from switching 500,000 Californians to health insurance plans offering no coverage for out-of-network care. A consumer group had asked the judge for the restraining order after Anthem sent notices saying customers would be automatically switched into plans that paid nothing for doctors and hospitals outside the network if they did not change to another insurer by Dec. 15. (Petersen, 11/15)

Los Angeles Times: Pomona Hospital Employees Say Patients Are At Risk Of Superbug Infections 
Employees of one of the San Gabriel Valley’s largest hospitals say they that fear patients are being sickened by dirty conditions that management has ignored. “I pick up bone, blood and flesh,” said Leticia Duarte, an environmental services employee at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. “It can be on the walls and ceiling. We use mops to clean up. We’re not trained how to handle that.” (Peterson, 11/16)

In other hospital news —

Fresno Bee: Clovis Mental Health Hospital Plan Put On Hold
Plans for a controversial behavioral health hospital in Clovis have been scrapped, at least for now, by the company that wanted to build it. The company’s lawyer confirmed Tuesday that the company chose to terminate its escrow on the site northwest of Highway 168 and Herndon Avenue. Universal Health Services had plans to build a 102-bed facility in the city’s Dry Creek Business Park. The project passed the Clovis Planning Commission in September, but will not be taken up by the City Council for final approval anytime soon. (Benjamin, 11/15)

The Mercury News: EpiPen Manufacturer Target Of Class Action Lawsuit Filed In Bay Area
Already under investigation by two federal agencies, the pharmaceutical company at the center of the EpiPen controversy is facing another Northern California-based class-action lawsuit over allegations of price gouging. The complaint against Mylan, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco last week on behalf of San Francisco resident Robin Kozelka and others affected, said the case arises out of “one of the most shocking and cruelest examples of corporate greed in recent memory.” (Seipel, 11/15)

Ventura County Star: Ventura County Sets Policies, Draws Line For Aid-In-Dying Law
Betsy Davis, of Ojai, saw California's new aid-in-dying law as a way to wrestle control of her life and death away from the crippling disease ALS. "You become trapped inside your own body," Kelly Davis said of her sister's decision to use fatal medication to die after watching the sun set in Ojai on July 24. "She said, 'I do not want to be entombed.'" California's End of Life Option Act became law in June. On Tuesday, the same day Kelly Davis told her story, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved the same kind of policies established by health systems across the state. In a 4-1 vote, supervisors endorsed guidelines allowing doctors at county-run hospitals and clinics to make individual choices on whether to participate in a law aimed at allowing terminally ill people to use medication to end their lives. (Kisken, 11/15)

Sacramento Bee: Elevated Lead Levels Found In The Yards Of 11 Homes Near Closed City Gun Range 
Elevated levels of lead have been discovered in the yards of 11 homes near a closed indoor gun range in south Sacramento’s Mangan Park, city officials said Tuesday. Tests of the soil in 29 yards near the city-owned James G. Mangan Rifle and Pistol Range last month found 11 with lead above the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control screening level for residences. (Lillis, 11/15)

In other health care news from across the state —

San Francisco Chronicle: City, UCSF And Nonprofits Join In Unique Cancer-Fighting Effort
San Francisco officials will join with nonprofit groups and UCSF leaders Wednesday to announce a unique and aggressive initiative aiming to cut cancer deaths and overall rates in the city, especially among minority communities disproportionately hurt by the disease. The program, funded initially by a $3 million private donation, will focus first on the five most common cancers: prostate, breast, liver, colorectal and lung. (Allday, 11/16)

Orange County Register: UCI Awarded $1.2 Million For Prostate Cancer Study 
UC Irvine has been awarded $1.2 million for a personalized medicine study that will help men with prostate cancer choose the most effective treatment based on genetics and other health conditions. On Tuesday, the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine funded six projects intended to “harness the power of advanced computing to better diagnose, treat and prevent disease.” (Perkes, 11/15)

Ventura County Star: Connecting The Dots To Healthy Eating In Ventura County
What does the dot mean? Visit one of seven markets in Ventura County and you'll spot red and green dots scattered on the shelves. They're not price tags or inventory markings. They're there to help people understand which foods are best for them if they have heart issues or diabetes. The seven markets, located in five cities in the county, have partnered with the Westminster Free Clinic program called Corazonas Sanos, Spanish for "healthy hearts." The program, which started two years ago and is funded primarily by AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation’s Connections for Cardiovascular Health, helps 235 Ventura County residents each year. (Doyle, 11/15)

KQED: Mantis Shrimp's Incredible Eyesight Yields Clues For Detecting Cancer
Mantis shrimp, a group of aggressive, reef-dwelling crustaceans, take more than one first-place ribbon in the animal kingdom. Outwardly, they resemble their lobster cousins, but their colorful shells contain an impressive set of superpowers. Now, scientists are finding that one of those abilities — incredible eyesight — has potential life-saving implications for people with cancer. (Kennerson and Boyle, 11/15)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: Undetected Ebola Infections Suggest The Disease Spread More Widely Than Thought
As many as 25% of those infected with the Ebola virus during the recent four-year outbreak in West Africa may have experienced few if any symptoms and lived on without ill effects, new research suggests. Indeed, the immune systems of these people — the telltale sign of their infection — would allow them to withstand reinfection with the Ebola virus. (Healy, 11/15)

Los Angeles Times: Teen Birth Rate In Rural America Is Nearly Two-Thirds Higher Than In Urban America, CDC Says
The teen birth rate in America’s small towns is 63% higher than in its biggest cities, a new government report reveals. In 2015, there were 18.9 births for every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19 living in counties with large urban areas, according to a report published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That compares with 30.9 births per 1,000 women in the same age group who lived in rural counties, the report said. (Kaplan, 11/16)

The Associated Press: Trump's Path On Health Care Law Intersects With A Lawsuit
President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to preserve health insurance coverage even as he pursues repeal of the Obama-era overhaul that provided it to millions of uninsured people. How his administration handles a pending lawsuit over billions of dollars in insurance subsidies will reveal whether Trump wants an orderly transition to a Republican-designed system or if he'd push "Obamacare" over a cliff. Stripping away the subsidies at issue in the case would put the program into a free-fall. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/16)

In other national health care news —

The New York Times: Expect Medicaid To Change, But Not Shrivel, Under Donald Trump
The expansion of Medicaid, a central pillar of the Affordable Care Act, faces immense uncertainty next year, with President-elect Donald J. Trump and top Republicans in Congress embracing proposals that could leave millions of poorer Americans without health insurance and jeopardize a major element of President Obama’s legacy. But influential figures in surprising quarters of the new administration might balk at a broad rollback of Medicaid’s reach, favoring new conditions for access to the government insurance program for the poor but not wholesale cutbacks. (Pear, 11/15)

The Wall Street Journal: On Republicans’ Path To Health-Law Repeal, Questions Emerge
Ascendant Republicans who have put a repeal of the Affordable Care Act at the top of their to-do list face a set of early, key decisions that will test the party’s consensus on the issue. Among them: How much of the 2010 health law to strike early on, how soon and how closely to work with Democrats in shaping a replacement, and how much leeway to give consumers who might be caught without coverage in between a repeal and a new law. Lawmakers who weren’t necessarily expecting Donald Trump to win the presidency now see they can move ahead more boldly on the health law than they anticipated. (Radnofsky and Armour, 11/15)

Stat: The Players Who Are Set To Influence Trump On Health Care
It’s customary in the nation’s capital to hail members of the incoming administration by telling everyone in town how close you are to them. So many in conservative Washington lobbying circles and elsewhere are busy touting their relationships with President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers. There’s a benefit to proximity to power, especially now. At a time when nobody really knows how the Trump administration will regulate drugs and medical devices, fund scientific research, or repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act, relationships with the newcomers are viewed as critical to getting one’s issues on the table. (Kaplan, 11/15)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Used To Rail Against Drug Prices. Now The Industry's Allies Are Helping Shape His Agenda
Donald Trump and his congressional allies are making big plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act and overhaul other government health programs. But the president-elect appears to have downgraded plans to act aggressively to control rising drug prices, handing the pharmaceutical industry an early victory and providing another illustration of the influence of lobbyists on the new Trump administration, despite Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” of special interests in Washington. (Levey, 11/15)

The Associated Press: GOP Governors Hope To Move Fast On Making Promised Changes
Republicans are still celebrating their election victories, but the country's GOP governors warned this week that they need to move fast on many of the changes that have been promised to voters. ... Most of the GOP governors mentioned health care when discussing their top priorities. But it became evident they are not in complete agreement on how to unwind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that included an expansion of Medicaid, the nation's main safety net health care program for the poor. (Fineout, 11/16)