- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- Thousands Of Medi-Cal Patients Regain Access To UC Davis In Deal With Insurer
- Courts 1
- Monsanto To Argue Judge Should Throw Out Jury's $289M Verdict In Case Over Roundup's Link To Cancer
- Elections 1
- A Closer Look At Prop. 4: Authorizing State To Borrow $1.5 Billion For Improvements At Children’s Hospitals
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Thousands Of Medi-Cal Patients Regain Access To UC Davis In Deal With Insurer
UC Davis Health has inked a deal with the insurer Health Net that will allow up to 5,000 Sacramento County Medi-Cal patients to get primary care from the university health system. The agreement comes about two months after UnitedHealth — the only insurer that had allowed its Medi-Cal members access to primary care at UC Davis — said it would terminate its contract with the university. (Rob Waters, )
More News From Across The State
Monsanto To Argue Judge Should Throw Out Jury's $289M Verdict In Case Over Roundup's Link To Cancer
Attorneys for the company called the San Francisco jury verdict “extraordinary” and said it requires “exceptional scrutiny," because they say regulators around the world have concluded on “multiple occasions” that the active ingredient in Roundup — glyphosate — is not a human carcinogen.
The Associated Press:
Jury's $289M Award In Roundup Cancer Suit Heads To Court
A San Francisco jury's $289 million verdict in favor of a school groundskeeper who says Roundup weed killer caused his cancer will face its first court test Wednesday. Agribusiness giant Monsanto will argue at a hearing that Judge Suzanne Bolanos should throw out the verdict in favor of DeWayne Johnson. Attorneys for the company say Johnson failed to prove that Roundup or similar herbicides caused his lymphoma, and presented no evidence that Monsanto executives were malicious in marketing Roundup. Bolanos was not expected to rule immediately. (10/10)
In other news from the courts —
Sacramento Bee:
Chiropractors Allege One Call Using Illicit Kickbacks
California chiropractors allege in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court that an aggressive middleman in the workers’ compensation arena is employing a novel kickback scheme to steer patients to providers willing to share more of their fees with the company. Sacramento-based California Chiropractic Association asserted in its court complaint that One Call Care Management is violating business and professions codes that have gotten health care practitioners prosecuted for fraud. (Anderson, 10/9)
Prop. 4 is the third bond measure voters have faced for children’s hospitals since 2004. Proponents of the measure — including the California Children’s Hospital Association and the hospitals — stand to gain millions of dollars if voters approve it in November.
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Bond Would Raise $1.5 Billion For Children’s Hospitals
California voters on Nov. 6 will decide whether to pass a bond measure, Proposition 4, that would authorize the state to borrow $1.5 billion for infrastructure improvements at 13 children’s hospitals across the state. Under the Children’s Hospital Bond Act of 2018, eight private, nonprofit, children’s hospitals — including UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in the Bay Area — would receive $135 million each. (Ho, 10/10)
Nonprofit Helps Bridge Affordability Gaps For Women Artists Struggling With Expensive Care Options
The Women’s Center for Creative Work has distributed $200,000 in small grants (usually $2,000 to $3,000) to artists with medical needs over the past three years.
Los Angeles Times:
For Female Artists Struggling To Afford Healthcare, Nonprofit Offers Grants To Help In Hard Times
Even with the wider availability of affordable insurance plans after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, many people still find themselves unable to seek care because of the cost of co-pays or deductibles, or treatments that aren’t covered by their plan. To help bridge some of these gaps in coverage, the Women’s Center for Creative Work, an L.A. nonprofit that focuses on feminist creative practices, launched an emergency healthcare grant in 2016. (Gluck, 10/9)
With Regulatory Threat From FDA Looming, Juul Beefs Up Lobbying Efforts
Last week, Juul brought in Josh Raffel, a former senior communications aide and crisis communications expert who has worked closely with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has taken steps in recent weeks to crack down on the e-cigarette company.
The Hill:
Juul Boosts Lobbying Amid FDA Scrutiny
E-cigarette maker Juul is ramping up its Washington lobbying operation as it tries to head off potential regulatory threats from the Trump administration and Congress. The company has been under scrutiny from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulators and lawmakers from both parties amid a massive surge in popularity for its products among teens. (Weixel, 10/10)
Trauma From Wildfires Still Haunts Survivors A Year Later
No comprehensive survey of fire-related injuries or hospitalizations from the Redwood Valley wildfire in Mendocino County has been compiled. But beyond the physical toll, grief has weighed heavily on the shoulders of the community in the months since.
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Burned In North Bay Wildfires, Survivors Continue Painful Healing
The Shepherds, now living in Ukiah, face many of the same challenges shared by an unknown number of people who were burned or otherwise hurt when flames torched parts of the region last fall. It’s unclear how many residents experienced similar injuries or smoke inhalation, a serious injury suffered by many who endured the flames. No comprehensive survey of fire-related injuries or hospitalizations has been compiled. And evacuations and closures of two major north Santa Rosa hospitals — Sutter Santa Rosa Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente — during the historic Tubbs fire complicate efforts to track those patients. (Callahan, 10/9)
KQED:
Santa Rosa's Recovery Is Far From Over, But Victims Lend A Hand To New Fire Survivors
It’s been a year since the deadly North Bay Fires, but head to any burned down neighborhood in Santa Rosa, and you might not think so. Most people haven’t even started rebuilding their homes yet. Even as those survivors are in the thick of their own insurance claims, they’re helping survivors of this summer’s wildfires navigate their recovery. (Hutson, 10/10)
In other news from across the state —
The Desert Sun:
Free Allergy Testing Offered By Eisenhower Health In Rancho Mirage
Allergy sufferers wanting to avoid costly tests to determine what is causing their itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, congestion and runny nose can find some relief at Eisenhower’s annual free allergy testing clinic. On Saturday, Oct. 13 anyone 4 years and older can find out just what is at the root of their allergies. Since allergies are a chronic condition, some people begin to think it is normal to have symptoms, and simply live with the problem. (Barkas, 10/8)
The legislation targets President Donald Trump's newly expanded short-term plan coverage, which for the Democrats has become a proxy for the Republicans' supposed willingness to roll back protections on preexisting conditions.
The Wall Street Journal:
Democrats Counter Trump Push For Cheaper, Limited Health Plans
Democrats are fighting to derail the White House’s push for cheaper, less-robust health plans, seeking to leverage the issue for advantage over the Republicans ahead of the mid-term elections. The fight over shorter-term plans—which went on sale this month and are free from many Affordable Care Act requirements—is emerging as a proxy for the broader battle over health care. Democrats say the proliferation of such plans will raise premiums for older and less healthy people by letting healthier consumers out of coverage that complies with the ACA. Republicans say the effect won’t be significant and that all consumers will benefit by having more choice. (Armour, 10/9)
The Hill:
Dems To Force Health Care Vote Weeks Before Nov. Midterms
Senate Democrats on Wednesday plan to force a vote on a health-care measure in an effort to put Republicans on the record against pre-existing condition protections ahead of the midterm elections. Democrats say the vote will highlight that President Trump and congressional Republicans support the expansion of non-ObamaCare plans which can deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, an issue that Democrats have made the centerpiece of their electoral strategy. (Sullivan, 10/10)
In other election news —
The Washington Post:
How Eight Years – And President Trump – Have Changed The GOP's Tune On Medicare
Four weeks from today, Republicans will try to hold on to the House of Representatives with a message that buries the tea party movement deep underground: Keep us in charge, and we won't touch Medicare or Social Security. In TV spots, Republican candidates promise that they'll protect entitlements and save the most popular parts of the Affordable Care Act. In attack ads, the National Republican Congressional Committee warns that Democrats "support cutting $800 billion from Medicare." In debates, Republican candidates argue that Democrats who favor Medicare-for-all would bring about "Medicare for None." (Weigel, 10/9)
The New York Times:
Democrats Are Ignoring One Key Voting Group: Veterans
With control of Congress at stake in next month’s midterm elections, Democrats have a rare opportunity to gain a foothold against President Trump’s Republican Party. But if they come up short, it may be in part because of a failure to pursue a key group of voters. It’s a constituency that makes up 13 percent of the voting population, enjoys high voter turnout and is especially concentrated in some decisive swing states. That group is military veterans — and in the battle for their votes, the Democratic Party lags far behind the Republicans. According to organizers on both sides of the contest, the Democratic National Committee seems to be pursuing a strategy that focuses on running veterans as candidates instead of organizing to reach veteran voters — the D.N.C. tried that approach more than a decade ago, and it didn’t work. (Craven, 10/10)
Dems Know What Immigration Policies They Don't Like, But Struggle To Reach A Cohesive Path Forward
Democrats have expressed outrage over how the Trump administration has handled immigration problems, a fury that was amplified by the "zero tolerance" policy enacted this year. But the factions within the party are split about which direction they should move in. Meanwhile, drug-trafficking prosecutions plunge to the lowest level in years along the southwestern border.
The New York Times:
The Democrats Have An Immigration Problem
In early June, the Washington office of Representative Pramila Jayapal began to hear rumors about the women. They had crossed into Texas, where Border Patrol officers promptly arrested them. But now the women were somewhere around Seattle, the city Jayapal represents. Her staff made calls. Usually, undocumented immigrants in the area were held at the Northwest Detention Center, a private facility operated under a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the detention center had not received the women. There were too many of them for ICE to house. Instead, as Jayapal learned on June 7, the mothers were now inmates at a Bureau of Prisons facility near the Seattle-Tacoma airport. (Draper, 10/10)
USA Today:
Drug Trafficking Arrests On The Border Plunged After Zero Tolerance
Federal drug-trafficking prosecutions along the southwestern border plunged to their lowest level in nearly two decades this summer as the Trump administration launched a “zero tolerance” crackdown on illegal immigration that separated thousands of children from their parents. The decision to prosecute everyone caught entering the USA illegally flooded federal courts with thousands of cases, most of them involving minor immigration violations that resulted in no jail time and a $10 fee. As prosecutors and border agents raced to bring those immigrants to court, the number of people they charged under drug-trafficking laws dropped by 30 percent along the border – and in some places far more steeply than that, a USA TODAY review of court dockets and Justice Department records found. (Heath, 10/10)
And news comes out of Arizona as well —
Arizona Republic:
Southwest Key Migrant Shelter Closed Because Staff Abused Kids, Feds Say
Staff members at a Southwest Key shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in Youngtown physically abused three children, according to allegations detailed by federal officials on Tuesday. The federal contractor fired the staffers after the Sept. 18 incident, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Philip, 10/9)