Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Climate Change Magnifies Health Impacts of Wildfire Smoke in Care Deserts
Smoke- and ash-filled air can trigger or exacerbate severe respiratory conditions. But the medical specialists who treat these illnesses are often scarce where they are most in need. (Julie Appleby and Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez, )
CalFresh Struggles With Backlogs As Staff Vacancies Pile Up: California’s food assistance program is coping with high staff vacancy rates and struggling to retain workers even as demand rises for the help it offers, advocates and county employees say. As a result, county assistance offices are experiencing casework backlogs, delays in service, and employee burnout, the workers say. The crunch comes as the state expands the program this year. Read more from The Sacramento Bee.
3 California Cities Fare Poorly On List Of ‘Safest Cities’: The California cities of San Bernardino, Oakland, and Los Angeles have been ranked among the state’s most dangerous cities, according to a new study from WalletHub. The company’s list of the “Safest Cities in America” was based on 42 safety metrics, including percentage of residents vaccinated against covid-19, unemployment rates, and the number of homicides. Read more from KTLA and Fox News.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
The Hill:
New Rule Opens ObamaCare Subsidies To More Families Seeking Coverage
Nearly 1 million additional Americans will have access to ObamaCare subsidies next year under a final rule issued Tuesday by the Biden administration. The rule fixes the so-called family glitch, a loophole in the health law that prevents family members from receiving ObamaCare subsidies if a household member has access to an affordable employer-sponsored health plan. (Weixel, 10/11)
Fierce Healthcare:
Biden Administration Finalizes Rule To Get Rid Of ACA's 'Family Glitch'
The rule doesn’t change significantly from the proposal issued in April. The regulation focuses on a provision of the ACA that entitles low-income Americans to get premium assistance on the marketplace if their employer-sponsored insurance doesn’t reach a certain threshold. An employee would qualify for such assistance if they must spend more than 9.5% of their household income on premiums. However, a glitch in the regulation meant that the threshold only affects the individual’s health plan and not the premium for dependents. While the individual and family can meet the 9.5% threshold, they would only get premium assistance for just the individual’s healthcare costs. (King, 10/11)
Reuters:
Biden Administration Finalizes Obamacare 'Family Glitch' Fix
The problem was that employer-based health plans have been considered affordable as long as the coverage was within the financial means of an employee, regardless of whether it was too expensive for family members. As a result, the family members were not eligible for the subsidies they may have needed, the White House said. The open enrollment period for health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act starts on Nov. 1. (Aboulenein, 10/11)
CNN:
Biden Finalizes Plan To Open Up Obamacare Subsidies To More Families
The announcement comes less than a month before the start of open enrollment for 2023 coverage on the Obamacare exchanges. Americans can start signing up on November 1. (Luhby, 10/11)
AP:
New Rules Fix 'Flaw' For Families Seeking Obamacare Coverage
“Today’s action resolves a flaw in prior ACA regulations to bring more affordable coverage to about one million Americans,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Our goal is simple: leave no one behind, and give everyone the peace of mind that comes with health insurance.” The number of uninsured Americans has dipped to a historic low of 8% this year, with an estimated 26 million people in the U.S. still without health insurance. (10/11)
Slate:
The Supreme Court's California Pork Regulation Case Has Consequences For Abortion.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard a case with implications for abortion access, transgender health care, clean energy, and much, much more. But on the surface, the case itself is about none of these explosive topics. Ostensibly, National Pork Producers Council v. Ross is merely about pigs. In the United States, most pigs raised for meat are treated cruelly—confined in cages so small that they cannot stand up, sit down, or turn around. California outlawed the sale of pork from pigs raised in this “cruel” manner in 2018. Now the Supreme Court will decide whether California’s law violates the Constitution, with possible far-reaching consequences. (Stern, 10/11)
KXAN Austin:
Billboard On California Abortion Access Goes Up In South Austin
A new billboard in south Austin touts Californian abortion care. Why? California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign paid to put it there. Last month, the Golden State’s governor launched billboards in several red states, which his campaign calls the most restrictive for abortion in the country. The billboards are popping up in Texas, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Oklahoma. (Jones, 10/10)
CBS News:
Supreme Court Declines To Take Up Fetal Personhood Dispute
The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away a dispute over whether the unborn are entitled to constitutional protections, sidestepping an issue that could be at the center of the next big battle over abortion after high court's conservative majority reversed the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision. The court declined to hear an appeal from two pregnant women, filed on behalf of their then-unborn fetuses, and a Catholic organization of a Rhode Island Supreme Court decision. The state court left intact a Rhode Island abortion rights law and found the unborn babies, Baby Mary Doe and Baby Roe, did not have legal standing to challenge the law because they were not "persons" under the 14th Amendment. (Quinn, 10/11)
Reuters:
U.S. Supreme Court Rebuffs Fetal Personhood Appeal
The justices turned away an appeal by a Catholic group and two women of a lower court's ruling against their challenge to a 2019 Rhode Island law that codified the right to abortion in line with the Roe precedent. The two women, pregnant at the time when the case was filed, sued on behalf of their fetuses and later gave birth. The Rhode Island Supreme Court decided that fetuses lacked the proper legal standing to bring the suit. (Raymond, 10/12)
Dallas Morning News:
Lewisville Medical Device Maker’s Merger Will Create A $700 Million-A-Year Company
Lewisville-based Orthofix will merge with a California firm to form a medical device maker with combined revenue of nearly $700 million and products distributed in 68 countries. The all-stock deal with SeaSpine, a Carlsbad-based company that makes spinal and orthopedics devices, is expected to close early next year. The combined firm, which will be named at closing, will be headquartered in Lewisville with offices in Carlsbad and Verona, Italy. (O'Donnell, 10/11)
Fierce Healthcare:
Bright Health To Exit ACA Exchanges, Slash MA Footprint
The insurtech has announced that it is axing its full lineup of plans on the Affordable Care Act's exchanges and cutting its Medicare Advantage (MA) offerings to two states for the 2023 plan year. The company said it plans to focus on its multipayer care model in markets where that is thriving and will have MA plans available in California and Florida for next year. (Minemyer, 10/11)
Fox 40:
Opioid Awareness Summit Held At Sacramento State
An annual summit at Sacramento State is hoping to address the problems with the ongoing opioid crisis impacting the community. The message at Sacramento State was that the war on opioids will most likely continue, and instead of trying to stop it, the information they share will hopefully come in handy during emergency situations. (Nguyen, 10/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Ex-Angels Employee Sentenced To 22 Years In Prison In Tyler Skaggs Overdose Death
Former Angels communications director Eric Kay was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison Tuesday after being convicted of providing counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl that led to the overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. The investigation and trial brought Major League Baseball face to face with the country’s opioid epidemic and led to the wood-paneled courtroom filled with anger, sadness and occasional sobs. (Fenno, 10/11)
Sacramento Bee:
California AG Rob Bonta Announces New Year-Round Campaign To Crack Down On Illegal Marijuana
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday announced an overhaul of his office’s Illegal marijuana enforcement program, with a new emphasis on issues like environmental damage, tax evasion and organized crime. Bonta, a Democrat who is running for election to his first full term next month, announced that the Department of Justice’s annual, summer-long “Campaign Against Marijuana Planting” (CAMP) is being upgraded to a year-round program and re-named “Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis,” or EPIC. (Sheeler, 10/11)
Voice of San Diego:
Gloria: ‘Quit Acting A Fool’ So The City Can Get More Public Toilets
Mayor Todd Gloria has had it with folks making a mess in the city’s public restrooms. Asked at Politifest what the city is doing to add more public restrooms downtown to address needs cited by homeless residents and business owners, Gloria said the city is “fighting like hell” for more bathrooms but has struggled to deal with users who make it difficult to even maintain existing ones. (Halverstadt, 10/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
U.S. Tracking Several New Variants But Risk Of Dying “Almost Zero” For Boosted
Health officials in the U.S. are keeping a close watch on several coronavirus omicron subvariants that may evade immunity, the White House said at a Tuesday briefing. Dr. Ashish Jha, head of the White House Covid task force, said sublineages such a BA.2.75, BA.4.6 and BF.7 are gaining traction across the country. But he assured that updated booster shots should protect against them. “We are not helpless against these challenges,” Jha said. “What happens this winter is up to us.” (Fracassa and Vaziri, 10/11)
AP:
White House: Get New Booster By Halloween For Safer Holidays
The White House on Tuesday said eligible Americans should get the updated COVID-19 boosters by Halloween to have maximum protection against the coronavirus by Thanksgiving and the holidays, as it warned of a “challenging” virus season ahead. Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator, said the U.S. has the tools, both from vaccines and treatments, to largely eliminate serious illness and death from the virus, but stressed that’s only the case if people do their part. “We are not helpless against these challenges,” he said. “What happens this winter is up to us.” (Miller, 10/11)
Bay Area News Group:
Q&A: You're Feeling Cruddy. Is It Flu? COVID? Here's Why It Matters
If you’re feeling really cruddy right now, join the crowd. Yes, you might have COVID. Yet again, this time it might be the flu — or just a really bad cold that is making the rounds. Figuring out why you’re sick is a bit more complicated this fall amid myriad circulating viruses. (Rowan, 10/12)
The Atlantic:
Medium COVID Could Be The Most Dangerous COVID
Just how much of a threat is medium COVID? The answer has been obscured, to some extent, by sloppy definitions. A lot of studies blend different, dire outcomes into a single giant bucket called “long COVID.” Illnesses arising in as few as four weeks, along with those that show up many months later, have been considered one and the same. (Mazer, 10/11)
CIDRAP:
80% Of COVID Omicron Patients Still Positive 5 Days After Symptom Onset
Among 63,000 US adults and children tested for COVID-19, cough and sore throat were reported more often during the Omicron BA.1 period than amid the pre-Delta and Delta eras, and 80% of those retested during Omicron remained positive for 5 days after symptom onset. (10/11)
The Washington Post:
Long Covid Plagues 1 In 20 People More Than Six Months After Infection
A new long-covid study based on the experiences of nearly 100,000 participants provides powerful evidence that many people do not fully recover months after being infected with the coronavirus. The Scottish study found that between six and 18 months after infection, 1 in 20 people had not recovered and 42 percent reported feeling only somewhat better. There were some reassuring aspects to the results: People with asymptomatic infections are unlikely to suffer long-term effects, and vaccination appears to offer some protection from long covid. (Sellers, 10/12)
CIDRAP:
Researchers Find Monkeypox Virus On Hospital Surfaces, In Air
A new study from the United Kingdom shows widespread monkeypox DNA surface contamination in healthcare settings, with 93% of surfaces in occupied patient rooms contaminated, and significant contamination on healthcare worker personal protective equipment (PPE). (Soucheray, 10/11)
Roll Call:
Monkeypox Response Looks To Long Term
The nation’s monkeypox response is shifting from crisis mode to a more long-term approach as the Biden administration acknowledges that it will be impossible to eradicate the virus from the country anytime soon. (Cohen, 10/11)
Bloomberg:
Health Panel Says Screen Kids For Anxiety, Teens For Depression, Suicide Risk
For the first time, US Preventive Services Task Force recommended on Tuesday that children ages 8 and older be screened for anxiety. It also suggested those 12 and older be screened for depression. A month ago, the group recommended all adults under 65 be evaluated for the same conditions. The task force urges preventative screening for children and adolescents who don’t have a mental health diagnosis and don’t show symptoms. (Ighodaro, 10/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
After Multiple Teen Suicides, East Bay Company Sued For Selling Deadly Chemicals On Amazon
The families of two deceased teenagers have sued the online retail giant Amazon and an East Bay laboratory over the children’s untimely deaths, claiming the two companies profited by selling a toxic chemical that many young adults use to kill themselves. “This is a case about the most powerful, wealthy, and trusted corporation in America knowingly assisting in the deaths of healthy children by selling them suicide kits,” attorneys representing the families of 17 year-old Ethan McCarthy and 16 year-old Kristine Jónsson wrote in a complaint filed last month in Alameda County Superior Court. (Swan, 10/11)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
County Moves Forward On Broad Set Of Mental Health Plans, Most With No Price Tag
County supervisors took a series of steps toward reinventing the region’s mental health care system Tuesday, agreeing to explore significant wage increases for workers and moving forward with a series of facilities upgrades throughout the region. (Sisson, 10/11)
Fox News:
Health Expert, Citing 'Grave Concern,' Says Results Of New Colonoscopy Study Are 'Wildly' Misinterpreted
"We have no problem with the study itself," American Cancer Society CEO Karen E. Knudsen told Fox News Digital in a phone interview on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. "It's the interpretation of the study that gives us grave concern," she said — calling the study "wildly misinterpreted." (Reilly, 10/11)
USA Today:
Study Raises Questions About Colonoscopies For Cancer Screening. What Doctors Want You To Know
A new study in European countries where colonoscopies weren't routinely offered appears to suggest the procedure may be less helpful than many had hoped. But some health experts warn against misinterpreting the study's findings. "There's a lot of nuances here, so it's understandable that there are different takeaways from different folks," said Dr. Chris Manz, a gastroenterology oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. (Weintraub and Rodriguez, 10/11)