- California Healthline Original Stories 3
- Hospitals Step In To Help House The Homeless. Will It Make A Difference?
- Questions Loom About Obamacare As Covered California's Open Enrollment Nears
- 2 Senators Reach Deal On A Health Law Fix, But Bringing Congress Along Is Tricky
- Public Health and Education 2
- Fires Shine Light On Health System's Vulnerabilities
- Despite Death Toll Climbing In Hep A Outbreak, Official Sees Reason To Hope It May Be Slowing
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Hospitals Step In To Help House The Homeless. Will It Make A Difference?
They say it will help reduce unnecessary ER visits and ensure better follow-up care. It’s also good P.R., and helps them meet their obligations to provide benefits to the community in exchange for significant tax breaks. (Pauline Bartolone, )
Questions Loom About Obamacare As Covered California's Open Enrollment Nears
President Donald Trump took two swings at the Affordable Care Act last week. Californians are somewhat protected from immediate harm but doubts persist about the law's future as sign-ups begin Nov. 1. ( )
2 Senators Reach Deal On A Health Law Fix, But Bringing Congress Along Is Tricky
The bipartisan accord would restore funding for the cost-sharing reductions that President Donald Trump ended last week and would give states more flexibility to devise alternatives for providing and subsidizing health care. (Julie Rovner, )
More News From Across The State
Fires Shine Light On Health System's Vulnerabilities
“It’s going to happen again. There’s going to be another fire, there’s going to be another earthquake, there’s going to be another flood and ... we absolutely have to get better at this,” said Chad Krilich, chief medical officer for St. Joseph Health in Sonoma County.
Los Angeles Times:
Wildfires Stressed The Wine Country's Healthcare System, Creating A Crisis And A Warning For Future
The Northern California wildfires created what some described as an unprecedented healthcare crisis that has served as a wake-up call in the region. Not only were two major hospitals evacuated hours into the disaster, but the chaos continued for days after. Thousands of people were displaced and staying in shelters, many without their medicines. The fires left clinics burned, or evacuated for days. Pharmacies struggled to fill prescriptions. Nursing home patients waited on cots in shelters, without oxygen tanks or their caregivers. Doctors and nurses also lost their homes. (Karlamangla, 10/18)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Sutter Hospital In Santa Rosa Reopens Eight Days After Being Closed By Firestorm
The smell of smoke, though faint, could still be detected Tuesday morning inside Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital as medical staff opened the doors to patients for the first time since the Tubbs fire forced the hospital to evacuate eight days ago. Everything — the walls, floors, medical equipment, patient scheduling screens — looked spotless, as it did when the hospital opened for the first time just three years ago. Though many had been working at other health care locations and local evacuation centers since the fire, Sutter medical and administrative staff said they were thrilled to be back at work Tuesday morning. (Espinoza, 10/17)
Despite Death Toll Climbing In Hep A Outbreak, Official Sees Reason To Hope It May Be Slowing
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer, said that last week 10 new cases were reported, which is significantly less than the number of new cases coming in every week just a few months ago.
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Death Toll From San Diego Hepatitis A Outbreak Rises To 19; More Than 500 Cases Confirmed
San Diego’s hepatitis A outbreak added another death Tuesday, pushing the total to 19 as the number of confirmed cases passed 500. Updated numbers released by the county Health and Human Services Agency come as a massive effort around vaccination, sanitation and public education continues to try and stop the largest surge of the viral disease since the vaccine for hepatitis A was approved in the late 1990s. (Sisson, 10/17)
In other news —
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Mayor Asks County For $53 Million In Homeless Funds
Facing increasing pressure as the number of homeless people surges, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg asked Sacramento County leaders Tuesday for $53 million to provide services for that population. Steinberg wants to pool the county’s mental health funds – which stem from a state millionaire tax he authored as a legislator – with federal grants obtained by the city to spend a combined $117 million in three years to reduce homelessness. (Branan, 10/17)
KPCC:
LA Officials Struggle With Options For Homeless With Mental Illnesses
Officials in Los Angeles County are looking for ways to get homeless people into treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues, but options for those who refuse help are sticky. (Palta, 10/17)
Thomas Aquinas College Declares Victory On Birth Control Following Settlement With HHS
The schools was one of 74 plaintiffs suing over the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate.
Ventura County Star:
Catholic College Claims Win In Birth Control Settlement
A birth control battle that spawned four years of litigation and reached the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to end Monday as a Santa Paula-area Catholic college declared victory, citing Donald Trump's election as a turning point. Thomas Aquinas College and 73 other plaintiffs sued over the Affordable Care Act mandate that employers provide insurance covering contraceptives, saying it conflicted with their religious beliefs. In May, the Supreme Court returned the case to appeals courts, asking plaintiffs and the government to negotiate on possible resolutions. (Kisken, 10/17)
Family Of Mentally Ill Man To Get $1.7M In Jail-Suicide Case
The suit had alleged that officials failed to properly diagnose Eric Loberg’s mental state and the degree to which he was a suicide risk.
Los Angeles Times:
County Approves $1.7-Million Settlement Over Jail Suicide
The daughters of a mentally ill man who jumped to his death in a Los Angeles jail in 2014 will receive $1.7 million under the terms of a settlement approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. Eric Loberg, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and appointed a legal conservator after being found “gravely disabled,” was placed in custody of the county Sheriff’s Department in November 2014. (Agrawal, 10/17)
KPCC:
LA County Pays $1.7 Million To Settle Jail Suicide Lawsuit
The 48-year-old Loberg, diagnosed as schizophrenic, died after jumping from a second-level railing at the downtown jail facility in Nov. 2014. He had been placed under the conservatorship of the L.A. County Public Guardian a year earlier on the grounds that his condition left him "gravely disabled" under the definition of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act. According to the complaint, 11 days prior to his death Loberg had escaped from Olive Vista, a private psychiatric hospital, where he had been committed for long-term treatment. (Glickman, 10/17)
Future Of Bipartisan Health Deal Already Shaky As Trump Reverses Course On Support
As news of a deal first broke Tuesday, President Donald Trump initially signaled support for the efforts. But after other Republicans panned the measure he seemed to change his mind. And although Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray expressed confidence in their plan, it will be a tough slog for them to get it through both chambers.
The New York Times:
2 Senators Strike Deal On Health Subsidies That Trump Cut Off
Two leading senators, hoping to stabilize teetering health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act, reached a bipartisan deal on Tuesday to fund critical subsidies to insurers that President Trump moved just days ago to cut off. The plan by the senators, Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, and Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, would fund the subsidies for two years, a step that would provide at least short-term certainty to insurers. The subsidies, known as cost-sharing reduction payments, reimburse insurance companies for lowering deductibles, co-payments and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income customers.
(Kaplan and Pear, 10/17)
The Associated Press:
Senate Health Care Deal In Doubt As Trump Says He's Opposed
A bipartisan Senate deal to curb the growth of health insurance premiums is reeling after President Donald Trump reversed course and opposed the agreement and top congressional Republicans and conservatives gave it a frosty reception. ... In remarks Tuesday in the Rose Garden, Trump called the deal "a very good solution" that would calm insurance markets, giving him time to pursue his goal of scrapping Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act, the target of Republican derision since it was signed into law. Although top Democrats and some Republicans praised the Alexander-Murray compromise agreement, Trump backed off after a day of criticism from many in the GOP. (Fram and Werner, 10/18)
The Washington Post:
Another Last-Ditch Effort To Tackle Obamacare Stalls Within Hours Of Its Release
The measure presented congressional Republicans with an uncomfortable choice between helping sustain coverage for many Americans and making good on a long-standing campaign promise — and paying the consequences — by allowing the ACA to falter. Senate Republican leaders did not immediately endorse the proposal. Influential House Republicans panned the blueprint, and Trump offered conflicting reviews. The discord swiftly cast the plan’s viability into serious doubt. (Sullivan, Eilperin and Goldstein, 10/17)
The Wall Street Journal:
What Democrats And GOP Get In Bipartisan Health-Care Deal
The Alexander-Murray deal addresses the Democrats’ most immediate concern: subsidies known as cost-sharing reduction payments, billions of dollars paid to insurers to limit out-of-pocket costs for low-income consumers. These payments had never been approved by Congress, and President Donald Trump announced last week he would discontinue making them. Democrats and health analysts feared cutting off the payments would send costs soaring in the ACA market and might prompt some insurers to exit. A two-year guarantee will lend the law some measure of stability at a time when Democrats are attempting to ward off repeated GOP efforts to roll it back. ... What do Republicans get? Mr. Alexander, the lead GOP negotiator, said that the deal expands the usefulness of ACA waivers that allow states to sidestep certain ACA rules to remold some aspects of the law, such as how premium subsidies are distributed or how much insurers can be permitted to charge their oldest customers. (Hackman and Wilde Mathews, 10/17)
Politico:
Trump Would Have To Broker Obamacare Truce
[G]etting the deal though would require a sustained, focused lobbying effort on Capitol Hill, where Republicans are facing a biting political calculus. They’re still stinging from spending all of this year in a draining but fruitless effort to repeal and replace Obamacare — the law that congressional Republicans have been trying to uproot for seven years. Now, they would have to decide whether the state flexibility concessions Alexander got are enough. (Haberkorn and Cancryn, 10/17)
'Single-Payer' Is The Hot New Buzz Word. But What Does It Actually Mean?
The Washington Post lays out what exactly a single-payer system looks like.
The Washington Post:
Single Payer System: A Healthcare Alternative To Affordable Care Act?
As Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act continue in the background, some Democrats are starting to eye a new health policy goal: implementing a single-payer system. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a single-payer bill in mid-September with 16 Democratic co-sponsors — 16 more than he got when he introduced the bill two years earlier. But how is the health-care system funded now, and how would “single-payer” change that? (Soffen, 10/17)
In other national health care news —
The Washington Post:
Trump Eyeing Former Drug Firm Executive Alex Azar For Health And Human Services Secretary
Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive and a top health official during the George W. Bush administration, is now the leading candidate to head the Department of Health and Human Services, two Republicans briefed on the matter said Tuesday. Azar served a decade at Lilly USA, the biggest affiliate of Eli Lilly and Co., including five years as president. He directly led a biomedicines division that covered, among other areas, neuroscience, immunology and cardiology, and was also responsible for the company’s sales and marketing operations. (Eilperin and Goldstein, 10/17)
The Hill:
Newly Controversial Opioid Enforcement Law Under Fire
Several lawmakers are pushing to repeal or revisit a law critics say enables the flow of deadly and addictive opioids, hours after President Trump’s drug czar nominee withdrew his name amid the controversy. The little-noticed legislation is reportedly undermining the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) ability to police drug distributors and was heavily influenced by industry lobbying, according to a joint Washington Post and “60 Minutes” investigation published Sunday. The report was based in part on a high-ranking whistleblower within the DEA. (Roubein, 10/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Opioid Law Draws Scrutiny After Trump's Pick For Drug Czar Steps Aside
President Trump's pick to be the nation's drug czar, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), withdrew from consideration Tuesday after news reports focused attention on his role in pushing legislation that weakened the Drug Enforcement Administration's power to investigate bulk shipments of prescription opiods. (Bennett and Bierman, 10/17)
The New York Times:
Google Maps Pulls Calorie-Counting Feature After Criticism
Stephanie Zerwas, the clinical director of the Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders at the University of North Carolina, was trying to find a restaurant in Orlando, Fla., last weekend, so she put the address into Google Maps for directions. She was baffled to see a new feature: The iPhone app told her that walking instead of driving would burn 70 calories. While it was perhaps meant as an incentive to walk, those with eating disorders might instead fixate on the number, a dangerous mind-set that counselors try to minimize, she said. (Victor, 10/17)