Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Listen: Health Officials Warn People To Stop Vaping
California Healthline reporter Ana Ibarra appeared Monday on WNYC to discuss the recent outbreak of mysterious lung diseases related to vaping, including 60 possible cases in California. ( )
Good morning! UCLA scientist Dr. Dennis Slamon was honored as part of the prestigious Lasker Award for his work helping develop a breast cancer treatment. Read more on that below, but first here are your top California health stories of the day.
California Leaders Caught Off Guard By Trump's Potential Crackdown On State's Homeless Encampments: California officials scrambled Tuesday to decipher a report that the Trump administration is planning to intercede in the state’s homelessness crisis. Administration officials have discussed using the federal government to get homeless people off the streets of Los Angeles and other cities and into new government-backed facilities, according to two officials briefed on the planning. But it is unclear how they could accomplish this and what legal authority they would use. Mayors were left trying to determine if they were dealing with a speculative threat or the possibility of concrete, drastic action. Trump’s directive is part of his broader effort in recent months to shine a light on problems in California and a number of major U.S. cities, including Baltimore and Chicago. He has complained about what he says are years of failed Democratic leadership that have led to sustained poverty and crime. Top officials representing the White House and the Department of Housing and Urban Development arrived in California this week for a round of meetings. A particular focus has been the skid row section of Los Angeles, officials said.
Read more from Jeff Stein, Tracy Jan, Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker of The Washington Post; Jeremy B. White and Carla Marinucci of Politico; Benjamin Oreskes, Dakota Smith and James Queally of the Los Angeles Times; and Kevin Fagan , Tal Kopan and Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Newsom Administration Health Official Resigns Following Post Criticizing Anti-Vaccination Protesters: Jennifer Kent, director of the state Department of Health Care Services, announced in a letter to staff Tuesday that she was resigning from the post, which she has held since 2015. Newsom’s office declined to say why Kent stepped down, but her resignation follows a post she made Monday on her private Facebook page about vaccine bill opponents, a screenshot of which was obtained by the Los Angeles Times and others in the Capitol community. “The Capitol is filled with a bunch of flat-earthers today,” Kent’s post said before referencing the large bear statute outside the governor’s office that is often jokingly referred to as “Bacteria Bear” because so many statehouse visitors touch it. Kent was appointed to lead the Department of Health Care Services in 2015 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. Read more from Melody Gutierrez of the Los Angeles Times; and Dustin Gardiner 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
Capital Public Radio:
San Joaquin County District Attorney Seeks To Ban Vaping Products
San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar hopes to have an ordinance banning the sale of e-cigarettes and vaping products within a few months, calling them a danger to young people. She says vaping has been marketed as the cool, hip way for teens and young adults to smoke. (Ibarra, 9/10)
CalMatters:
Vaping Industry Breathes Easier: For Now, California Lawmakers Won’t Restrict Its Business
It’s been a bad week for Juul — which faces a growing health scare and federal accusations of false advertising to minors. But as of today, the San Francisco-based e-cigarette giant can rest assured that Sacramento legislators will not be adding to their woes anytime soon. Assemblyman Adam Gray, a moderate Democrat from Merced, announced that he was tabling his bill that would have placed new regulations on vendors of e-cigs and vape pens. His goal, he said, is to make the legislation stronger before bringing it back next year. (Christopher, 9/10)
The New York Times:
Bloomberg Takes On Vaping After Giving $1 Billion To Fight Tobacco
Michael R. Bloomberg, who has committed nearly $1 billion to aid anti-tobacco efforts, is now stepping into the campaign to combat vaping, announcing a $160 million push to ban flavored e-cigarettes. Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, said that his Bloomberg Philanthropies would aim to ban the flavored e-cigarettes in at least 20 cities and states. His announcement on Tuesday was among a series of developments meant to heighten pressure and scrutiny on the vaping industry, amid a sudden and largely unexplained public health scare that has linked vaping to six deaths and hundreds of illnesses. (Wang, 9/10)
Sacramento Bee:
California Medical Facilities Still Rely On Mandatory OT
California state government remains dependent on mandatory overtime to staff hospitals and prisons even as evidence shows the long shifts aren’t good for nurses or their patients, according to a new Legislative Analyst’s Office report. A new contract agreement between Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration and SEIU Local 1000 begins to reduce mandatory overtime but leaves the state facing the difficult problem of properly staffing facilities without the tool, according to the report. (Venteicher, 9/11)
The Associated Press:
UCLA’s Dennis Slamon Wins Lasker Award For Developing Herceptin
Five scientists have won prestigious medical awards for creating an innovative breast cancer treatment and discovering key players of the disease-fighting immune system. They will share two $250,000 awards from the Lasker Foundation, to be presented this month in New York, the foundation announced Tuesday. One prize honors the invention of Herceptin, a breast cancer treatment. The award will be shared by Dr. Dennis Slamon, director of Clinical/Translational Research at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and by H. Michael Shepard and Axel Ullrich, who were with the biotech company Genentech when they did the research. (9/10)
Modesto Bee:
Turlock Leads State In Spending For Employee Health Care
Turlock’s health insurance costs for city employees are highest among the larger cities in California, according to a study released Monday. The city could save millions if its health insurance costs for employees were closer to what the private sector pays, says the analysis by Transparent California. (Carlson, 9/10)
Sacramento Bee:
Calls For Police Went Up Near Sacramento CA Homeless Shelter
Sacramento police responded to nearly 800 calls made from in and around a north Sacramento homeless shelter during the 17 months the facility was open – an average of about one and a half calls per day, a Sacramento Bee analysis of police data found. While city officials stressed that overall crime declined in the area while the shelter at 2040 Railroad Drive was open, calls for homeless-related incidents increased roughly 30 percent. (Clift and Finch II, 9/11)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno CA Has Added 3 New Homeless Shelters In Past 60 Days
The city of Fresno has made more than 200 new beds available for the homeless in the past 60 days — and the latest shelter is even set up to take people convicted of sexual violence, according to a council member. The shelter — the Golden State Triage Center on southbound Golden State Boulevard near Chestnut Avenue — has room for 37 adults and will be run by Turning Point, a nonprofit that operates one other facility. (Miller, 9/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
New HIV Infections Hit Record Low In SF, But People Of Color, Homeless Cases Spike
The number of new HIV diagnoses in San Francisco has dropped to a record low, but the news was more sober for four groups with a rising number of new cases: black and Latino residents, as well as homeless people and intravenous drug users, the city reported Tuesday. The overall improvement comes five years after a consortium of city health officials, UCSF and local nonprofits launched an aggressive “Getting to Zero” campaign aimed at eliminating new HIV cases altogether by expanding testing, treatment and care. (Bauman, 9/10)
Sacramento Bee:
Possible Contamination Causes Milk Of Magnesia Recall
The recall notice announcing two lots of Milk of Magnesia 2400 mg/30 mL Oral Suspension cites concerns about microbial contamination. But it also explains a bigger issue at stake: the constipation aid is sold in stores, but sent to clinics and hospitals. (Neal, 9/10)
Los Angeles Times:
H.B. Man Is Arrested After Probation Search Reveals Bags Of Fentanyl, Police Say
A Huntington Beach man was arrested Monday on suspicion of possessing fentanyl with intent to sell, less than a month after pleading guilty to a similar crime, according to police. Maxwell Hayden Miller, 28, was arrested at about 6:30 p.m. when Huntington Beach police helped probation officers search an apartment in a complex in the 16700 block of Viewpoint Lane, police spokeswoman Angela Bennett said Tuesday. (Scalfini, 9/10)
The New York Times:
Share Of Americans With Health Insurance Declined In 2018
Fewer Americans are living in poverty but, for the first time in years, more of them lack health insurance. About 27.5 million people, or 8.5 percent of the population, lacked health insurance for all of 2018, up from 7.9 percent the year before, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. It was the first increase since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, and experts said it was at least partly the result of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine that law. (Casselman, Sanger-Katz and Smialek, 9/10)
The Associated Press:
Share Of Uninsured Americans Rises For 1st Time In A Decade
The data suggest that the current economic expansion, now the longest on record at more than 10 years, is still struggling to provide widespread benefits to the U.S. population. Solid gains in household incomes over the past four years have returned the median only to where it was two decades ago. And despite strong growth last year in the number of Americans working full time and year-round, the number of people with private health insurance remained flat. (9/10)
NPR:
For 2nd Year In A Row Uninsured Rate Among Children Rises
For decades, getting more children to have health insurance was a cause with strong bipartisan support, and the uninsured rate has steadily declined. Now that trend is reversing. For the second year in a row, there was an uptick — 5.5% of children under age 19 did not have health insurance last year. "It's a very smart investment to make sure that kids get Medicaid when they need it," says Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, which has been tracking the decline in enrollment for the main health care safety net programs for children. "And that's exactly the opposite of what's happening today." (Simmons-Duffin, 9/10)
The Washington Post:
The Official U.S. Poverty Rate Fell To The Lowest Level Last Year Since 2001, Census Says
Taken together, the census numbers paint a portrait of an economy pulled in different directions, with the falling poverty rate coinciding with high inequality and the growing cadre of people at financial risk because they do not have health coverage. As more Americans found jobs, the poverty rate fell last year to its lowest level since 2001, and middle-class income inched marginally higher. Median U.S. income — the point at which half of U.S. families earn more and half earn less — topped $63,000 for the first time, although it was roughly the same level as it was 20 years ago, after adjusting for inflation. (Goldstein and Long, 9/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Poverty Falls, But Household Income At A Standstill, Census Data Show
The long U.S. economic expansion is pulling more people out of poverty, but household incomes are starting to flatten and more Americans are living without health insurance, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday. The nation’s official poverty rate dropped further last year, to 11.8%, the lowest since 2001, the bureau reported. The median household income, however, unexpectedly stalled despite strong job and wage gains. (Lee, 9/10)
The New York Times:
Pelosi Energizes Battle To Lower Drug Prices
A draft proposal by Speaker Nancy Pelosi would empower the federal government to negotiate lower prices for hundreds of prescription drugs, not only for Medicare but for the private market as well, injecting new urgency into Washington’s efforts to control the soaring price of pharmaceuticals. The plan would revive an idea loathed by most congressional Republicans but long embraced by Democrats; President Trump expressed support for it during his 2016 campaign. (Goodnough, 9/10)
The Wall Street Journal:
White House, Congress Struggle To Find Common Ground On Gun Legislation
Lawmakers remained divided on Tuesday over a legislative path to reduce mass shootings, with Republicans looking to the White House for guidance, and Democrats pledging to press ahead with their own measures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) emphasized that he would only take up gun legislation that he knew President Trump would sign. “I’m going to wait and assess the proposal that actually could become law,” Mr. McConnell told reporters, declining to go into specifics on what he would support. (Andrews, Wise and Lucey, 9/10)
ProPublica:
We Asked Prosecutors If Health Insurance Companies Care About Fraud. They Laughed At Us.
Like most of us, William Murphy dreads calling health insurance companies. They route him onto a rollercoaster of irrelevant voice menus, and when he finally reaches a human, it’s a customer service rep who has no idea what he’s talking about. Then it can take days to hear back, if anyone responds at all. The thing is, Murphy isn’t a disgruntled patient. He prosecutes medical fraud cases for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in Oakland, California. And when he calls insurers, he’s in pursuit of criminals stealing from them and their clients. But, he said, they typically respond with something akin to a shrug. “There’s no sense of urgency, even though this is their company that’s getting ripped off.” (Allen, 9/10)
Stat:
Google, Mayo Clinic Strike Sweeping Partnership On Patient Data
Mayo Clinic, one of medicine’s most prestigious brands, announced Tuesday that it has struck a sweeping partnership with Google to store patient data in the cloud and build products using artificial intelligence and other technologies to improve care. The 10-year partnership is a testament to Google’s expanding role in the U.S. health care system and gives Mayo greater access to the engineering talent and computing resources it needs to embed its expertise in algorithms and commercial devices. (Ross, 9/10)