Gay and Lesbian Health Bills in Committee
Recent research by UCLA and UCSF highlighted an area of study that has not received much attention — the health risks and challenges of the general lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Now the state Legislature is considering two bills that try to address those needs.
AB 673 by John Pérez (D-Los Angeles) would require the state’s Office of Multicultural Health to include LGBT patients in their duties. And SB 747 by Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) would require medical providers to take a 2- to 5-hour course on gender issues.
Four Is a Quorum — Exchange Board Gets To Work
Darrell Steinberg can take as long as he wants.
The Senate Rules Committee, headed by Steinberg, will appoint the fifth and final member of the California Health Benefit Exchange board, but the rest of the board has decided it needs to get started.
The exchange board’s first public meeting is scheduled Apr. 20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Goldberg Auditorium at the Franchise Tax Board building on Butterfield Drive in Sacramento.
Selling Exchange as ‘El Mercado’
The Latino population will be a vital element of the new health exchange and a special effort should be made to involve them in it, according to Chad Silva of Latino Coalition for a Healthy California.
“As Latinos go in California, so will go California,” Silva said. “It’s really important that linguistic and cultural competency has to be structurally built into the exchange.”
Silva was part of a panel discussion on exchange strategy in Sacramento last week. He pointed out that projections point to a 52% Latino majority in California by 2050, and that the state is already one of the most diverse in the nation. He said the exchange would do well to court those consumers.
Direct Hiring, Physical Therapist Issue Head CMA List
During the California Medical Association’s 37th Annual Legislative Leadership Conference this week in Sacramento, the organization outlined some of the legislation it would fight for this year — and legislation it would fight against.
“Sometimes it feels like Groundhog Day around here,” CMA legislative analyst Jodi Hicks said. “Every year, it seems, we have this discussion about a plan to have some kind of direct hiring of physicians, and what that should look like.”
Last year, three different bills were proposed on the issue. Two new bills have been proposed this year to allow direct hiring of physicians by hospitals, in an effort to increase the number of primary care physicians working in rural and underserved areas in California.
First Exchange Board Meeting Within ‘Couple of Weeks’
Just because California doesn’t have a full board for the Health Benefits Exchange doesn’t mean it can’t get to work.
“As long as we have a quorum, we can meet,” exchange board member Kim Belshé said yesterday. “And we expect to meet in the next couple of weeks, whether we have that fifth person or not.”
Belshé, former secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, spoke at the State of Health Care Conference in Sacramento. She is one of four appointed members of the exchange board, along with current CHHS secretary Diana Dooley, Susan Kennedy and Paul Fearer. The Senate Rules Committee, headed by Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), will appoint the final board member, but that appointment is not yet on the committee’s weekly agenda.
Governor Addresses Medical Association
Governor Jerry Brown had a relatively genial chat with medical students and physicians yesterday at the California Medical Association’s annual Legislative Day.
“I don’t know why so many of you have come here today,” Brown said. “I hope you’re not supposed to be taking care of patients.”
During his short speech, he talked almost exclusively about the budget, and the need to find a solution that doesn’t cripple California.
National Partisan Debate Elbows in on California
A Field Poll on attitudes toward health care reform in California had some interesting results — including a much more positive feeling about reform among Californians than is found in national polls.
One of the main results this year and last, according to Field pollster Mark DiCamillo, is that opinions on health care are highly partisan.
“The data were very partisan last year, and the reality of the data is, we haven’t had that much of a change since then. The amount of knowledge people have about reform is not greater than last year, but there’s so much heat on this issue, so much of a partisan divide — it’s here, it has been here and I don’t expect it to go away anytime soon.”
State May Have Set ‘Dangerous Precedent’
The state took about $1 billion from First 5 California in its most recent round of budget bills.
And it may be aiming for more.
First 5 is a series of early childhood development programs for children ages five and younger. It’s funded by a tobacco tax approved as Proposition 10 by California voters back in 1998, and it brought in a little more than $500 million last year.
State Is ‘Ready, Willing and Able’
The U.S. Health and Human Services agency yesterday released federal rules on accountable care organizations (ACOs). It’s a big step nationally for health care reform — and may be a significant development for California, given the current structure of doctors’ offices, hospitals and long-term care facilities in the state.
“This is a promising new day for seniors in California,” according to Donald Crane, President and CEO of the California Association of Physician Groups. “Where accountable, coordinated care will be supplanting inefficient, costly fee-for-service.”
In health care policy circles, an ACO is often compared to a unicorn — everyone knows what it looks like, but no one has actually seen one.
Protesters Lobby for Developmentally Disabled
If the purpose of budget cuts is to limit spending, then California lawmakers may be making a big mistake. That was the central message yesterday at a sizable protest on the Capitol Building steps by people with developmental disabilities and the people who care for them.
“I do understand we have to meet our budget,” according to Nancy Dow Moody, CEO of Lifehouse, an organization supporting people with developmental disabilities. “But this doesn’t make any sense, because it doesn’t save any money. I just don’t think this [cutback] was well-researched. This just feels like it’s hurting people, and it’s not saving money.”
Most of the people in California’s Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs) have severe disabilities, she said, and can only be moved to developmental centers, which are more expensive.