Latest California Healthline Stories
Head of Health Care Services Looks Back on Tumultuous, Fruitful Years
Toby Douglas, director of California’s Department of Health Care Services, plans to retire as head of the agency in January. California Healthline sat down with Douglas recently to ask about the changes he has seen, and overseen, in his time in office.
Children’s Lunch Program Aims To Bring Better Food, Health to Schools
Karen Brown of the Center for Ecoliteracy, Michelle Drake of the Elk Grove Unified School District and UC-Davis student volunteer Katie O’Malley spoke with California Healthline about a new program called California Thursdays, which brings locally grown food into school lunchrooms across the state. In all, the program serves lunch for nearly one million schoolchildren in the state — about 1,700 schools in 15 districts.
UCSF Report Says Program To Diminish Tobacco Use in California Is Fading
UC-San Francisco researcher Stanton Glantz, Jim Knox of the American Cancer Society and Kimberly Amazeen of the American Lung Association spoke with California Healthline about a report outlining a decline in funding and effectiveness of the state’s tobacco control program. That is due, in part, to the resurgence of political power of the tobacco industry, they said.
Mixed Bag So Far for Duals Program: Some Glad, Some Livid, Most Confused
UCLA researcher Kathryn Kietzman, Kevin Prindiville of the National Senior Citizens Law Center, dual-eligible beneficiary Maria Salim and her daughter Teresa Strauss of Los Angeles and Norman Williams of the Department of Health Care Services spoke with California Healthline about the progress and concerns over the Cal MediConnect duals demonstration program, which now is about halfway through its enrollment process.
New ACA Rules, Forms Complicate and Confuse Medi-Cal Renewal Effort
Placer County Human Services Director Cheryl Davis, Anastasia Dodson of the Department of Health Care Services, Jennifer Flory of the Western Center on Law and Poverty and Gerald Kominski of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research spoke with California Healthline about the planned renewal of eight million Medi-Cal enrollees, using new federal guidelines and a new state form that have hindered the effort.
Ballot Measure Aims at Patient Safety by Raising Limits on Malpractice Suits
Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog, Amitabh Chandra of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Cathy Frey of Central Valley Health Network and Richard Thorp of the California Medical Association spoke with California Healthline about the debate over Proposition 46, the November ballot initiative that would raise the cap on malpractice lawsuits and require drug-testing of physicians.
Can Raising the State’s Minimum Wage Improve Public Health?
Rajiv Bhatia of the UC-Berkeley School of Public Health, Gerald Kominski of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Sen. Mark Leno, Mike Schommer of the Minnesota Department of Health and medical student Lea Selitsky spoke with California Healthline about the legislative efforts to raise the minimum wage and research into the possible public health effects from that.
State Lawmakers Want To Overhaul Mental Health Programs
Ratan Bhavnani of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Linda Boyd and Kathleen Piché of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson and Sen. Darrell Steinberg spoke with California Healthline about the legislative and local efforts to change the state’s approach to handling mental illness.
High-Profile Ballot Measure Hopes To Curb Health Insurance Rate Hikes
Businesswoman Marti Conger, Jamie Court of Consumer Watchdog, R. Adams Dudley of UC-San Francisco, physician Ted Mazer, Dylan Roby of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and Robin Swanson of Californians Against Higher Health Care Costs spoke with California Healthline about an expensive and controversial November ballot measure that would give enforcement power to the state Insurance Commissioner to regulate health insurance rate hikes.
After the Big Deadline, a Push To Sign Up Individuals Who Are Still Eligible
Kelly Hardy of Children Now, Ken Jacobs of the UC-Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, Linda Leu from the Young Invincibles, Eliza Schiffrin of the Central Family Resource Center in Oakland and Anthony Wright from Health Access California spoke with California Healthline about the renewed enrollment effort for Covered California and Medi-Cal, in the months following the end of the first open enrollment period for the exchange.