Latest California Healthline Stories

Biden’s Criticism of Trump Team’s Vaccine Contracts Is a Stretch
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. had agreed to buy at least 1 billion doses of covid vaccine, enough to vaccinate 550 million people. Those agreements, though, applied to vaccines that were authorized as well as those still in development. And the Biden team had the advantage of 20/20, experts say.

Becerra Has Long Backed Single-Payer. That Doesn’t Mean It Will Happen if He’s HHS Secretary.
Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has been on record throughout his career for this type of health care system. But the president doesn’t support it, which is the position that counts.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Staffing Up at HHS
More than a month into the Biden administration, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, finally got his confirmation hearings in the Senate, along with nominees for surgeon general and assistant secretary for health. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court announced it would hear a case challenging the Trump administration’s regulation that effectively evicted Planned Parenthood from the federal family planning program. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Tami Luhby of CNN and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews HuffPost’s Jonathan Cohn, whose new book, “The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage,” is out this week.

Biden’s Straight-Talking CDC Director Has Long Used Data to Save Lives
Dr. Rochelle Walensky said scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were “muzzled” and “diminished” by the Trump team, especially during the pandemic. She aims to fix that.

‘It’s a Minefield’: Biden Health Pick Must Tread Carefully on Abortion and Family Planning
President Biden vowed to reverse reproductive health restrictions enacted by President Trump. His pick to run HHS, Xavier Becerra, fought the Trump efforts but must now navigate a difficult legal and political landscape.

The Trump and Biden administrations both imposed wartime production requirements. But industry experts say the vast quantities of raw materials and specialty equipment needed for billions of newfangled vaccines have required herculean logistical efforts.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Open Enrollment, One More Time
Keeping a campaign promise, President Joe Biden has reopened enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act on healthcare.gov — and states that run their own health insurance marketplaces followed suit. At the same time, the Biden administration is moving to revoke the Trump administration’s permission for states to impose work requirements for some adults on the Medicaid health insurance program. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, Rovner interviews medical student Inam Sakinah, president of the new group Future Doctors in Politics.

Why Biden Has a Chance to Cut Deals With Red State Holdouts on Medicaid
The pandemic and economic crisis give states new incentives to extend health coverage to their uninsured residents.

Prominent Scientists Call on CDC to Better Protect Workers From Covid
The academics insist that more workers should get top-rated N95 masks, the best defense against airborne coronavirus particles.

Los mercados de seguros de salud reabrieron. Esto es lo que necesitas saber
En enero, el presidente Joe Biden firmó una orden ejecutiva para abrir el mercado federal de seguros de salud durante tres meses, hasta el 15 de mayo.