Daily Edition for Friday, April 25, 2025
Behavioral Health Court Marks A Milestone: This spring’s class of the Behavioral Health Court boasts 26 graduates, its largest ever. The 16-year-old San Diego Superior Court program is designed to help felony criminal defendants who have a diagnosis of a serious mental illness by giving them the tools they need to navigate life. Read more from The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Moms in Crisis, Jobs Lost: The Human Cost of Trump’s Addiction Funding Cuts
By Aneri Pattani
In many cases, the money flowed to addiction recovery programs that help rebuild lives by driving people to medical appointments and court hearings, crafting résumés and training them for new jobs, finding them housing, and helping them build social connections unrelated to drugs.
What ‘Fertilization President’ Trump Can Learn From State Efforts To Expand IVF Access
By Sarah Kwon
State-level efforts to regulate fertility coverage reveal the gauntlet of budgetary and political hurdles such initiatives face — obstacles that have led to millions of people being left out even when mandates become law.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Can Congress Reconcile Trump’s Wishes With Medicaid’s Needs?
When Congress returns next week, it will be writing a budget reconciliation bill that’s expected to cut taxes but also make deep cuts to Medicaid. But at least some Republicans are concerned about cutting a program that aids so many of their constituents. Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss this story and more. Also, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Rae Ellen Bichell about her story on how care for transgender minors is changing in Colorado.
Daily Edition for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Blue Shield Of California May Have Exposed Patients' Health Data: The Oakland-based health insurance giant said a misconfiguration in Google Analytics led to the private health data of 4.7 million members potentially being shared with Google Ads. Google may have used that information to conduct targeted ad campaigns. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and Fierce Healthcare.
An Arm and a Leg: Winning a Two-Year Fight Over a Bogus Bill
By Dan Weissmann
How one “Arm and a Leg” listener stayed encouraged during a two-year fight over a bill she didn’t owe.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
EPA Demands That Mexico Fix Sewage Crisis: EPA administrator Lee Zeldin vowed Tuesday in San Diego to pressure Mexico to stop the decades-long Tijuana River sewage crisis. “Mexico needs to fulfill its part in cleaning up the contamination that they caused,” he said. “They cannot view this as a U.S. problem just because their contamination reached U.S. soil.” Read more from The San Diego Union-Tribune and Times of San Diego.
Measles Misinformation Is on the Rise — And Americans Are Hearing It, Survey Finds
By Arthur Allen
Attitudes about a debunked link between measles vaccines and autism haven’t budged that much. But there’s a sharp partisan divide over whether the vaccine is safe.
Medi-Cal Under Threat: Who’s Covered and What Could Be Cut?
By Don Thompson
Federal law requires states to offer health insurance to many people with low incomes or disabilities. But some states, including California, are far more generous than what’s required. Budget pressures may force lawmakers to cut benefits that have led to a historic low in the uninsured rate.
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