With Becerra as HHS Pick, California Plots More Progressive Health Care Agenda
By Angela Hart and Samantha Young
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has already begun discussing California health care priorities with Xavier Becerra, tapped this week by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as his Health and Human Services secretary.
Amid Surge, Hospitals Hesitate To Cancel Nonemergency Surgeries
By Samantha Young
Unlike earlier in the year, most hospitals are not proactively canceling elective surgeries, even in some places seeing spikes in coronavirus patients.
California Lawmakers Block Health Care Cuts
By Samantha Young
State legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom have hammered out an agreement on a budget that rejects Newsom’s proposed cuts to health care services for older and low-income people.
‘Why Do We Always Get Hit First?’ Proposed Budget Cuts Target Vulnerable Californians
By Samantha Young
Safety-net health care programs that keep low-income Californians out of nursing homes are on the chopping block as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attempt to plug a massive budget deficit caused by the COVID-19 emergency.
Head-Scratching Over Newsom’s Choice of Blue Shield to Lead Vaccination Push
By Bernard J. Wolfson
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s surprising choice of Blue Shield to lead the state’s covid vaccination effort raised questions about the role politics played in the decision — and whether the insurer is up to the task.
New Laws Keep Pandemic-Weary California at Forefront of Health Policy Innovation
By Samantha Young and Angela Hart
Gov. Gavin Newsom approved many consequential health care bills by his bill-signing deadline Wednesday, including a ban on the sale of menthol and other flavored tobacco products, the creation of a state generic drug label and better coverage for mental health disorders.
As Lawmakers Reconvene, Not Everyone Agrees On COVID-Only Agenda
By Samantha Young
California legislators resume their work Monday after more than a month off. While the coronavirus pandemic has shifted the state’s priorities, many lawmakers say they still intend to push non-COVID health care bills to tax soda, ban vape flavors and more.
Did CDC Delays in Up-To-Date Masking Advice Cost Health Workers’ Lives?
By Christina Jewett
Researchers say “very low”-quality research from the 2003 SARS outbreak drove guidelines on who got the best PPE, leaving those most at risk exposed.
Lawmaker Pushing Mental Health Reform: It’s ‘More Needed Than Ever’
By Samantha Young
Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked lawmakers to pare down their legislative wish lists and focus on the state’s coronavirus response. But state Sen. Jim Beall plans to forge ahead with his mental health care proposals, including a measure to create a state mental health parity requirement.
‘Terrible Role-Modeling’: California Lawmakers Flout Pandemic Etiquette
By Samantha Young and Rachel Bluth
As California workers and schoolchildren struggled to work from home, state lawmakers met in person. And as their legislative session came to a close in late August, they broke COVID rules: They huddled, let their masks slip below their noses, removed their masks to drink coffee — and required a new mom to vote in person while toting her hungry newborn.