Congressman’s Wife Died After Taking Herbal Remedy Marketed for Diabetes and Weight Loss
By Samantha Young
Lori McClintock, the wife of U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock of California, died after ingesting white mulberry leaf, according to the Sacramento County coroner. The plant is generally considered safe and is used in herbal remedies that claim to lower blood sugar, boost weight loss, and combat high cholesterol. Her death highlights the potential dangers of dietary supplements.
Esposa de congresista muere luego de tomar hierba medicinal para la diabetes y pérdida de peso
By Samantha Young
La morera blanca, originaria de China se considera una hierba segura y se ha usado por siglos en la medicina no tradicional.
Lawmaker Takes on Insurance Companies and Gets Personal About His Health
By Samantha Young
State Sen. Scott Wiener opens up about a weeklong stint in the hospital last year and what it’s like to live with Crohn’s disease. The San Francisco Democrat is pushing a bill that would require insurance companies to cover certain medications while patients appeal denials.
Heat Protections for California Workers Are in Limbo After Newsom Abandons Rules
By Angela Hart and Samantha Young
Proposed rules to protect millions of workers from potentially dangerous heat inside workplaces are dead after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration refused to sign off. Labor advocates and state regulators are calling for emergency regulations before temperatures soar this summer.
Industry Groups Vie for New Medi-Cal Money
By Angela Hart and Samantha Young
State officials have promised to boost funding for California’s Medicaid program by $11.1 billion starting next year, with most of that money earmarked for higher payments to doctors, hospitals, and other providers. But the details have yet to be worked out, and powerful health industry groups are jockeying for position.
After the Pandemic Hit Nursing Homes Hard, Lawmakers Push to Tighten Licensing Rules
By Samantha Young
Legislators are proposing an overhaul of California’s licensing system for nursing homes that would make it the most stringent in the country. They argue that disreputable and unlicensed owners and operators have harmed residents. The industry describes the proposed requirements as excessive.
Health Care Coalition Jockeys Over Medi-Cal Spending, Eyes Ballot Initiative
By Angela Hart and Samantha Young
California Healthline has learned that a coalition of doctors, hospitals, insurers, and community clinics want to lock in a tax on health insurance companies to draw in extra Medicaid funding. It also wants to make the tax permanent.
California Hospitals Seek a Broad Bailout, but They Don’t All Need It
By Samantha Young and Angela Hart
As hospitals squeeze Democratic leaders in Sacramento for more money, health care finance experts and former state officials warn against falling for the industry’s fear tactics. They point to healthy profits and a recession-era financing scheme that allows rich hospitals to take tax money from poorer ones.
California Handed Its Medicaid Drug Program to One Company. Then Came a Corporate Takeover.
By Samantha Young
The company awarded the state’s Medi-Cal Rx contract was taken over by another company, Centene. That left the state with a contractor it didn’t pick — one that has been accused of overbilling nine other state Medicaid programs and is now under investigation by California.
Listen: Teaching Teens to Reverse Overdoses, Taxes on Uninsured Californians, and More
By Heidi de Marco and Stephanie O'Neill Patison
California Healthline journalists report on efforts to train teens to use the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, the state’s decision not to spend the tax penalty money from uninsured residents, Centene’s political contributions, and efforts to keep young kids on Medicaid for several years after birth.