Latest California Healthline Stories
Wary Of Exchanges, Insurers Are Wooed By Expanded Medicaid Program
Amid financial losses and the uncertainty of federal funding under Obamacare, health insurers find there’s money to be made in Medicaid.
Vaccine Shortage Complicates Efforts To Quell Hepatitis A Outbreaks
The two FDA-approved manufacturers of the vaccine, hit by an unexpected spike in demand, have had difficulty keeping pace. In San Diego County, home to the deadliest outbreak in the nation, officials are postponing a campaign to give at-risk residents the second of two doses.
Liquid Gold: Pain Doctors Soak Up Profits By Screening Urine For Drugs
With the nation’s opioid crisis, urine testing has become a booming business and is especially lucrative for doctors who operate their own labs, a Kaiser Health News investigation finds. And dozens of practitioners have earned ‘the lion’s share’ of their Medicare income exclusively from urine drug screens.
Taking A Page From Pharma’s Playbook To Fight The Opioid Crisis
Doctors and pharmacists in Northern California are emulating drug company sales reps with a fresh purpose in mind: They visit medical offices in the hardest-hit counties to change their peers’ prescribing habits and curtail the use of painkillers.
Sickle Cell Patients Suffer Discrimination, Poor Care — And Shorter Lives
People with the genetic blood disorder that mainly afflicts African-Americans can live into their 60s with competent care. So why is life expectancy slipping down to around age 40?
Enriched By The Poor: California Health Insurers Make Billions Through Medicaid
Medicaid is rarely associated with getting rich. But some insurance companies are reaping spectacular profits off the taxpayer-funded program in California, even when the state finds their patient care is subpar.
Health Companies Race To Catch UnitedHealth As Amazon Laces Up
UnitedHealth, a health industry goliath, has its hand in doctors’ offices, surgery centers, technology services and prescription drugs. It is the industry model, and CVS and Aetna, says one expert, are ‘wannabes.’
House Republicans Aim To Yank Tax Credits For Orphan Drugs
House Republicans want to repeal federal tax credits that have helped spur a boom in orphan drugs for rare diseases.
House Tax Bill Would Scrap Deduction For Medical Expenses
About 9 million people claimed about $87 billion in medical deductions in 2015.
Millennials Embrace Nursing Profession — Just In Time To Replace Baby Boomers
Nursing generally offers stable earnings and low unemployment, which likely sounds good to young adults who came of age during the Great Recession.