Health Industry

Latest California Healthline Stories

Fighting Staff Shortages With Scholarships, California Bill Aims To Boost Mental Health Courts

A new bill would create a scholarship program for students who agree to work with specialized courts in California to get patients into treatment, but some people argue the state shouldn’t restrict scholarship aid to a new, untested program given broader behavioral health workforce shortages.

California May Regulate and Restrict Pharmaceutical Brokers

California lawmakers are moving to rein in the pharmaceutical middlemen they say drive up costs and limit consumers’ choices. The bill sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom would require pharmacy benefit managers to be licensed in California and would ban some business practices. Newsom vetoed a previous effort three years ago.

Decades of National Suicide Prevention Policies Haven’t Slowed the Deaths

Despite years of national strategies to address the suicide crisis in the U.S., rates continue to rise. A chorus of researchers and experts say the interventions will work — but that they’re simply not being adopted by state and local governments.

US Uninsured Rate Was Stable in 2023, Even as States’ Medicaid Purge Began

About 8% of Americans lacked health insurance in 2023, the Census Bureau announced. But its report doesn’t capture the effect of states winnowing their Medicaid rolls by millions of people since the pandemic emergency ended.

ACA Enrollment Platforms Suspended Over Alleged Foreign Access to Consumer Data

Federal regulators provided more specifics about why they suspended two private sector Affordable Care Act enrollment sites, including concerns about potential overseas accessing of consumer data and suspicions of involvement in Obamacare enrollment and switching schemes. The companies reject the assertions.

With TV Drug Ads, What You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get

The pharmaceutical industry has invented a new art form: finding ways to make their wares seem like joyous must-have treatments, while often minimizing lackluster efficacy and risks.

Boom, Now Bust: Budget Cuts and Layoffs Take Hold in Public Health

State leaders are cutting public health spending and laying off workers hired during a pandemic-era grant boom. Public health officials say the bust will erode important advancements in the public health safety net, particularly in rural areas.