Latest California Healthline Stories
‘Locally Grown’ Insurance Companies Help Fortify Washington State Market
The individual insurance market in Washington is dominated by companies that do business only in the Pacific Northwest, and the state’s insurance commissioner credits them with helping keep premium rates lower than in other states.
California Requires Suicide Prevention Phone Number On Student IDs
The new law, a response to escalating suicide rates among teens, is intended to ensure students know that immediate help is available if they need it.
In India’s Slums, ‘Painkillers Are Part Of The Daily Routine’
As the Indian government reluctantly loosens its prescription opioid laws after decades of lobbying by palliative care advocates desperate to ease their patients’ pain, the nation’s sprawling, cash-fed health care system is ripe for misuse.
Beset By Lawsuits And Criticism In U.S., Opioid Makers Eye New Market In India
What began in India as a populist movement to bring inexpensive morphine to the diseased and dying poor has paved the way for a booming pain management industry. Now, new customers are being funneled to U.S. drugmakers bedeviled by a government crackdown back home.
Mysterious Vaping Lung Injuries May Have Flown Under Regulatory Radar
Doctors who saw patients with a mysterious lung illness in the past suspected vaping as the cause but didn’t know where to report such cases. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to report it, it’s that there’s no pathway,” said one California pulmonologist.
Pharma Cash Rolls Into Congress To Defend An Embattled Industry
Congress has a variety of reforms in mind that could roil the drugmaking business and potentially slash prices.
Why Red Wyoming Seeks The Regulatory Approach To Air Ambulance Costs
Wyoming is taking on expensive air ambulance bills by trying to expand Medicaid to cover transport for all patients. This is a big change: a red state seeking to control what’s been a growing free-market bonanza.
How And When Immigrants’ Use Of Government Benefits Might Affect Their Legal Status
Confusion about a new federal rule to restrict legal immigration based on the use of public benefits may dampen sign-ups for health care, housing and food aid even among immigrants not directly targeted by the rule. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions that will help clear up some of the misunderstanding.
Addiction Clinics Market Pricey, Unproven Treatments To Desperate Patients
An amino acid infusion called NAD is not approved by the FDA to treat addiction. Yet patients with addiction can be desperate enough to try it, at prices as high as $15,000.
Doctors Fight Legislation Prompted By Sex Abuse Scandals
In response to recent high-profile sex abuse cases, some California lawmakers want doctors to give patients more information about pelvic exams, and then get a signature proving they did. Doctors in the Golden State and beyond are pushing back.