Latest California Healthline Stories
Readers And Tweeters: On Seniors Packing Heat And When They Should Pack It In
California Healthline and Kaiser Health News give readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Top Trump Health Official Takes Swipes At ACA, Single-Payer In Enemy Territory
After a San Francisco speech focused mostly on Medicare, Seema Verma fielded questions that underscored the administration’s differences with California on other key health care issues.
Children With Disabilities Endure Long Waits For Life-Changing Medical Equipment
Some California children with serious health care problems wait more than a year for wheelchairs, bath benches, commodes, specialized crutches and other crucial medical equipment. Critics blame the delays on a confusing bureaucratic maze of private insurers and public programs.
Doctors And Dentists Welcome Pay Hike For Treating Low-Income Patients
California is boosting rates for doctors and dentists who participate in the state’s Medi-Cal program for low-income residents. Providers say the pay raises will increase their participation in the program and improve access for patients.
After Setback, Proponents Of Universal Coverage In Calif. Look To Next Governor
Key measures in the legislature’s coverage-for-all strategy failed to make it into next year’s state budget. Pending legislation to accomplish the same goals are unlikely to pass muster with Gov. Jerry Brown.
California Poised To Expand Access To Hepatitis C Drugs
New state rules and funding, which are pending approval from the governor, would make almost all Medi-Cal recipients with hepatitis C eligible for pricey, lifesaving medications, as long as they are at least 13 and have more than one year to live.
New Hospital Leader Fights Price Controls Despite Reputation As A Reformer
Carmela Coyle was known as an innovator when she led Maryland’s hospital association and supported a groundbreaking program that capped hospital revenue. But less than a year into her new job representing California’s hospitals in Sacramento, Coyle has already helped kill a proposal to regulate pricing.
Health Care Simmers On Back Burner In California Heartland’s Hot House Races
After rallies and protests in the San Joaquin Valley congressional districts, the urgency over protecting coverage under the ACA seems to have waned — at least in the primaries. Three of four seats in the region are likely to remain red, political forecasters say.
Day Care Centers For The Most Fragile Kids Struggle To Stay Open
Eighteen Medi-Cal-funded day care centers across California provide care for over 500 severely ill and disabled children, allowing their parents to work outside the home and avoid poverty. But those centers are struggling to keep their doors open, because they say the payments they get from the state don’t allow them to offer competitive wages, and nurses are leaving for other jobs. Listen to Pauline Bartolone’s story on KQED radio’s “California Report.”
Health Care Looms Large In Race For California’s Top Cop
Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has made a name for himself opposing Trump administration policies on health care and other matters, is running against opponents who say they wouldn’t make such resistance their primary focus.