Mental Health

Latest California Healthline Stories

As Treatable As Diabetes? Lawmakers Push New Ways To Stem Opioid Addiction

California lawmakers approved 14 measures to address the opioid crisis, including one that requires health plans to cover medication-based treatments for opioid addiction without requiring pre-authorization. Gov. Jerry Brown has until the end of September to approve or reject the proposals.

California: A Health Care Laboratory With Mixed Results

California frequently innovates to address its wide-ranging health care needs, but it has not always achieved its aims. A series of articles in the journal Health Affairs shows, among other things, that efforts to care for HIV patients, provide better access to reproductive services for low-income women and fill gaps in primary care have sometimes fallen flat.

Rehabilitation Plus Rehab? Jails Dispense Drugs To Treat Inmates’ Addictions

Rather than go cold turkey, inmates increasingly have the option to take medication to help beat addiction to opioids and other substances. But some warn these substitute drugs serve as another crutch — and a costly one at that.

Listen: Inexpensive Nerve Drug Often Abused As Opioid Epidemic Grows

Gabapentin, a medication approved to help patients with nerve pain or epilepsy, is being abused by people addicted to opioids to help prolong their high or stave off withdrawal from other drugs. Kaiser Health News reporter Carmen Heredia Rodriguez talks about the problem during a wide-ranging health discussion on the NPR program “On Point.”

¿Qué tan pronto conviene saber si tienes Alzheimer?

José Belardo fue diagnosticado con Alzheimer precoz a los 50 años. Siempre memorioso, el contraalmirante retirado olvidó por dos años consecutivos su aniversario de bodas. Fue cuando la familia se dio cuenta que algo estaba pasando.