Latest California Healthline Stories
A Peer Recovery Coach Walks The Frontlines Of The Opioid Epidemic
Charlie Oen was addicted to heroin as a teenager. At 25, he’s now clean and a peer counselor in Lima, Ohio, where he tries to help people who started using drugs before he was born.
HHS Secretary: Give Medicare Authority To Negotiate Drug Prices
More work is needed to improve health care in U.S., but there are no “silver bullets” to get the job done, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell tells National Press Club in a farewell speech defending Obamacare.
How Would Repeal Of The ACA Affect Californians’ Health Coverage?
Our interactive map gives a county-by-county look at the percentage of people covered by Covered California and Medi-Cal expansion.
Hospital Surprise: Medicare’s Observation Care
You’re in a hospital and think you’re admitted. Maybe not. Many Medicare beneficiaries are surprised to learn that even after spending a couple of days, they are receiving observation care, which Medicare considers an outpatient service, so the seniors’ costs can be more than expected.
Sounds Like A Good Idea? Regulating Drug Prices
Presidential candidates from both parties have proposals they say would help lower the cost of prescription drugs. But most experts say that efforts to regulate prices might not end up saving much money.
California’s Aid-In-Dying Law Takes Effect
Terminally ill patients must meet many requirements in order to end their own lives. Some could have difficulty finding a doctor willing to prescribe the drugs, and others could have trouble paying for them.
Sounds Like A Good Idea? Selling Insurance Across State Lines
Republicans have long touted a proposal to allow insurers to sell across state lines as a way to help keep coverage costs down. But there are some significant obstacles to making such a system work, as this video points out.
Changing Disparities in Breast-Feeding
Jan Emerson-Shea of the California Hospital Association, Robbie Gonzalez-Dow of the California Breastfeeding Coalition, lactation consultant Monique Sims-Harper and neonatologist Nancy Wight spoke with California Healthline about the disparities associated with breastfeeding, the cultural factors that contribute to those disparities and the possible influence hospitals could have on reducing them.
Fight Continues To Raise Smoking Age
Bill Dombrowski of the California Retailers Association, State Sen. Ed Hernandez, Debra Kelley of the American Lung Association and Assembly member Jim Wood spoke with California Healthline about the return of proposed legislation to raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21 in California.
California and its Counties Leading Way on Health Benefits for Undocumented
Contra Costa County Supervisor Candice Anderson, Rosa Maria Arriaga, a 72-year-old patient, Álvaro Fuentes of Contra Costa County’s Community Clinic Consortium, Gerald Kominski of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Gabrielle Lessard of the National Immigration Law Center, Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Teshina Wilson, a physician at a Richmond clinic, and Anthony Wright of Health Access California spoke with California Healthline about the state’s efforts to provide health care to undocumented immigrants.