Latest California Healthline Stories
New Eligibility Rules Are a Financial Salve for Nearly 2 Million on Medi-Cal
Nearly 2 million Medi-Cal enrollees, mainly people who are aged, disabled, or in long-term care, can now accumulate savings and property without limitations and still qualify for the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents. They join an additional roughly 12 million enrollees who already had no asset limits.
Nuevas normas de elegibilidad son un alivio financiero para casi 2 millones de personas en Medi-Cal
Este grupo se equiparará a los aproximadamente 12 millones de otros beneficiarios que no tienen límites de activos.
California Prison Drug Overdoses Surge Again After Early Treatment Success
Drug overdose deaths in California state prisons rebounded to near record levels last year, a big setback for corrections officials who thought they were on the right track with medication-assisted treatment efforts. Prison officials and attorneys representing prisoners blame fentanyl.
States Target Health Insurers’ ‘Prior Authorization’ Red Tape
Doctors, patients, and hospitals have railed for years about the prior authorization processes that health insurers use to decide whether they’ll pay for patients’ drugs or medical procedures. The Biden administration announced a crackdown in January, but some state lawmakers are looking to go further.
For the first time, a jury has convicted a parent of a school shooter of charges related to the child’s crime, finding a mother in Michigan guilty of involuntary manslaughter and possibly opening a new legal avenue for gun control advocates. Meanwhile, as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a case challenging the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, a medical publisher has retracted some of the journal studies that lower-court judges relied on in their decisions. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachana Pradhan of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too.
Cities Know That the Way Police Respond to Mental Crisis Calls Must Change. But How?
Cities are experimenting with new ways to meet the rapidly increasing demand for behavioral health crisis intervention, at a time when incidents of police shooting and killing people in mental health crisis have become painfully familiar.
Even in Bright-Blue California, Abortion Is on the Ballot
The race to replace the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is in full swing in California. Although the state enshrined abortion rights into its constitution, the prospect of a national abortion ban has the candidates vying for a Senate seat putting a spotlight on reproductive rights. Or, at least the Democrats are. Steve Garvey, a […]
FDA Move to Ban Hair Relaxer Chemical Called Too Little, Too Late
The FDA’s recent notice that it would move to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening products comes more than a decade after researchers raised alarms about health risks. Scientists say a ban would still leave many dangerous chemicals in hair straighteners.
Halfway Through ‘Unwinding,’ Medicaid Enrollment Is Down About 10 Million
While more Medicaid beneficiaries have been purged in the span of a year than ever before, enrollment is on track to settle at pre-pandemic levels.
La FDA finalmente prohibiría peligroso químico en productos para alisar el cabello
El primer estudio que vinculó los alisadores de cabello con el cáncer de útero, publicado en 2022, encontró que el uso frecuente de estos químicos duplica con creces el peligro.