Latest California Healthline Stories
Who Doesn’t Text in 2022? Most State Medicaid Programs
As states prepare for the end of the covid public health emergency, they are making plans to reevaluate each Medicaid enrollee’s eligibility. They will rely primarily on mail and email because not many states can text enrollees.
Biden Administration Announces Boost for Rural Health Care in Midterm Election Push
President Joe Biden’s Cabinet members are fanning out across the county to promote benefits coming to rural America from covid relief and infrastructure legislation.
Babies Die as Congenital Syphilis Continues a Decade-Long Surge Across the US
Congenital syphilis rates keep climbing, according to newly released federal data. But the primary funding source for most public health departments has been largely stagnant, its purchasing power dragged even lower by inflation.
Refurbished Walkers and Wheelchairs Fill Gaps Created by Supply Chain Problems
Loan closets are playing an important role as supply chain issues and the rising price of aluminum have led to shortages in medical equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, and knee scooters.
It’s Your Choice: You Can Change Your Views of Aging and Improve Your Life
Becca Levy of Yale University talks with “Navigating Aging” columnist Judith Graham about how people can alter ingrained perceptions of aging — which are often formed unconsciously and are unrecognized.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Finally, a Fix for the ‘Family Glitch’
President Joe Biden welcomed former President Barack Obama back to the White House this week to announce a new policy for the Affordable Care Act that would make subsidies available to more families with unaffordable employer coverage. Meanwhile, Congress struggled to find a compromise for continued federal funding of covid-19 vaccines, testing, and treatments. Tami Luhby of CNN, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Never-Ending Costs: When Resolved Medical Bills Keep Popping Up
A bill one family considered paid wrongfully resurfaced, resurrecting painful memories. It’s a scenario that’s not uncommon but grievously unsettling.
California Handed Its Medicaid Drug Program to One Company. Then Came a Corporate Takeover.
The company awarded the state’s Medi-Cal Rx contract was taken over by another company, Centene. That left the state with a contractor it didn’t pick — one that has been accused of overbilling nine other state Medicaid programs and is now under investigation by California.
The Pandemic Exacerbates the ‘Paramedic Paradox’ in Rural America
Emergency medical services are a lifeline in regions with scarce medical care. But paramedics, trained to respond to patients with life-threatening injuries, are in short supply where they’re needed most.
A Shortfall of ECMO Treatment Cost Lives During the Delta Surge
About 50% of the covid-19 patients who got the last-ditch life support treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center died. Researchers wanted to know what happened to the many patients they had to turn away because ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machines and the specialized staffers needed were in short supply. The grim answer: 90% of those turned away perished.