Posts Tagged: completely

News

Electricity meltdowns: Texas can learn from SMUD, California

Headquarters of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. (Photo: Headquarters of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, (Photo: Cassionhabib, via Shutterstock)

In February, Texas experienced a freak weather event, a deep freeze that shut down its electrical  system, damaged its infrastructure and cost dozens of lives. The storm revealed the lack of preparation and investment by the Texas state government, the flaws of its system of deregulated privately-owned utilities, and the failures of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT.  The latter is responsible for maintaining the state’s energy infrastructure.

Opinion

Budget cuts could doom crucial Alzheimer’s care

An Alzheimer patient and his son strolling on the beach. (Photo: tonkid, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: If the governor’s proposed budget goes through to completely eliminate funding for adult day health care facilities that support Californians living with dementia and Alzheimer’s, things will go from tough to impossible for tens of thousands of families like mine.

Opinion

Cancer: Hold insurers accountable for denying patients care

Photo illustration of medical equipment. (Image: ESB Professional, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: My insurance company has entirely ignored my doctors’ medical expertise and flatly refused to pay for the physician-prescribed treatment. I’ve learned that my plight is not unique, that there is a systematic failure to hold insurers accountable for unfair delays and inappropriate denials of recommended cancer care. California’s insurance commissioner, Dave Jones, can fix this.

News

California shakes, but many go without quake insurance

Richard M. Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, points out the American Canyon Quake. (AP Photo/Alex Menendez)

California is known as much for earthquakes as it is Hollywood or surfers, but relatively few homeowners have bothered to buy earthquake insurance. A little better than one in every 10 residential properties is covered throughout California. In Napa, where Sunday’s 6.0 magnitude quake caused an estimated $1 billion in damage, the coverage level is even lower than that – perhaps 5 percent, according to the California Earthquake Authority

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