Posts Tagged: health
Opinion
OPINION: Prices for prescription drugs are rising precipitously, seriously threatening public and private healthcare budgets, and creating barriers preventing patients from accessing needed therapies. Pharmaceuticals now account for 19 percent of employer spending and Medicare spending on healthcare and, with a slew of approvals of new $100,000+ medications, there is no relief in sight.
Opinion
OPINION: The Paris talks brought into clearer focus just how many so-called moderate Democrats who sided with the oil industry this year re out of touch with their caucus, their party and their state. This small tribe of transactional politicians, whose campaign coffers have been filled with oil company dollars for years, did the shameless bidding of Big Oil once again this year, failing to protect Californians from greater environmental harm.
News
In 2008, outraged by a string of snooping incidents involving celebrities’ medical records, California legislators passed a groundbreaking law that compelled hospitals to quickly report patient privacy breaches and gave the state power to levy fines for such violations. But a ProPublica analysis of state data shows enforcement has been inconsistent.
News
Californians eat more fruits and vegetables than other Americans, refrain from smoking, keep their blood pressure under control and do a decent amount of physical activity. But our health, overall, is still worse than the residents of 21 other states, according to a recent report. Why? A big reason might be a category in which California ranks at the very bottom of all 50 states — health disparities, according to an annual report published by the United Health Foundation.
News
Experts in California health care agree: The present system is unsustainable. It needs more money and flexibility. But that’s where agreement ends. There are conflicting ideas about where the money should come from and where it should go.
News
It’s all about coming up with a plan to hang onto the $1.1 billion in matching funds the feds ship to California each year to help finance MediCal, the immense program that provides health care to about 12.5 million of California’s poorest patients. MediCal is larger than ever now because of the Affordable Care Act, which added more than four million Californians to the millions already receiving MediCal coverage
News
Hang on to your hats, California smokers — a cyclone of tobacco legislation is blowing through the Golden State. Moves to crack down on electronic cigarettes, further regulate smokes in the workplace, raise the legal age to buy cigarettes to 21 years old and create new tobacco taxes all won support from the Senate health committee, the bills’ first major policy hurdle in the final weeks of the 2015 legislative session.
Opinion
Right now California has the opportunity to lead the nation in one of the most pressing issues of our time: immigration reform and health for all. Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a budget that will offer Medi-Cal access to all children, regardless of immigration status, sometime next year. While this is a significant investment in
News
California Healthline: The state Senate Committee on Health this week approved a bill to delay the move to managed care for California Children’s Services, a program for Medi-Cal children with rare and complicated diseases. AB 187, by Assembly member Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), would put off the state’s planned shift of children in the CCS program for a year, till January 2017.
Opinion
Health care delivery in California is moving toward an integrated model that brings together physicians, nurses and other health professionals, each playing a specialized role as a member of a team. As professionals that have served in multiple roles on that team, and done the training for each, we believe we are in a unique position to comment on Senate Bills 323 and 622, which would alter the roles of nurse practitioners and optometrists, respectively.
A physician flanked by the California flag. (Illustration: Niyazz, via Shutterstock).
