Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
California To Extend Medi-Cal To Nearly 240,000 Undocumented People
KQED: 'So Thankful’: California To Offer Medi-Cal To 235,000 Undocumented Adults
Nearly a quarter of a million undocumented adults and seniors in California – many of whom are or have been essential workers – will gain access to low-cost or free medical services as early as next year under a groundbreaking budget deal approved Monday by the Legislature. California is now positioned to officially become the first state in the nation to offer public health insurance to low-income, undocumented residents ages 50 and older, a highly vulnerable population which has been made even more vulnerable by the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. (Jhabvala Romero, 6/29)
In other news from California —
Los Angeles Times: LAPD Program Diverting Suicide Calls To Counselors Expands
A pilot program to divert 911 calls from people experiencing suicidal thoughts to certified mental health providers instead of Los Angeles police officers is being expanded into a 24-hour operation. The amended contract, approved by the civilian Police Commission on Tuesday, increases the LAPD’s one-year pilot with Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services from an eight-hour per day operation to an around-the-clock service. The expansion increases the cost of the program from $378,522 to $838,522. (Rector, 6/29)
San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Leaders Try To Strike Balance In Funding Police And Alternative Responses In Debated Budget
Caught in the middle of a debate over policing, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Mayor London Breed agreed late Tuesday to a budget that increases police spending to maintain staffing levels and boosts investments in alternative responses to homelessness, mental health crises and drug overdoses. The plan will also dramatically reduce the number of sheriff’s deputies guarding the city’s health facilities. The final plan doesn’t increase the police budget as significantly as Breed originally proposed and will aim to hire 135 instead of 200 officers requested by the Police Chief over the next two years. (Moench, 6/29)
Los Angeles Times: L.A. Backs New Plan For Restricting Homeless Encampments
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to draft new rules barring homeless people from camping near schools, parks, libraries and other “sensitive” facilities, a sudden change in direction for a city struggling to address a humanitarian crisis while also restoring access to its public spaces. On a 12 to 3 vote, council members asked the city’s lawyers to quickly draw up a law prohibiting sleeping, lying and storing possessions near a variety of public facilities, including public schools and homeless shelters. It also would bar tents and encampments from blocking sidewalks in ways that prevent wheelchairs users from traveling on them, in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. (Zahniser and Oreskes, 6/29)
San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom's GOP Rivals Say California Must Clear Camps To Solve Homeless Crisis
Republican Kevin Faulconer said Tuesday that if he’s elected governor in a recall contest this fall he would help solve California’s homelessness crisis by requiring cities to forcibly clean up all tent encampments. Under Faulconer’s plan, the state would create a “right to shelter” law requiring it to provide enough shelter beds for tens of thousands of unhoused people. He said the law would enable California to require local governments to clear people out of encampments that have filled sidewalks, parks, freeway medians, beaches and other public spaces. (Gardiner, 6/29)
In news from Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, North Carolina and Missouri —
Burlington Free Press: Vermont Ranks No. 2 For Caregiver Pay But Still Below Average Wages
Vermont ranks second best for caregiver pay, according to a new study, but wages are still considerably below average worker compensation. Caregivers — like home health aides, long-term care facility staff and personal care aides — gained increased visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic as essential workers who helped slow the spread of the virus to vulnerable people in their care. While they bear a lot of responsibility, the three million U.S. caregivers are paid, on average, 50% less than the mean wage, according to Business.org, which is evaluating how much Americans are paid according to profession. (Barton, 6/29)
The CT Mirror: Accused Sex Offender In Nursing Home Assault Will Be Charged In CT
Accused sex offender Miguel Lopez will be returned to Connecticut to face charges here in a case that focused attention on a loophole in the state’s sex offender laws. Lopez, a registered sex offender from Massachusetts, was placed in an East Windsor nursing home in April, but local law enforcement didn’t know he was in Connecticut until after he allegedly assaulted a nursing home employee about a month later. (Altimari, 6/29)
NBC News: N.J. Will House Transgender Inmates By Gender Identity After Lawsuit
New Jersey has adopted a policy that requires state prisons to house transgender people according to their gender identity rather than their sex assigned at birth. The policy change is part of a settlement the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey announced Tuesday, and it puts the state among the handful of others with similar policies. (Yurcaba, 6/30)
North Carolina Health News: Reflecting On LGBTQ Mental Health Discrimination In NC
Dan Leonard was struggling in the spring of 1966. He had recently come out as gay, and he was in the midst of a difficult academic program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Eventually, he was dismissed from the medical school. The sting of the dismissal was only heightened by an exit interview he had with the school psychiatrist — a precaution the university took after a student committed suicide one year previously. (Thompson, 6/30)
AP: Missouri Republicans Face Heat Over Planned Parenthood Money
Missouri anti-abortion advocates on Tuesday continued to push Republican lawmakers to use a special legislative session on a Medicaid funding tax to also block Planned Parenthood funding. But with only days left before GOP Gov. Mike Parson’s Thursday deadline for lawmakers to renew the Medicaid tax, it seems unlikely that the Republican-led Legislature will succeed on the Planned Parenthood front. (Ballentine, 6/29)
