Covered California Exchange Reopens; Hawaii Gov. Signs Law To Allow Some Nurses To Perform Abortions

AP: California Re-Opens Enrollment For Health Insurance Coverage
California on Monday re-opened enrollment for its state health insurance exchange, hoping more people will buy coverage now that the federal government is offering new assistance that could lower monthly premiums by $1,000 or more in some cases. Normally, people can only buy health insurance through the state exchange — known as Covered California — once per year during an open enrollment period. But last month, President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. About $3 billion of that money is coming to California in the form of new subsidies to help some people pay their monthly health insurance premiums. In some cases, people can buy coverage for as little as $1 per month. (Beam, 4/12)

AP: Hawaii To Allow Some Nurses To Perform Abortions
Gov. David Ige on Monday signed legislation that would make Hawaii the latest state to allow some nurses to perform abortions. Hawaii law previously said only physicians could perform early, in-clinic abortions. But because of a doctor shortage, several smaller islands lack abortion providers which forces residents of those islands to fly to Honolulu if they need the procedure. “This act will enable people who desperately need reproductive health care services to receive health care from very high quality health care providers, including advanced practice registered nurses, where they need it, when they need it, and ... in their own communities,” Laura Reichardt, the director of the Hawaii State Center for Nursing, said a bill signing ceremony. (McAvoy, 4/13)

The Hill: New Mexico Governor Signs Marijuana Legalization Bill
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) on Monday signed legislation to legalize the use and sale of recreational marijuana in the state, as well as to expunge the records of people with prior, low-level cannabis convictions. Lujan Grisham has advocated for legalization since taking office, and she called the state Legislature into a special session last month to vote on the bills after lawmakers failed to do so before the regular legislative session expired. (Weixel, 4/12)

North Carolina Health News: Cooper, GOP Focus On Senior Needs In Budget Process 
Dolores Gardner of Greenville looks forward to receiving farmers-market-fresh vegetables along with meals delivered to the home she shares with her husband Austin. Those are coming from Pitt County Meals on Wheels in July as one of the services financed through Home and Community Care Block Grants, funds that are expected to get a hike this year in state and federal budgets. (Goldsmith, 4/13)

Georgia Health News: White Bagging: Insurer Shift On Drugs Raises Alarm 
A big change in drug treatment for cancer is arriving in Georgia. It’s not a new medication. What’s coming is something known as “white bagging,’’ an insurer tactic involving expensive infusion or injection drugs. And at Crisp Regional Health Services in Cordele, Jennifer Taylor, an oncology nurse practitioner, is concerned about the ultimate effect on patient care. (Miller, 4/12)

KHN: Orange County Hospital Seeks Divorce From Large Catholic Health System
In early 2013, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Orange County, California, joined with St. Joseph Health, a local Catholic hospital chain, amid enthusiastic promises that their affiliation would broaden access to care and improve the health of residents across the community. Eight years later, Hoag says this vision of achieving “population health” is dead, and it wants out. It is embroiled in a legal battle for independence from Providence, a Catholic health system with 51 hospitals across seven states, which absorbed St. Joseph in 2016, bringing Hoag along with it. (Wolfson, 4/13)

Politico: NCAA Hints Championships At Stake With Florida Considering Transgender Sports Ban
The NCAA is “closely” keeping tabs on states including Florida that are moving to ban transgender athletes from playing girls’ sports, warning in a statement Monday that locations that don’t treat all student-athletes with “dignity and respect” could lose out on hosting championship games. While not mentioning Florida by name, the statement from the NCAA Board of Governors comes just one day before the House is slated to take up its proposal clarifying that female sports teams are specifically for “biological” women and girls. State lawmakers were quick to criticize the NCAA’s take on the issue. (Atterbury, 4/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Converts Hotels, Vacant Buildings - They Now House 8,000 Homeless People
A six-month sprint to convert hotels, motels and other vacant buildings into homeless housing has created shelter for more than 8,000 people at a fraction of the cost of new construction, state officials said Friday. The Homekey program, which was started last summer with money from the federal coronavirus relief package, awarded nearly $800 million to dozens of California cities and counties to purchase sites and convert them into housing with supportive services by the end of 2020. (Koseff, 4/11)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘I Come To Breathe’: In A Time Of Stress, Black People Looking To Yoga For Meditation, Relief And Healing 
As Kendra Blackett-Dibinga headed to her yoga studio in Mount Vernon on the first day of the trial for the Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd two weeks ago, she spotted a Black man wearing a hoodie, emblazoned with big white letters: “I Can’t Breathe.” Those three words reinforced her purpose as a yoga instructor. (Turner, 4/13)