Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Louisiana Nursing Homes Lose Licenses After Hurricane Evacuations, Deaths
New Orleans Times-Picayune: State Revokes Nursing Home Licenses For Owner Who Sent 800 Residents To Warehouse For Ida
Louisiana health officials announced Tuesday that they are revoking Bob Dean's seven nursing-home licenses after he evacuated more than 800 nursing residents to a Tangipahoa Parish warehouse for Hurricane Ida, where four people died as conditions grew increasingly hellish over a period of days after the storm's passage. The action by the Louisiana Department of Health comes just three days after the department had ordered the immediate but temporary closure of Dean's nursing homes, which are currently empty of residents. The LDH also announced Tuesday that it will be terminating Medicaid provider agreements with Dean's nursing homes. (Gallo and Russell, 9/7)
In news from California —
AP: California Moves To Outlaw 'Stealthing,' Or Removing Condom
California lawmakers moved to make the state the first to outlaw “stealthing,” which is removing a condom without permission during intercourse. Legislators sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill on Tuesday adding the act to the state’s civil definition of sexual battery. It makes it illegal to remove the condom without obtaining verbal consent. But it doesn’t change the criminal code. Instead, it would amend the civil code so that a victim could sue the perpetrator for damages, including punitive damages. (Thompson, 9/8)
San Francisco Chronicle: California's Extra Sick Leave Pay For COVID-19 On The Way To Expiration This Month
California’s special COVID-19 sick-leave policy, which has sustained many low-income workers during the pandemic, is set to expire Sept. 30, a change that is raising fears of new disruptions for communities of color and others disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. The looming cutoff — which would erase the requirement for an extra two weeks of paid sick days — comes just as the highly transmissible and potent delta variant is sending more people to hospitals, even amid higher rates of vaccination. Low-income workers, many in jobs requiring them to interact with the public, face financial loss if they don’t get paid while staying home when infected with the coronavirus. But they risk the public health as well as their own well-being if they do report to work out of financial necessity, proponents of the policy say. (Narayan, 9/7)
KHN: California Set To Spend Billions On Curing Homelessness And Caring For ‘Whole Body’ Politic
Living unmedicated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Eugenia Hunter has a hard time recalling how long she’s been staying in the tent she calls home at the bustling intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland’s hip Uptown neighborhood. Craft coffee shops and weed dispensaries are plentiful here and one-bedroom apartments push $3,000 per month. “At least the rats aren’t all over me in here,” the 59-year-old Oakland native said on a bright August afternoon, stretching her arm to grab the zipper to her front door. It was hot inside and the stench of wildfire smoke hung in the air. Still, after sleeping on a nearby bench for the better part of a year, she felt safer here, Hunter explained as she rolled a joint she’d use to ease the pain from also living with what she said is untreated pancreatic cancer. (Hart, 9/8)
In news from Wisconsin —
AP: Report: Pandemic Driving Alcohol Sales
A new report suggests people are buying dramatically more alcohol as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on. Revenue from state excise taxes on alcohol during the fiscal year that ended June 30 totaled $73.8 million, up almost 17% from $63.3 million the previous year, according to preliminary data from the state Department of Revenue cited in the report from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum. (9/8)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Disabled Workers Sue Wisconsin Over Denial Of Unemployment Benefits
A class action lawsuit is aiming to overturn a state law prohibiting disabled Wisconsinites from accessing unemployment benefits after losing their job. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by a group of nine residents who have been denied unemployment benefits since 2015 because they receive Social Security Disability Insurance payments as well. Some of the residents have also been forced to repay benefits given to them by the Department of Workforce Development, which contended the payments were made in error. (Schulte, 9/7)
In news from New York, Mississippi and Colorado —
The New York Times: 800,000 New Yorkers Just Lost Federal Unemployment Benefits
From the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, New York City has been pummeled economically unlike any other large American city, as a sustained recovery has failed to take root and hundreds of thousands of workers have yet to find full-time jobs.On Sunday, the city, like other communities nationwide, was hit with another blow: The package of pandemic-related federal unemployment benefits, which has kept families afloat for 17 months, expired. ... About 10 percent of the city’s population, or about 800,000 people, will have federal aid eliminated, though many will continue receiving state benefits. (Haag and Hong, 9/7)
AP: Mississippi Has 120 Days To Come Up With Mental Health Plan
Mississippi has 120 days to come up with proposed long-term plan for how it will work to prevent unnecessary institutionalizations of people with mental illness in state hospitals, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ordered that the state’s initial plan be submitted to the U.S. Justice Department and an independent monitor, Michael Hogan, for feedback. The final plan must be completed in 180 days. (Willingham, 9/8)
KHN: Colorado Clinic’s Prescription For Healthier Patients? Lawyers
In her 19 years of living with cerebral palsy, scoliosis and other ailments, Cynthia Enriquez De Santiago has endured about 60 surgeries and her heart has flatlined at least four times. But the most unusual doctor’s referral of her life came last year: Go see an attorney. Enriquez De Santiago sought help at a Colorado health clinic that takes a novel approach to improving the health of its patients: It incorporates legal assistance into its medical practice for patients facing eviction or deportation proceedings, among other legal woes. And the state’s Medicaid program helps fund the initiative. (Rodgers, 9/8)
