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A covid outbreak on a field trip. Another at prom. Yet administrators are reluctant to expose their schools to legal challenges by again requiring masks for students and staffers. That leaves parents fretful and confused.
People who have lost children to pills laced with fentanyl are demanding that lawmakers adopt stricter penalties and are pressuring Silicon Valley for social media protections. The movement harks back to the 1980s, when Mothers Against Drunk Driving activated a generation of parents.
Jessica Altman took over in March as executive director of California’s health insurance marketplace, which serves 1.8 million people. She warns that if Congress does not renew the tax credit enhancements that have made health plans more affordable, consumers will face significantly higher premiums, which could cause many to forgo coverage.
Legislators are proposing an overhaul of California’s licensing system for nursing homes that would make it the most stringent in the country. They argue that disreputable and unlicensed owners and operators have harmed residents. The industry describes the proposed requirements as excessive.
Many public health workers are unable to see how many doses of Pfizer’s antiviral treatment are shipped to their communities and cannot tell whether vulnerable residents are filling prescriptions as often as their wealthier neighbors.
In California, where overdose deaths are on the rise, physicians say administering anti-addiction medication as a monthly injection holds tremendous potential. So, why aren’t more patients getting it?
Even the savviest Medicare drug plan shoppers can get a shock when they fill prescriptions: That great deal on medications is no bargain after prices go up.
Starting May 1, low-income unauthorized immigrants over age 49 became eligible for full Medicaid health coverage, a significant milestone in California’s effort to expand coverage.
The top candidates to lead California’s most populous city have pledged to expand services for homeless people struggling with mental illness and substance use disorders. But they differ on whether the city should control homeless funding or continue a partnership with the county.
A measure likely to be on California’s November ballot would tax the state’s wealthiest residents to rebuild crumbling public health infrastructure and try to head off another pandemic. But are inflation-weary Californians willing to vote for new taxes?
Federal funding that paid for covid testing, treatment, and vaccines for uninsured people has run out. While some states struggle to make up the difference, California is relying on other state and local programs to continue free testing.
Amid covid-19, the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade, and a war in Europe, the Affordable Care Act has been flying under the radar in 2022. But this will be a pivotal year for the federal health law. Unless Congress acts, millions of Americans could see their costs for coverage rise dramatically as expanded subsidies expire. At the same time, the end of the public health emergency could boost the uninsured rate as states disenroll people from Medicaid. Peter Lee, who recently stepped down as the first executive director of the largest state-run ACA insurance marketplace, Covered California, has thought long and hard about how the ACA came to be, how it’s been implemented, and what should happen to it now. He joins host and KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner for a wide-ranging discussion on the state of the ACA.
Across Los Angeles County, few people are showing up at covid vaccination drives even though nearly 2 million residents remain unvaccinated.
A controversial proposal to grant HMO giant Kaiser Permanente a no-bid statewide Medicaid contract is headed for its first legislative hearing amid vocal opposition from a coalition of counties, competing health plans, community clinics, and a national health care labor union.
Empathy overload and compassion fatigue contribute to the mental health woes of veterinarians, who are more likely than other Americans to attempt suicide. And with 23 million families adopting pets during the pandemic, vets’ stress burden is no doubt heavier now.
Michael Hunn left the clergy and became a hospital and health system executive. He’s been named CEO of CalOptima, Orange County’s Medi-Cal health insurance plan for low-income residents, and his spiritual background is helping him guide the publicly run plan into the future.
Bucking the alarming spike in overall homicides in recent years, the homicide rate involving young children is down 70% in California from three decades ago. The nation has seen a parallel, albeit slower, decline.
The company awarded the state’s Medi-Cal Rx contract was taken over by another company, Centene. That left the state with a contractor it didn’t pick — one that has been accused of overbilling nine other state Medicaid programs and is now under investigation by California.
Some doctors are getting licensed in multiple states so they can use telemedicine and mail-order pharmacies to provide medication abortions to more women. At the same time, states are cracking down on telemedicine abortions, blunting the efforts of out-of-state doctors.
California regulators issued record fines against L.A. Care, the state’s largest Medi-Cal managed-care plan, for providing inadequate care to its enrollees. But whether the penalties are a sign that the state will make a more forceful effort to improve Medi-Cal’s overall quality of care remains to be seen.
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