Photo Essay
Your School Assignment For The Day: Spelling And Specs
In California’s rural Central Valley, low-income children have limited access to vision care. School districts are teaming up with nonprofits to fill the gaps.
Blue Shield of California Foundation
The Blue Shield of California Foundation helps fund KFF Health News’ national coverage of California. Stories related to this topic are featured below. Click here for more on KFF Health News and its funders.
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Picture Of Health
The Golden State’s Mixed Record On Lung Cancer
California has one of the lowest rates of new lung cancer cases in the country, attributed largely to its aggressive anti-tobacco policies. But gaps in the state’s health care system mean that people who are diagnosed with the disease, or at a high risk of getting it, often fall through the cracks.
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Congressional Candidates Go Head-To-Head On Health Care — Again
The California Democratic members of Congress who flipped seven Republican seats two years ago made health care a major campaign issue, criticizing their opponents for voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As the Democrats defend their seats in this year’s elections, they are coming back to health care — but the issues are different.
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School Districts Grapple With Quarantines, Face Masks And Fear
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, school districts, especially those with large Chinese student populations, are in uncharted territory as they apply new federal travel rules to their students. Some also are weighing requests from parents that are more about fear than science, such as whether to allow students with no travel history to stay home from school.
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Surge In Enrollment As Californians Avoid Penalty, Receive State Aid
Although a new state tax penalty and state financial aid motivated people to sign up for health insurance this year, Covered California is reopening enrollment for those who said they weren’t aware of them.
By Rachel Bluth and Samantha Young -
Abortion-Rights Supporters Fear Loss Of Access If Adventist Saves Hospital
As community hospitals struggle, they often turn to large religious-based hospital groups to bail them out. But that can limit the types of services they offer, especially reproductive health treatment such as abortion.
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Newsom Touts California’s ‘Public Option.’ Wait — What Public Option?
Gov. Gavin Newsom says the state already has a public option: Covered California, the state health insurance exchange. While there is no single definition of a public option, some health care experts say that’s a stretch.
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When It Comes To The New Coronavirus, Just Who Is A ‘Close Contact’?
Health officials stress that the new coronavirus devastating mainland China continues to pose minimal risk in the United States. The exception involves people who have had “close contact” with someone infected with the virus. So what exactly is close contact?
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Photo Essay
Finding Connections And Comfort At The Local Cafe
For Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers, social and emotional isolation is a threat. But hundreds of “Memory Cafes” around the country offer them a chance to be with others who understand, and to receive social and cognitive stimulation in the process.
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Patients Caught In Crossfire Between Giant Hospital Chain, Large Insurer
Insurance giant Cigna and San Francisco-based Dignity Health have failed to ink a 2020 contract, leaving nearly 17,000 patients in California and Nevada scrambling to find new health care providers. Meanwhile, Dignity faces financial and legal challenges while it strives to implement its merger with Catholic Health Initiatives, which created one of the nation’s largest Catholic hospital systems.
By Brian Krans -
Listen: Updates On Coronavirus Outbreak And How It Affects Chinese Immigrants
California Healthline reporters Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Anna Almendrala spoke with WNHN’s “The Attitude w/ Arnie Arnesen” about the novel coronavirus and its impact on Asian immigrants in the United States.
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Good Rehab Is Hard To Find
Helping a loved one overcome addiction isn’t easy. Start by listening to people who have been through it. They can help find effective treatment and avoid unethical or incompetent operators.
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Public Health Officials Offer Scant Details On U.S. Coronavirus Patients
To date, the U.S. has multiple confirmed cases of the viral infection that originated in Wuhan, China. That includes cases in which the virus passed from person to person within this country. So why don’t health officials share more information with the public?
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Masks Reveal Cultural Disconnect As L.A.’s Chinese Community Braces For Coronavirus
Since two cases of the mysterious new coronavirus were reported in Southern California, Chinese immigrants have begun donning face masks. The practice is common in China but goes against official guidance in the U.S., and that’s causing conflict in local schools.
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Picture Of Health
Bike Fatalities Are On The Rise
More than 450 cyclists died in traffic accidents in California from 2016 through 2018, marking the highest three-year death rate in 25 years. Among the factors at play: more cars on roads, distracted driving and a pronounced consumer shift toward SUVs.
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California Reopens The Single-Payer Debate
A high-profile commission created by Gov. Gavin Newsom will convene for the first time Monday to discuss how to get every Californian covered. But don't expect the state to adopt a single-payer system anytime soon.
By Rachel Bluth -
Medi-Cal Benefits Eliminated A Decade Ago, Such As Foot Care And Eyeglasses, Are Back
Budget cuts in 2009, sparked by the Great Recession, eliminated many needed health care services, like regular foot care for people with diabetes to minimize the risk of amputation. The restored benefits also include eyeglasses, speech therapy and hearing exams.
By John Glionna -
Despite New Doubts, ‘Hotspotting’ Help For Heavy Health Care Users Marches On
A high-profile effort in Camden, New Jersey, to reduce health spending by identifying high-cost patients and giving them more coordinated and preventive medical care has been copied around the country. Many of those groups are pushing forward with the efforts, despite a recent critical study of the Camden initiative.
By Anna Almendrala and Phil Galewitz -
How Fast Can A New Internet Standard For Sharing Patient Data Catch Fire?
The web-based standard FHIR — pronounced “fire” — could hasten the day when we can view our full medical histories on a smartphone screen. Tech giants are hungry for a piece of the pie, but obstacles remain.
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For 2020, California Goes Big On Health Care
California lawmakers are proposing ambitious health care ideas, from creating a state generic drug label to banning the sale of flavored e-cigarette products. Even though Democrats control state government, they’re likely to face pushback from powerful health care industry groups like hospitals.