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California’s stem cell agency, created by a $3 billion bond measure 15 years ago, is almost out of money. Its supporters plan to ask voters for even more funding next year, even though no agency-funded treatments have been approved for widespread use.
Trials are an immense undertaking involving tens of thousands of participants. They’re likely to start this summer — but don’t expect quick results. And what’s a successful result, anyway?
Congress authorized $100 billion for health care providers to help reimburse them for losses linked to the coronavirus pandemic. But the majority of that funding so far has gone to hospitals, doctors and other facilities that serve Medicare patients. Providers primarily serving low-income Medicaid populations and children have been largely left out.
As California Attorney General Xavier Becerra cracks down on pharmaceutical companies he said paid competitors to delay generic versions of their drugs, he’s also pushing for legislation that would give his department tools to catch more of them. It’s the first of its kind in the nation.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
California lawmakers on Wednesday pulled legislation that would have protected some patients from surprise medical bills for emergency care, citing opposition from hospitals. They vowed to resurrect the bill next year.
Enrollment among undocumented immigrant children in California’s Medicaid program started strong before stagnating and then falling. Although this decline is similar to an enrollment decline among all children in Medicaid nationwide, experts believe there are different reasons behind it.
Although laws prohibit price gouging on precious resources in times of emergency, states have been forced to compete for a share of the nation’s stockpile of ventilators — used to treat the sickest COVID patients — or pay top dollar on sideline deals. With quality and quantity control lacking, what happens when the pandemic’s second wave hits?
A new law took effect Monday that requires anyone buying ammunition in California to undergo a background check at the time of each purchase. Public health leaders hope this, and other provisions of Proposition 63, will help reduce the rate of gun violence.
California lawmakers spent big on Medi-Cal in the 2019-20 state budget, voting to cover more older residents and people with disabilities, restore benefits cut during the recession and open the program to eligible young adults who are in the country illegally.
Her doctor worried she had COVID-19 but couldn’t test her for it until she ruled out other things. That test cost a bundle.
As hospitals across the country are forced to delay or cancel certain medical procedures in response to the surge in patients with COVID-19, those hard choices are disrupting care for some people with serious illnesses.
Millions of Californians are vulnerable to hefty surprise medical bills from their trips to the emergency room. Now, state lawmakers are considering a measure to cap how much out-of-network hospitals can charge privately insured patients for emergency care, which could serve as a model for other states.
California officials announced a ban on chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that has been linked to lower IQs, lower birth weights and other developmental issues in children, even as the federal government fights to protect it.
The pesticide chlorpyrifos has been linked to developmental problems in children. Some state and federal lawmakers want the chemical banned, but federal regulators are fighting to keep it on the market.
Premiums will grow by an average of 0.8% next year on the state health insurance exchange. Officials cite two new policies for the relatively low rate hike: a new state tax penalty on Californians who don’t have health insurance coupled with state-based tax credits to help enrollees afford their premiums, including middle-income people who make too much money to qualify for federal financial aid.
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to help an estimated 850,000 Californians pay their health insurance premiums and would fund his plan with a tax penalty on people who don’t have coverage. If he succeeds, California would be the first state to subsidize middle-income people who make too much to qualify for federal financial aid.
California hospitals must comply with a new state law that requires them to try to find a safe place for homeless patients upon discharge. But hospitals say doing so isn’t as easy as calling a shelter and securing a cot.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
A New York City woman, worried that her sore throat might be strep, got swabbed at her doctor’s office. The sample was sent to an out-of-network lab for sophisticated DNA tests ― with a price tag similar to a new SUV.
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