Head-Scratching Over Newsom’s Choice of Blue Shield to Lead Vaccination Push
By Bernard J. Wolfson
February 1, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s surprising choice of Blue Shield to lead the state’s covid vaccination effort raised questions about the role politics played in the decision — and whether the insurer is up to the task.
With Becerra as HHS Pick, California Plots More Progressive Health Care Agenda
By Angela Hart and Samantha Young
December 10, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has already begun discussing California health care priorities with Xavier Becerra, tapped this week by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as his Health and Human Services secretary.
Amid Surge, Hospitals Hesitate To Cancel Nonemergency Surgeries
By Samantha Young
July 9, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Unlike earlier in the year, most hospitals are not proactively canceling elective surgeries, even in some places seeing spikes in coronavirus patients.
Did CDC Delays in Up-To-Date Masking Advice Cost Health Workers’ Lives?
By Christina Jewett
March 12, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Researchers say “very low”-quality research from the 2003 SARS outbreak drove guidelines on who got the best PPE, leaving those most at risk exposed.
California Lawmakers Block Health Care Cuts
By Samantha Young
June 23, 2020
KFF Health News Original
State legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom have hammered out an agreement on a budget that rejects Newsom’s proposed cuts to health care services for older and low-income people.
Trickle of Covid Relief Funds Helps Fill Gaps in Rural Kids’ Mental Health Services
By Christina Saint Louis
November 23, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Only a sliver of the funding given to state, local, and tribal governments through the American Rescue Plan Act has been steered to mental health nationwide, but mental health advocates and clinicians hope the money it provides will help address gaps in care for children. In Appalachian Ohio, the funding is helping expand services.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': More Medicaid Messiness
September 27, 2023
Podcast
At least 30 states are reinstating coverage for children wrongly removed from the rolls under Medicaid redetermination, the federal government reported. It’s just the latest hiccup in the massive effort to review the eligibility of Medicaid beneficiaries now that the program’s pandemic-era expansion has expired. And federal oversight of the so-called unwinding would be further complicated by an impending government shutdown. Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Samantha Liss, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature, about a hospital bill that followed a deceased patient’s family for more than a year.
Por qué los recortes en salud perjudican siempre a los californianos más vulnerables
By Samantha Young
June 1, 2020
KFF Health News Original
En California, donde casi 2,9 millones de personas han solicitado el desempleo en los últimos dos meses, Newsom describió los recortes propuestos como “prudentes” y “estratégicos”.
‘Why Do We Always Get Hit First?’ Proposed Budget Cuts Target Vulnerable Californians
By Samantha Young
June 1, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Safety-net health care programs that keep low-income Californians out of nursing homes are on the chopping block as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attempt to plug a massive budget deficit caused by the COVID-19 emergency.
A Biden Win and Republican Senate Might Lead to Gridlock on Health Issues
By Julie Rovner
November 4, 2020
KFF Health News Original
If Democrat Joe Biden is successful in his bid for the presidency but the Senate remains in GOP control, Democrats’ plans for major changes in health care may be curbed.
Lawmaker Pushing Mental Health Reform: It’s ‘More Needed Than Ever’
By Samantha Young
April 28, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked lawmakers to pare down their legislative wish lists and focus on the state’s coronavirus response. But state Sen. Jim Beall plans to forge ahead with his mental health care proposals, including a measure to create a state mental health parity requirement.
As Lawmakers Reconvene, Not Everyone Agrees On COVID-Only Agenda
By Samantha Young
May 4, 2020
KFF Health News Original
California legislators resume their work Monday after more than a month off. While the coronavirus pandemic has shifted the state’s priorities, many lawmakers say they still intend to push non-COVID health care bills to tax soda, ban vape flavors and more.
In Becerra, an HHS Nominee With Political Skill But No Front-Line Health Experience
By Rachana Pradhan and Angela Hart and Julie Rovner and Jenny Gold
December 8, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Despite his lack of front-line experience, Democrats see the California attorney general as an important ally to shepherd a progressive agenda on the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, reproductive health services and immigration.
Becerra Has Long Backed Single-Payer. That Doesn’t Mean It Will Happen if He’s HHS Secretary.
By Victoria Knight
March 1, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has been on record throughout his career for this type of health care system. But the president doesn’t support it, which is the position that counts.
California Stands to Lose Big if US Supreme Court Cancels Obamacare
By Angela Hart
November 11, 2020
KFF Health News Original
California has more at stake than any other state should the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act. Millions of people could lose their health coverage and the state could lose billions in federal money each year.
New Laws Keep Pandemic-Weary California at Forefront of Health Policy Innovation
By Samantha Young and Angela Hart
October 1, 2020
KFF Health News Original
Gov. Gavin Newsom approved many consequential health care bills by his bill-signing deadline Wednesday, including a ban on the sale of menthol and other flavored tobacco products, the creation of a state generic drug label and better coverage for mental health disorders.
California Lawmakers Struggle To Conduct Business Amid COVID-19 Lockdown
By Samantha Young
March 25, 2020
KFF Health News Original
In an interview with California Healthline, the state’s Senate leader, Toni Atkins, makes clear that with social-distancing measures in force it will be difficult to debate and pass complicated budget measures ― but public health, education and public safety will be priorities.
‘Terrible Role-Modeling’: California Lawmakers Flout Pandemic Etiquette
By Samantha Young and Rachel Bluth
September 14, 2020
KFF Health News Original
As California workers and schoolchildren struggled to work from home, state lawmakers met in person. And as their legislative session came to a close in late August, they broke COVID rules: They huddled, let their masks slip below their noses, removed their masks to drink coffee — and required a new mom to vote in person while toting her hungry newborn.
California Rx: State May Dive Into Generic Drug Market
By Angela Hart and Samantha Young
September 1, 2020
KFF Health News Original
California could become the first state to develop its own line of generic drugs under a bill approved Monday by the legislature. The measure heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom for consideration.
Salesforce, Google, Facebook. How Big Tech Undermines California’s Public Health System.
By Angela Hart
May 6, 2021
KFF Health News Original
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has outsourced his way through the covid-19 pandemic, tasking his private-sector allies in Silicon Valley and the health care industry with fundamental public health duties such as testing, tracing and vaccination. Among the losers: the state’s weakened public health system.