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A bill in the California legislature would require state-regulated health plans to cover policyholders’ dependent parents. Advocates say the measure would reduce the number of uninsured people, while business groups warn of premium increases.
Latinos got hit disproportionately hard by covid-19. When faced with the choice of sending their kids back to school or keeping them in online classes, many Latino parents say their kids are safer at home.
Because there are no caps on cost, consumers and insurers often get billed hundreds of dollars for the most reliable PCR covid test. Prices are rising and they can’t fight back.
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.
The costs of personal protective equipment and disinfecting offices while seeing fewer patients have some doctors and dentists demanding that insurance companies step up.
Californians who passed up health coverage in the past may be pleasantly surprised by the lower prices available thanks to the new federal relief act.
California officials are optimistic they can vaccinate millions more before hitting a hard wall of vaccine resistance.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Even as the nation has moved on to vaccinating everyone 16 and older, the vast majority of people homebound due to frailty or age — and among the most vulnerable to covid’s devastation — have not yet been vaccinated. California offers a sharp lens on the challenges.
In the Los Angeles County Jail system, many inmates hope being vaccinated will get them transferred more quickly to state prison. Some just want to protect themselves against covid, while others are distrustful and refuse vaccination.
In the times of smallpox, vaccination was accompanied by blood, sweat, fire and brimstone. Nowadays, a slight fever may make you feel as if you’ve earned the reward of immunity from covid. But you’re protected even without a nasty reaction to the vaccine.
Local health officials have become the face of government authority as they work to stem the pandemic. That has made them targets for chilling threats from some of the same militia groups that stormed the U.S. Capitol. Santa Cruz leaders are among those whose daily routines now incorporate security patrols, surveillance cameras and, in some cases, firearms.
California stresses equity for minority groups. Texas is all about personal choice and liberty. Both are struggling to vaccinate Latinos and contending with vaccine hesitancy among conservative communities.
A bill that would have allowed California cities and counties to once again pursue taxes on sugary drinks was just shelved in the legislature without a hearing. Public health advocates blame the political — and financial — clout of the soft drink industry.
Lawmakers in California and other states are rethinking how they set and enforce speed limits, and they’re proposing to hand more power to local authorities to slow drivers in their communities.
For years, women with painful gynecological issues have faced long waits in ERs or longer waits to see their doctors. During the pandemic, women have increasingly turned to women’s clinics that handle urgent issues like miscarriage or serious urinary tract infections.
New data released Tuesday from the CDC shows sexually transmitted infections reached an all-time high in 2019. The biggest spike was in syphilis cases, which rose 74% between 2015 and 2019. Leading the country in syphilis is California, where men who have sex with men make up half the cases.
Frustration with the standardization of care across 51 hospitals, loss of local control and restrictions on reproductive health care have pitted Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian against the Providence chain.
As cities across California wrestle with a crisis of homelessness that has drawn international condemnation, Santa Rosa’s bold experiment with a city-sanctioned encampment suggests a way forward.
Dr. Linath Lim came to the U.S. as a refugee after slaving at work camps under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Even with little English or education when she arrived, Lim put herself through college and medical school. As an internal medicine doctor in California’s Central Valley, she treated farmworkers and other Cambodian refugees.
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