Santa Cruz County Health Articles

About 300,000 Californians have lost Medi-Cal coverage since the state resumed eligibility checks. You have options if you get a notice about your coverage.

California collects a special tax on high incomes to fund mental health services. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to change how the money is spent so a share of it can be used to fund housing for homeless people with mental …

California prisons are badly understaffed when it comes to doctors and psychiatrists. A new contract attempts to boost retention with substantial bonuses.

It’s a confusing time in the COVID pandemic. A new booster is on the way, but cases are rising and you might want more protection now.

Mark Weller of Californian's for Pesticide Reform discusses the tribunal planned for the 12th of September as well as other issues of pesticide reform in California. People's Tribunal on Pesticide Use and Civil Rights in California Live Event and Webinar …

Measure would help with community purchase of Watsonville hospital

Psychedelics are having a moment. A nationwide push to bring magic mushrooms and other psychedelics into the mainstream is gaining traction, and some Californians want in.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s big new experiment to push people with mental illness off the streets and into treatment starts this fall. Counties responsible for the rollout say it may end up being more modest than advertised.

Some independent California community hospitals have struggled with rising costs since the COVID-19 pandemic. Three declared bankruptcy this year, prompting the state to distribute interest-free loans.

Watsonville Community Hospital is one of 17 medical facilities in California that will receive immediate multimillion-dollar financial assistance in the form of zero-interest loans from the State of California. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced the $300 million Distressed Hospital …

Neighbors to one of California’s biggest hazardous waste recyclers say they’re unfairly exposed to pollution, but can California afford to lose one of the few facilities that still takes toxic waste?

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and the United Farm Workers union say a recent death in a tomatillo field was due to heat, but a coroner’s report doesn’t back that up.

For humans, a horse may be the greatest bio-feedback tool on earth In Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, a therapist uses a horse as the emotional barometer to get you to a moment when what you feel on the inside is what …

Two of the three troubled California hospitals are especially vital to their communities because they’re the only emergency providers in their rural counties. Health care chains could keep them afloat.

On Monday morning, as I wound my way up Highway 9 from Santa Cruz to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Ralph Nader was discussing—on KSQD 90.7 FM’s airwaves—how the notorious drug Thalidomide has returned to the market in a new …

Medi-Cal and other programs are testing food prescriptions that advocates say could improve chronic conditions, lower health care costs and reduce hunger.

Start getting healthy right outside your door Plant medicine is no longer just for hippies, and Santa Cruz is a backyard-medicinal-herb-growing heaven. People from every class, culture, political affiliation and neighborhood are seeking out traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Western Herbalism …

Waste would undergo extensive treatment and testing before it’s piped directly to taps, providing a new, costly but renewable water supply. The state’s new draft rules are more than a decade in the making.

Almost half of the jobs for doctors and psychiatrists in California prisons are unfilled. Now, their union says it’s ready to strike over pay even as the state faces a steep budget deficit.

California still offers generous subsidies, but the rate hike signals that runaway health care costs are back after five years of low premium increases.