Santa Cruz County Health Digest

States are plowing billions of dollars into a high-stakes health care experiment that’s exploding around the country: using scarce public health insurance money to provide housing for the poorest and sickest Americans.

One year after California became the first state to require its public universities to provide the abortion pill to students, basic information on where or how students can obtain the medication is lacking.

When wildfire smoke and extreme heat combine, they create “a synergistic effect” or an “additional burden” on people’s health, researchers say.

Each fall, millions of hunters across North America bag deer. Over the winter, people chow down on the venison steaks, sausage, and burgers made from the animals.

As Californians increasingly feel the health effects of climate change, state leaders are adopting sweeping policies they hope will fend off the worst impacts.

Gov. Gavin Newsom crafted the measure to reform California’s mental health system, including a $6.4-billion bond for new facilities.

A pending bill would extend the so-called 5150 confinement authority to county-designated psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, and clinical counselors.

The March ballot measure would raise billions for mental health care, but some clinics fear it would strip them of revenue they need for services they provide today.

Rates of routine childhood vaccination hit a 10-year low in 2023. That, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, puts about 250,000 kindergartners at risk for measles.

Salud Para La Gente in Watsonville was one of two health care programs in Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s district to receive funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Center Program.

A U.S. Senate committee launched an examination of assisted living, holding its first hearing in two decades on the industry as leaders of both parties expressed concern about the high cost and mixed quality of care facilities.

Those pandemic puppies are growing up to be a public health concern.

In the year and a half since its launch, 988—the country’s easy-to-remember suicide and crisis hotline—has received about 8.1 million calls, texts, and chats. Curiosity is growing about the people taking those calls.

At the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, scientists are eager to explore whether a psychedelic chemical found in a toad could help people with depression. But research has been put on hold by the state.

The number of older adults with disabilities that affect their performance of daily tasks will soar in the decades ahead, as baby boomers enter their 70s, 80s, and 90s.

The Assembly has until the end of January to decide the fate of the youth tackle football bill, which would prevent kids under 12 from playing the sport to protect them from brain trauma.

On the campaign trail, former President Donald Trump is again promising to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act—a nebulous goal that became one of his administration's splashiest policy failures.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed that lawmakers tap a rainy day reserve and that a minimum wage increase for health care workers be delayed to help the state fight a $37.9 billion deficit. This projection is more than double what Newsom and other officials had anticipated last year.

Sacramento attorney Mark Merin has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of a man who died in May after being held at the county jail. Other inmates have died in recent years, and the jail is under a federal consent decree to improve its health care.

San Diego Unified School District has received more than $700 million in federal and state relief funds since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with these funds ending, some schools could be facing serious deficits.

An outbreak of the avian flu that began in California in October has killed 5.5 million birds throughout the Golden State. About 20% of the deaths have come in Sonoma County.

Leaders of a parental rights advocacy group announced they’re planning to sue California Attorney General Rob Bonta over the way his office has characterized a 2024 ballot initiative they authored.

High prices at hospitals in Monterey County are “an anomaly even among the most expensive” communities in California. One insurance plan there saves money by paying for members’ travel to other counties for procedures.

County leaders in San Diego are gearing up for a March bond measure that could help provide more behavioral health beds. More beds are needed for areas like mental health and detox.

Los Angeles County has entered the medium category of COVID-19 hospitalization defined by the CDC, with providers warning that illnesses like RSV like to travel in tandem with the virus. Officials are urging the public to mask when visiting hospitals or other indoor facilities.

California adopted several laws to increase access to contraception and abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. The latest one eliminates out-of-pocket charges for birth control for millions of Californians.

New law is meant to help nursing home residents understand the reasons for their discharge, and inform them of their rights to appeal.

Prescribed burns, used to limit destructive wildfires, are growing in frequency at California State Parks. But as the smoke drifts into residential areas, it’s easy to see why many Californians are concerned about the health impacts.

Under two new laws, employers in California can’t ask workers about their use of cannabis outside the workplace and can’t use hair or urine tests. Employees in construction are excluded, as are applicants for federal jobs with background checks.

Under a new law, employees in California are guaranteed five paid sick days a year, two days more than previously. Worker advocacy groups say the benefit is needed, but business groups warn of additional costs.

California fast-food workers will earn a $20 minimum wage in April. Other employers might have to raise their pay floor to recruit and retain staff.

Executives of the company that previously owned Watsonville Community Hospital are accused of improper payments, siphoning funds for personal use and negligent operations, among other things, in a lawsuit filed by the hospital's liquidation trustee.