Statewide Region Local News: Health

10/04/2024
The Mercury News explains the Proposition 35 to renew the existing tax used to fund Medi-Cal health services.

10/02/2024
The summer COVID surge in California may be finally abating, but people are still advised to get update vaccines in anticipation of a resurgence in the fall and winter.

10/01/2024
A California minimum wage law that was delayed amid budget troubles is now set to go into effect Oct. 16. It’s expected to benefit hundreds of thousands of workers.

09/30/2024
An estimated 1 in 5 schools has no air conditioning and another 10% need repair. Underfunded schools struggle to keep classrooms cool as heat waves intensify. “It’s a hot mess,” one teacher says.

09/17/2024
The California surgeon general is launching a campaign today to spread awareness about health conditions that contribute to pregnancy-related deaths, such as heart disease.

09/17/2024
California’s new cap on health care cost increases is regarded as the most aggressive in the nation. It includes potential fines against companies that exceed the limit.

09/11/2024
H5N1 bird flu has been reported in three California dairy herds.

09/05/2024
Lawmakers approved two bills to allow some community colleges to provide bachelor’s degrees in nursing. That’s setting up another conflict with the California State University, which already offers these bachelor’s degrees.

09/03/2024
Almost everyone in California has health insurance. That trend reflects about a decade and a half of policymaking designed to expand access to health care. The state’s average uninsured rate has dropped from nearly one in four Californians in 2009 to less than one in ten today.

08/27/2024
Pharmacy benefit managers attempt to negotiate cost savings for insurers. California is considering new rules that would require them to pass their discounts on to consumers.

08/26/2024
A trio of California Democratic lawmakers say they’re frustrated by high cost estimates that helped kill their health care legislation. Did the Newsom administration inflate the numbers to quietly kill the bills?

08/26/2024
About 4 in 10 Californians are carrying medical debt. Lawmakers are advancing a bill that would prevent that debt from affecting credit scores.

08/25/2024
Birth centers are popular options for families who want to deliver a baby outside of a hospital. Nineteen of them closed in California in the past decade, deepening the state’s maternity care crisis.

08/07/2024
The chemical, used for decades, can harm babies’ developing brains. Farmworkers and people living near fields are most at risk. The EPA issued a rare emergency order.

08/01/2024
About 80 Californians die every year after contracting Valley fever, a fungal disease that typically affects the lungs. A recent outbreak was traced to a music festival in Kern County.

07/25/2024
After years of delay, a new California regulation to protect indoor workers from extreme heat is now in effect.

07/24/2024
The first two human cases of West Nile virus this season were reported in Yuba and Stanislaus Counties.

07/17/2024
California State Hospitals can bill patients for the care they receive during confinement. The charges often run in the tens of thousands of dollars, putting vulnerable people in debt for years.

07/10/2024
Taking advantage of new state funds, some California healthcare providers are starting to offer what their homeless patients really need: housing.

06/25/2024
Even when suicidal, California firefighters struggle to find medical help and navigate the workers’ comp morass to pay for it.