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Union-backed initiatives in Palo Alto and Livermore, Calif., aim to cap charges by hospitals and doctors, seeking to build on national furor over rising medical bills. The measures arise in health care markets that are among the most expensive in the nation.
The front-runner in the California governor’s race, known for his political audacity, has officially endorsed the controversial move to create one public insurance program for all Californians. Yet he also faces formidable challenges, and liberal critics fear he’ll retreat.
As rates of sexually transmitted diseases surge, public health officials want physicians to step up screening and treatment of patients.
Insurance companies profit from government contracts but are subject to little oversight of how they spend the money or care for patients. The expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act has only exacerbated the problem.
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal and Joanne Kenen of Politico discuss how protections for people with preexisting conditions have become a top issue in the elections, Trump administration efforts to make prescription drug prices more public and the start of Medicare’s annual open-enrollment period. Plus, Rovner interviews California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
California’s 13 children’s hospitals are asking voters in November to approve $1.5 billion in bonds to help them pay for construction and equipment, the third such measure in 14 years. Some health care experts and election analysts believe the repeated financial requests aren’t justified.
John Cox, California’s Republican candidate for governor, contends that policies on abortion, health insurance and health care access should be guided by the conservative ideals of free market competition and personal responsibility. He hasn’t offered specific policy positions on health care, except that government should largely stay out of it.
Dieters and gym rats, beware. Some dietary supplements promising weight loss or more muscle may contain active ingredients not listed on the label that fly under the radar of the Food and Drug Administration. The California Department of Public Health analyzed public data maintained by the FDA to suss out trends among tainted products, raising red flags.
Californians and Americans are living longer with cancer — but some are living longer than others. California Healthline’s Facebook Live addresses disparities in cancer diagnosis, treatment and care — and what can be done about them.
The measure, which will appear on the November ballot, seeks to cap industry profits. The SEIU-UHW union has raised almost $17 million, but opponents from the industry have invested more than four times that.
A DaVita subsidiary will pay $270 million over allegations that it cheated the federal government for years.
In a Medicaid-funded pilot project starting with 19 counties, clinicians and other providers are now in charge of deciding what kind of treatment an offender needs. The change has rankled some judges and attorneys — and forced some felons to spend more time in jail — but it has been largely embraced by clinicians and county agencies.
State legalization efforts, as well as the introduction of edible or vaporized cannabis- infused products, may be contributing to experimentation by teens.
As Republican and Democratic attorneys general square off on a Texas case that threatens to dismantle consumer protections in the federal health law, campaigns across the country for states’ highest legal officer get hotter.
Health insurance generally pays more than dental insurance, and newly minted experts say it’s legitimate to bill medical plans for services extending beyond tooth care. Medical insurers caution against inappropriate billing and fraud.
A decade ago, California stopped licensing surgery centers and then gave approval power to private accreditors that are commonly paid by the same centers they inspect. That system of oversight has created a troubling legacy of laxity, a Kaiser Health News investigation finds.
A clinic in El Cajon, Calif., treats patients recovering from anything from gunshot wounds to PTSD and anxiety about family left behind.
Amid the buzz over apps and electronic medical records rescuing modern medicine, California’s Medicaid program still clings to 1970s-era technology. A reboot may cost half a billion dollars.
Dr. Prudence Hall has made a name for herself in the field of “bioidentical hormones” — plant-based compounds purportedly customized for each patient’s needs. Experts say the popular approach is unproven; California regulators say she was grossly negligent in her care of two patients.
California frequently innovates to address its wide-ranging health care needs, but it has not always achieved its aims. A series of articles in the journal Health Affairs shows, among other things, that efforts to care for HIV patients, provide better access to reproductive services for low-income women and fill gaps in primary care have sometimes fallen flat.
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