Scam alert: Things a COVID-19 contact tracer wouldn’t say
by Julie Appleby STATE officials and federal agencies warn there’s a new phone scam circulating: Some callers posing as COVID-19 contact tracers try to pry credit card or bank account…
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Trust, fear and solidarity will determine the success of a COVID vaccine
by Arthur Allen Thousands of letters stuffed with money flooded Jonas Salk’s mailbox the week after his polio vaccine was declared safe and effective in 1955. Everybody wanted his vaccine….
Amid pandemic chaos, California legislators fight for major health care bills
by Rachel Bluth California lawmakers are barreling toward an end-of-month deadline to pass or kill bills amid the biggest public health crisis the state has faced in a century. Yet…
Hate unmasked in America
by Anna Almendrala “You are the most selfish f—ing people on the planet.” I jerked my head to the left, where I saw a neighbor glaring at us from his…
Tourists, beware: Foreign visitors’ travel health pandemics
by Carmen Heredia Rodriguez IT was evident that the fever, nausea and loss of appetite Vlastimil Gajdoš felt on his wedding day was not a mere case of cold feet….
Seniors with COVID-19 show unusual symptoms, doctors say
by Judith Graham Older adults with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, have several “atypical” symptoms, complicating efforts to ensure they get timely and appropriate treatment, according to physicians….
‘It’s not over until it’s over’: 5 things to know about hitting the COVID-19 peak
by Phil Galewitz As New York, California and other states begin to see their numbers of new COVID-19 cases level off or even slip, it might appear as if we’re…
‘Staying away from grandma’ isn’t an option in multigenerational homes
THE Walker family never thought having an age range of 3 to 96 under the same roof would be risky. That was before the coronavirus pandemic. Wilma Walker’s now nonagenarian…
After COVID-19: Doctors ponder best advice as patients recover from coronavirus
by Carmen Heredia Rodriguez WHEN David Vega fell ill with the novel coronavirus in mid-March, fever, chills and nausea left the 27-year-old Indiana medical student curled up in bed for…
Patients stuck with bills after insurers don’t pay as promised
by Lauren Weber THE more than $34,000 in medical bills that contributed to Darla and Andy Markley’s bankruptcy and loss of their home in Beloit, Wisconsin, grew out of what…
Response to nation’s 1st coronavirus case draws on lessons from measles outbreak
by Will Stone When the first U.S. case of a new coronavirus spreading throughout China was confirmed last week in Washington state, public health workers were well prepared to respond,…
What the 2020s have in store for aging boomers
WITHIN 10 years, all of the nation’s 74 million baby boomers will be 65 or older. The most senior among them will be on the cusp of 85. Even sooner,…
Fecal bacteria in California’s waterways increases with homeless crisis
By Anna Almendrala President Donald Trump, a self-described germophobe, has made no secret of his disgust with California’s growing homeless problem, which he has called a “disgrace” and “inappropriate” and…
Reports of patients’ deaths linked to heart devices lurk below radar
by Christina Jewett The Food and Drug Administration continues to file thousands of reports of patients’ deaths related to medical devices through a reporting system that keeps the safety data…
Federal appeals court strikes down portion of Obamacare
by Julie Rovner A FEDERAL appeals court panel in New Orleans dealt another blow to the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, December 18, agreeing with a lower-court judge that the…
Obamacare back at the high court — with billions for insurers on the line
by Phil Galewitz More than $12 billion is at stake for the nation’s health insurers Tuesday, December 10, when the Supreme Court hears another Affordable Care Act case. For the…
California Surprise-Billing Law protects patients but aggravates many doctors
MORE than two years after California’s surprise-billing law took effect, there’s one thing on which consumer advocates, doctors and insurers all agree: The law has been effective at protecting many…
Coping with (power) loss: California’s hospitals, clinics, patients face new reality
by Mark Kreidler WE all know that when the power goes out, refrigerators, heaters and air conditioners stop running. Homes go dark, and desktop computers shut down. But those are…
Medi-Cal to expand eligibility to young undocumented adults. But will they enroll?
by Ana B. Ibarra Starting in January, young adults can sign up for California’s Medicaid program regardless of immigration status. But a fundamental question looms: Will they? Some young people…
The startlingly high cost of the ‘free’ flu shot
by Phil Galewitz IN the Byzantine world of health care pricing, most people wouldn’t expect that the ubiquitous flu shot could be a prime example of how the system’s lack…
Nursing home safety violations put residents at risk, report finds
by Barbara Feder Ostrov AS huge swaths of California burned last fall, federal health officials descended on 20 California nursing homes to determine whether they were prepared to protect their…
Flavor bans multiply, but menthol continues to divide
by Ana B. Ibarra AS states and communities rush to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products linked to vaping, Carol McGruder races from town to town, urging officials to…
California fires illuminate trauma and resilience
by Anna Maria Barry-Jester SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Dorothy Hammack had planned to wash her thick, dark hair in the kitchen sink Friday morning. She couldn’t yet shower, due to…
California nursing home residents told to find new homes
by Jocelyn Wiener SOME of California’s most vulnerable nursing home residents, many of whom have nowhere else to go, are receiving letters from their health care plans saying they are…
California to provide financial boost to help buy health coverage
by Bernard Wolfson IF you are among the Californians who buy your own health insurance, a surprise may await you as the enrollment period for 2020 coverage opens this week….
As vaping illnesses rise, so do pleas to quit-smoking help lines
by Anna Almendrala “I stopped for a few days and then I ended up buying new pods. The withdrawals got to me.” “My friends are the ones who got me…
Trump’s new order for Medicare packs potential rise in patients’ costs
by Julie Appleby Vowing to protect Medicare with “every ounce of strength,” President Donald Trump last week spoke to a cheering crowd in Florida. But his executive order released shortly…
Dangers of skin-lightening cream highlighted after woman falls into coma
by Anna Almendrala SHE had been buying face cream through a friend of a friend for 12 years. This time, it was Pond’s “Rejuveness,” a version of the company’s anti-wrinkle…
As health care costs rise, workers at low-wage firms may pay a larger share
by Michelle Andrews HEALTH insurance premiums and deductibles for job-based coverage edged upward in 2019, surpassing increases in both wages and inflation, according to an annual employer survey of more…
States target vaping with bans
by Ana B. Ibarra In California, the action is local STATES are piling on. Michigan took the first statewide shot at vaping early this month when it announced a ban…