After terribly deadly flu season, California aims to track deaths more closely
by Harriet Blair Rowan California’s Department of Public Health says the flu killed 329 people under age 65 in the last flu season, from October 2017 to August 2018. But…
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Nonprofit bets Asian-American students can learn to avoid unhealthy gambling
by Katherine Kam The students listened attentively as Ryan Wong explained how casinos keep customers chasing that elusive jackpot. Labyrinthine layouts force guests to walk past card tables and slot…
Attention, marketplace shoppers: Don’t delay on 2019 enrollment
by Michelle Andrews Don’t procrastinate. Most consumers who buy their own insurance on the federal health insurance marketplace face a Dec. 15 deadline. Advocates are reminding these customers that if…
Smoke-filled snapshot: California wildfire generates dangerous air quality for millions
by Harriet Rowan At 11 a.m. last Friday, November 16, thousands of former Paradise, Calif., residents were taking stock of all they had lost to the worst wildfire in the…
Fish oil and vitamin D pills no guard against cancer or serious heart trouble
by Liz Szabo A widely anticipated study has concluded that neither vitamin D nor fish oil supplements prevent cancer or serious heart-related problems in healthy older people, according to research…
Covered California pops and locks into enrollment season
by Ana B. Ibarra SACRAMENTO — What do hip-hop dancing and health insurance have in common? For one, you sure do hope that the break dancer busting backflips is covered….
California dreamin’? With Newsom’s win, single-payer unlikely to follow anytime soon
by Samantha Young Californians on Tuesday, November 6, elected a governor who campaigned for a complete overhaul of how people get their health coverage — but they shouldn’t hold their…
Hello? It’s I, Robot, and have I got an insurance plan for you!
by Barbara Feder Ostrov “Anna” will not stop calling. She really, really wants to sell you health insurance. What a lot of consumers really, really want is to smack Anna…
Pricey precision medicine often financially toxic for cancer patients
by Liz Szabo When Kristen Kilmer was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer at age 38, her first thought was of her 8-year-old daughter. Kilmer lost her own mother as a…
Health care tops guns, economy as voters’ top issue
By Phil Galewitz HEALTH care has emerged as the top issue for voters headed into the midterm elections, but fewer than half of them say they are hearing a lot…
Drugmakers funnel millions to lawmakers; a few dozen get $100,000-plus
Before the midterm elections heated up, dozens of drugmakers had already poured about $12 million into the war chests of hundreds of members of Congress. Since the beginning of last…
Fact check: Who’s right on protections for preexisting conditions? It’s complicated
by Julie Rovner Ensuring that people with preexisting health conditions can get and keep health insurance is the most popular part of the Affordable Care Act. It has also become…
Doctors give Medicare’s proposal to pay for telemedicine poor prognosis
by Phil Galewitz The Trump administration wants Medicare for the first time to embrace telemedicine across the country by paying doctors $14 for a five-minute “check-in” phone call with their…
New Medicare advantage tool to lower drug prices puts crimp in patients’ choices
by Susan Jaffe Starting next year, Medicare Advantage plans will be able to add restrictions on expensive, injectable drugs administered by doctors to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, macular degeneration and…
California’s uninsured rate declined last year despite federal efforts to roll back ACA
by Phil Galewitz The percentage of people without health insurance continued to decline in California last year, according to a closely watched report from the Census Bureau released Wednesday. The…
Cancer, schmancer — In California, coffee is king
by Anna B. Ibarra SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It turns out that California and the Trump administration do agree on at least one thing: Don’t mess with coffee. Trump’s hand-picked food…
Over past 20 years, the percentage of children with adhd nearly doubles
by Rachel Bluth The number of children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has reached more than 10 percent, a significant increase during the past 20 years, according to a…
Californians living longer with cancer — some longer than others
by Anna Gorman AS he grew older, Dale Kunitomi paid closer attention to his health — and to his doctor’s advice. When he noticed rectal bleeding in 2010, he went…
Breathing ‘a chore’: California wildfires threaten the health of young and old
Debbie Dobrosky noticed a peculiar hue in the sky on Monday — “a very ugly yellow casting” — as she peeked outside. A large cloud of smoke had begun to cover…
Expansion of short-term health plans a non-starter in California
by Julie Appleby and Alex Leeds Matthews THE planned expansion of short-term health plans under a new Trump administration rule unveiled this week is on a crash course with a brick wall in…
For many college students, hunger can ‘make it hard to focus in class’
by Michelle Andrews As students enter college this fall, many will hunger for more than knowledge. Up to half of college students report that they were either not getting enough to…
How soon is soon enough to learn you have Alzheimer’s?
by Alex Smith Jose Belardo of Lansing, Kan., spent most of his career in the U.S. Public Health Service. He worked on the front lines of disasters in such other…
Top Trump health official takes swipes at ACA, single-payer in enemy territory
by Chad Terhune SAN FRANCISCO — Stepping into the land of the Trump resistance, Seema Verma flatly rejected California’s pursuit of single-payer health care as unworkable and dismissed the Affordable…
From crib to court: Trump administration summons immigrant infants
The Trump administration has summoned at least 70 children under 1 year old to immigration court for their own deportation proceedings since Oct. 1, according to new Justice Department data…
‘Like a ghost town’: erratic nursing home staffing revealed through new records
by Jordan Rau Kaiser Health News Most nursing homes had fewer nurses and caretaking staff than they had reported to the government, according to new federal data bolstering the long-held…
A hospital’s human touch: Why taking care in discharging a patient matters
by Judith Graham California Healthline THE kidney doctor sat next to Judy Garrett’s father, looking into his face, her hand on his arm. There are things I can do for…
Support circle: Family caregivers share stories and tips to ease Alzheimer’s toll
by Blake Farmer Nashvilla Public Radio VICKI Bartholomew started a support group for wives who are caring for a husband with Alzheimer’s disease because she needed that sort of group…
Money for housing Californians with mental illness heads to ballot box
Los Angeles County is facing a public health crisis: More than one-quarter of its 53,000 homeless residents struggle with mental illness. “When you’re homeless on the street, your life is…
ACA protections for sick patients still popular despite gop’s efforts to end them
by Jordan Rau Even as many Republicans continue to back a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a majority of GOP voters want to retain a core consumer protection of…
Defendants in diapers? Immigrant toddlers ordered to appear in court alone
by Christina Jewett and Shefali Luthra As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for…