Medi-Cal expands access to mental health, substance use treatment
by Selen Ozturk Ethnic Media Services California is on the national front lines of making mental health and substance use disorder care easier to access for patients of Medi-Cal, its…
Category: Dateline USA
Covering the week’s most noteworthy news stories impacting the lives of the Filipino-American community in the United States of America.
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Los Angeles County launches ambitious plan to tackle medical debt
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County has launched one of the most ambitious efforts in the nation to tackle medical debt, targeting hospitals for their role in feeding a $2.9…
Has California moved the needle on hate?
SACRAMENTO — In the first year after its launch, the California vs. Hate initiative has provided support services to 1,020 victims of hate crimes and incidents. At a press briefing…
Women of color will vote with their pocketbooks this November
The perception of a floundering economy will loom large as women of color — a large and reliable, but often overlooked, voting bloc — head to the polls this November….
High price of popular diabetes drugs deprives low-income people of effective treatment
For the past year and a half, Tandra Cooper Harris and her husband, Marcus, who both have diabetes, have struggled to fill their prescriptions for the medications they need to…
The lure of specialty medicine pulls nurse practitioners from primary care
by Michelle Andrews KFF Health News For many patients, seeing a nurse practitioner has become a routine part of primary care, in which these “NPs” often perform the same tasks…
Gov. Newsom boosted Califonia’s public health budget during Covid. Now he wants to cut it
When a doctor in Pasadena, California, reported in October that a hospital patient was exhibiting classic symptoms of dengue fever, such as vomiting, a rash, and bone and joint pain,…
California’s $12 billion Medicaid makeover banks on nonprofits’ buy-in
by Angela Hart KFF Health News TURLOCK — For much of his young life, Jorge Sanchez regularly gasped for air, at times coughing so violently that he’d almost throw up….
Governor Newsom’s cuts to the Equitable Building Decarbonization program will harm low-income communities
LAST week, Gov. Gavin Newsom released an updated state budget proposal that cuts $283 million in funding from the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program (EBD) — a 30% reduction. The proposed…
Easing the toll of Alzheimer’s on women
As California’s population ages, the burden of Alzheimer’s is increasingly falling on women. In response, the state has launched a new initiative aimed at raising public awareness about the disease…
Women of color will vote with their pocketbooks this November
by Sunita Sohrabji Ethnic Media Services The perception of a floundering economy will loom large as women of color — a large and reliable, but often overlooked, voting bloc —…
In a national first, Medi-Cal is helping unhoused Californians
by Selen Ozturk Ethnic Media Services In the nation’s most ambitious effort to address social needs, a $12 billion Medi-Cal initiative now provides services for the unhoused including stable housing…
US House weighs bill that would add citizenship question to 2023 Census
All eyes are on Capitol Hill over the coming days as lawmakers weigh the pros and cons of H.R. 7109, a controversial bill that many say could negatively impact the…
California floats extending health insurance subsidies to all adult immigrants
Marisol Pantoja Toribio found a lump in her breast in early January. Uninsured and living in California without legal status and without her family, the usually happy-go-lucky 43-year-old quickly realized…
‘Breaking a promise’: California deficit could halt raises for disability workers
by Vanessa Sanchez KFF Health News SACRAMENTO — Families of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities say Gov. Gavin Newsom is reneging on a scheduled raise for the workers who…
What’s the cost of US student debt?
As nearly 45 million Americans and counting owe over $1.7 trillion in student debt, what’s the future of college affordability? Though the Biden administration has made historic strides in passing…
Sign here? Financial agreements may leave doctors in the driver’s seat
Cass Smith-Collins jumped through hoops to get the surgery that would match his chest to his gender. Living in Las Vegas and then 50, he finally felt safe enough to…
WHO overturns dogma on airborne disease spread. The CDC might not act on it.
The World Health Organization has issued a report that transforms how the world understands respiratory infections like COVID-19, influenza, and measles. Motivated by grave missteps in the pandemic, the WHO…
EPA announces $28.7M for California lead pipe replacement to advance safe drinking water
SAN FRANCISCO – On Thursday, May 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $28,650,000 from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help California identify and replace lead service…
Millions were booted from Medicaid. The insurers that run it gained Medicaid revenue anyway
by Phil Galewitz KFF Health News Private Medicaid health plans lost millions of members in the past year as pandemic protections that prohibited states from dropping anyone from the government…
Exposed to Agent Orange at US bases, veterans face cancer without VA compensation
As a young GI at Fort Ord in Monterey County, California, Dean Osborn spent much of his time in the oceanside woodlands, training on soil and guzzling water from streams…
California is investing $500M in therapy apps for youth
by Molly Castle Work California Healthline Advocates fear it won’t pay off With little pomp, California launched two apps at the start of the year offering free behavioral health services…
‘We cannot balance California’s budget on the backs of crime victims’
Several hundred people are expected to gather on the steps of the California state Capitol in Sacramento on April 30 to ask Governor Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature to…
One year after Medi-Cal renewals, health care expanded for Californians
A year ago, with the end of the federal COVID-19 emergency, California started redetermining eligibility for one out of three of its residents on Medi-Cal, its version of Medicaid. At…
Unsheltered people are losing Medicaid in redetermination mix-ups
by Aaron Bolton, MTPR KFF Health News KALISPELL — On a cold February morning at the Flathead Warming Center, Tashya Evans waited for help with her Medicaid application as others…
Biden administration sets higher staffing mandates
Most nursing homes don’t meet them The Biden administration finalized nursing home staffing rules Monday, April 22 that will require thousands of them to hire more nurses and aides —…
Medical providers still grappling with UnitedHealth cyberattack: ‘More devastating than COVID’
by Samantha Liss KFF Health News Two months after a cyberattack on a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary halted payments to some doctors, medical providers say they’re still grappling with the fallout,…
Newsom offers a compromise to protect indoor workers from heat
by Samantha Young KFF Health News SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has compromised on long-sought rules that would protect indoor workers from extreme heat, saying tens of thousands of…
How Medi-Cal is being transformed for one-third of Californians
California is on the national front lines of public health, transforming Medi-Cal to include services well beyond the doctor’s office. On April 11, Ethnic Media Services, California Black Media, and…
Lawsuit alleges Obamacare plan-switching scheme targeted low-income consumers
by Julie Appleby KFF Health News A wide-ranging lawsuit filed on Friday, April 12 outlines a moneymaking scheme by which large insurance sales agency call centers enrolled people into Affordable…