Health

A small brown paper bag in her hand, Julie walked out of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Roseville with a new supply of birth control. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have health insurance. “It’s awesome to have Planned Parenthood,” said Julie, who did not wish to give her last name for privacy reasons. “To […]

Single-payer healthcare is once again up for debate in Sacramento, as two state senators push a bill to establish a plan before the federal government repeals the Affordable Care Act. Supporters say this bill may have a better chance given the anxiety created by the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle Obamacare, insisting "we’ll never get 100 percent health care in California unless we lead.”

Planned Parenthood is prepping for a battle. The organization, which has 115 centers in the Golden State and serves 850,000 people annually, receives Medi-Cal and Title X family planning funding and attributes about 40 percent of its revenue to federal dollars. But Congress and the Trump administration are vowing to strip the organization of hundreds of millions of federal dollars.

On a recent rainy morning in Los Angeles, Maria Bernal’s stove clicks to life with a bright blue flame to toast bread on a griddle for her 9-year-old son Edwin to smear with peanut butter. As she scoops papaya chunks into the blender for a smoothie, she recalls her worry during all the years when […]

The President signed his first executive order to begin the repeal of the Affordable Care Act just hours after he was sworn into office. The broad order instructs federal agencies to roll back or waive provisions of the law within their purview. That means agencies can change, delay or bypass parts of the Act.

The sandwich baggie brimming with buds is gradually becoming a thing of the past in California. In its place, an era of name-brand marijuana is emerging.Celebrities—including actress Whoopi Goldberg, rapper Snoop Dogg, rocker Melissa Etheridge and the family of reggae legend Bob Marley—are branding their own herb. Law firms have sprouted to help marijuana sellers […]

In California and across the country, suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens—a grim reminder that many high school students’ primary barrier to adulthood is themselves. More young people take their own lives than the number killed by cancer, heart disease, birth defects, stroke, flu, pneumonia and chronic lung disease combined. And […]

“Unicorn” opens his mod device and lets a few drops of clear juice fall. His vaporizer replenished, he deeply inhales and slowly exhales—an enormous amount of smoke billowing out of his nose and mouth. But it’s not actually smoke: the smell isn’t foul, it’s sweet. “The nicotine mellows me out without any of the negative […]

In California’s Democrat-dominated statehouse, big business usually plays defense. Liberal groups—like labor unions and environmentalists—typically push for new bills, while corporate interests work to kill them. Legislators feel that push and pull. A similar dynamic is now at play on California’s ballot, where major industries are spending big bucks to defeat policies backed by progressives. […]

This fall, California voters will decide whether to approve the biggest jump in cigarette taxes since the state began taxing tobacco in 1959. Prop. 56, backed by a wide coalition of public health, healthcare and union groups, would impose an additional $2 per-pack excise tax on cigarettes—raising the current state levy from 87-cents per pack […]