Health

A clock is ticking: The state is required to adopt a budget this month, and the Democrats who control Sacramento are divided between two options. Both inch the state closer to universal health care coverage, although neither proposes to offer health care to all low-income immigrants. They’ve all agreed to extend coverage to young adults through age 25, and the Senate would include undocumented seniors, too.

Updated May 30, 2019 Welcome to death watch. The legislative kind. We’ve tracked which bills California lawmakers have rejected as the Legislature hit the half-way point for making new laws for this year.  May 31 is the deadline for bills to pass the house in which they were introduced, a critical hurdle in the legislative […]

A physician, an advocate, a public health specialist, a suicide-attempt survivor and a California state lawmaker gathered in downtown Sacramento today to offer their diagnosis of the state’s mental health system. The consensus: “We need to start from scratch.”

As legislation to outlaw the sale of flavored-tobacco products flounders in the California Legislature, health advocates blame the influence the tobacco industry has with key state lawmakers. Vaping has skyrocketed among middle and high schoolers, many of whom are attracted by the sweet flavors. E-cigarette manufacturers such as Juul Labs in San Francisco say their products are intended only for adults and help them quit traditional cigarettes.

Some of the most controversial ideas California lawmakers were considering this year were set aside as the Legislature culled hundreds of bills in a fast-and-furious annual procedural ritual.

In a decade roughly 1 in every 5 people will be 65 or older—a group more racially and ethnically diverse, and more likely to be single and childless. The growing need: culturally sensitive and professional caregivers.

With fresh political attention on mental health, advocates are hoping California embraces humane and effective ways of averting some problems and solving others.

California is getting old. Within a decade, more than 20% of the state’s residents will be seniors -- a higher proportion than currently resides in Florida, a state famous for its large population of snowbird retirees.

The question in the Capitol now: Is it time to restore several health benefits the state took from Medi-Cal recipients a decade ago, including the clearer vision that eyeglasses provide?