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Health

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As health costs escalate, affordable care is out of reach for many — particularly California’s poorest residents. We help readers understand the struggle to lower costs and access barriers.

Meet the Team
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Ana B. Ibarra
Health Reporter
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Kristen Hwang
Health Reporter
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Jocelyn Wiener
Health Reporter
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Joe Garcia
California Local News Fellow
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Marla Cone
Deputy Editor
Health
A child’s death and the power of the dental lobby
After their 6-year-old son died following a dental procedure, a Bay Area couple went to the California Legislature, hoping a new law could prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedy. What they’ve found, so far, is that dentists hold surprising sway in Sacramento. More, it seems, than grieving parents making a plea for change. The […]
By • April 13, 2016
Health
Would a California ballot measure cut drug costs? Nobody knows
When Californians go to the polls this November, they’ll weigh-in on a contentious health care topic amplified by presidential campaigns: prescription drug prices. A state ballot initiative, Proposition 61, would restrict California health programs from paying more for a prescription drug than what’s paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which is widely cited […]
By • April 10, 2016
Health
What’s California’s prescription for rising drug costs?
SACRAMENTO — In a small room at a neighborhood clinic in Sacramento, a handful of hepatitis C patients wait to see their physician, hoping they’ll be found sick enough to be approved for a cure. The low-income patients hope to be prescribed new breakthrough drugs, such as Sovaldi or Harvoni, which offer cures with almost […]
By • April 10, 2016
Health
The other ‘high-cost’ drugs: What specialty drugs mean for California
NOTE: Somebody redirected this to medium.com version. Doing the same here. What’s behind the jaw-dropping cost of new “specialty drugs” like Orkambi, which has a sticker price of $259,000 per year for cystic fibrosis patients? Orkambi, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last July, is expected to take almost $36 million […]
By • February 3, 2016
Health
California doles out hefty payments for hepatitis C drugs
Private health plans invoiced the state of California $387.5 million to cover high-cost hepatitis C treatments in Medi-Cal between July 2014 and November 2015, when just 3,624 patients received the treatments, according to the California Department of Health Care Services. The state’s supplemental payments started after managed care plans that cover health services for almost […]
By • January 27, 2016
Health
The obscurity of drug spending in Medi-Cal
California will be a flashpoint in the policy debate this year around reining in the cost of high-priced prescription drugs. A measure expected to be before voters this November would restrict the state’s payments for drugs to no more than the lowest prices paid for the same drug by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. […]
By • January 20, 2016
Health
Care for disabled Californians ensnared in Capitol politics
A strange thing is happening in Sacramento: voices on the political left and right are calling for the state to spend more money on services for Californians with developmental disabilities. The message is coming from Republican legislators, who have delivered boxes of petitions to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office, as well as labor unions that have […]
By • January 13, 2016
Health
Catholic Church pushes to the left and the right
The Catholic Church was a player in two of the biggest bills California lawmakers grappled with this year, working to push politicians to the left in one case, and to the right in another. Many religious groups lobby the Legislature on a host of issues. But it was unusual for one to be so visible […]
By • September 17, 2015

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As health costs escalate, affordable care is out of reach for many — particularly California’s poorest residents. We help readers understand the struggle to lower costs and access barriers.
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