Medi-Cal

Three years after closing its maternity ward, a new state law will help a rural Northern California hospital bring birth services back to the community.

Glenn Medical Center has been in the same location for decades, but a narrow interpretation of a federal rule shut it down. Now thousands of people have to leave the county for emergency care.

An injection of public funding means the nonprofit organization can keep reproductive health clinics operating. But with more financial troubles looming, lawmakers say there’s more work to be done to protect services.

Whether federal cuts are legal is still undecided. But local health departments have closed clinics, stopped programs, cut immunization appointments, and laid off workers anyway.

With just days until the legislative session wraps, California’s top Democrats are discussing a series of climate, energy and transit measures in backrooms. Details are so scant that even veteran lobbyists and advocates say they are confused and frustrated.

Gov. Gavin Newsom says these popular weight-loss drugs cost the state too much. But California could save about $3,000 per patient who lost weight. Other health conditions also would improve.

Only a handful of Planned Parenthood organizations will continue to receive money from the federal government. None of them are in California.

Lower-income people will be the hardest hit. Over the next 10 years, 3.4 million Californians could lose coverage.

One of the most powerful political blocs in California, the Latino Caucus had to balance reining in Medi-Cal's rising costs with helping undocumented immigrants. All but four overcame their misgivings and voted to freeze new enrollment and make other cuts to immigrant health insurance.

Glenn County's only hospital may be forced to close because a federal agency is removing its "critical access" designation. Patients would have longer waits for ambulances and longer drives for emergency care.