- So. Cal Fires
San Francisco Chronicle: How Dangerous Is the Smoke from L.A. Fires Today?
As thousands of buildings burned in Los Angeles County this week, the skies above Southern California have become a stew of unhealthy gases and aerosols — much different than what typically blows from a wildfire. Scientists tracking the smoke in the Los Angeles basin say the synthetic materials burning in the recent fires, from cars and furniture to entire grocery stores, release compounds that can be much more hazardous than those from burning grasses and trees. (Alexander, 1/9)
Los Angeles Times: Tips for Protecting Children from Wildfire Smoke
Young kids are especially vulnerable to the effects of wildfire smoke. Here’s how you can keep them safe as fires continue to spread across Los Angeles County. (Gold and Sequeira, 1/9)
Los Angeles Times: L.A. Wildfires Expected to Drive Rent Increases, Experts Predict
Wildfires engulfing Los Angeles are likely to exacerbate the region’s housing affordability crisis now and long into the future, housing analysts and advocates said. Rents will increase, especially near the epicenter of massive fires around the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Those planning to rebuild their homes will face intense competition for contractors. And impacts on wavering home insurance markets could lead to greater costs for all Angelenos. (Dillon, 1/10)
- Health Care Workforce
Stat: Supreme Court Ruling Leads to Decline in Black and Hispanic Medical Student Enrollment
Enrollment of Black and Hispanic students in medical schools dropped precipitously last year after the Supreme Court banned the consideration of race in admissions, according to data released Thursday by the Association of American Medical Colleges. (McFarling, 1/9)
- Rady CHOC Merger
San Diego Union-Tribune: Children’s Hospitals in San Diego and Orange County Finalize Merger
On Tuesday, just before noon, executives from Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego and Children’s Hospital of Orange County jointly announced the completion of a merger that has been more than a year in the making. They also unveiled a new logo to memorialize Rady Children’s Health, the new name of the combined organization covering a Southern California region that is home to more than 6 million people, 1.3 million of them children. (Sisson, 1/8)
- Health Coverage
Modern Healthcare: ACA Subsidies Expected to Survive Under Incoming Trump Administration
One of the big healthcare policy questions for 2025 is whether enhanced subsidies for health insurance exchange plans will survive Republican control of the federal government. After all, Donald Trump and a GOP-led Congress nearly repealed the Affordable Care Act of 2010 eight years ago during Trump's first term as president, and he continued to rail against "Obamacare" during his 2024 campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris. But it's not 2017 anymore. (McAuliff, 1/8)
KFF Health News: Health Care Remains Newsom’s Major Unfinished Project, Complicated by Trump
Six years after he entered office vowing to be California’s “health care governor,” Democrat Gavin Newsom has steered tens of billions in public funding to safety net services for the state’s neediest residents while engineering rules to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Californians. More than a million California residents living in the U.S. without authorization now qualify for Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, making California among the first states to cover low-income people regardless of their immigration status. The state is experimenting with Medicaid money to pay for social services such as housing and food assistance, especially for those living on the streets or with chronic diseases. And the state is forcing the health care industry to rein in soaring costs while imposing new rules on doctors, hospitals, and insurers to provide better-quality, more accessible care. (Hart and Mai-Duc, 1/7)
Politico Pro: Dreamers Now Have Access to Obamacare, but It May Be Short-Lived
Donald Trump’s election — and a lawsuit challenging the rule from 19 Republican-led states — now throws into question whether the Biden administration’s expansion of coverage for Dreamers will stay intact. While Trump has not commented specifically on the expansion, he tried to scrap DACA in his first term, a move that the Supreme Court overturned. The president-elect has also promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, though he recently signaled a softer stance toward DACA recipients, saying “in many cases, they become successful” and “we’re going to have to do something with them.” (Hooper, 1/7)
- Name Changes
Stat: New Scientific Names for HIV and COVID Viruses Spark Controversy
The change unfolded slowly, over the course of the last four years. But it largely escaped notice until December, when the U.S. National Library of Medicine said it would change names in its databases of genes and viruses to comply with the ICTV’s new monikers. Many new names sounded as if they’d been cooked up by a medieval monk. HIV-1 would henceforth be known as Lentivirus humimdef1. SARs-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid, would be known as Betacoronavirus pandemicum. Ebola was now Orthoebolavirus zairense. (Mast, 1/9)
- Gender Affirming Medication
NBC News: Study Finds Fewer Than 0.1% of U.S. Minors Use Gender-Affirming Medication
As policymakers around the world debate whether minors should have access to transition-related medications, a study published Monday in the nation’s premier pediatric medical journal found that the drugs are rarely prescribed to youths. Less than 0.1% of adolescents with private insurance in the United States are transgender or gender-diverse and are prescribed puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones, according to the findings published in JAMA Pediatrics. (Lavietes, 1/6)
- Fluoride
Los Angeles Times: What a New Study Reveals — and Overlooks — About Fluoride and IQ
A new report linking fluoridated drinking water to lower IQ scores in children is sure to ratchet up the debate over a practice that’s considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. The report published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics synthesizes the results of dozens of research studies that have been released since 1989. Its overall conclusion is that the more fluoride a child is exposed to, the lower he or she tends to score on intelligence tests. (Kaplan, 1/6)
Stat: Does Fluoride Reduce IQ? Debate Surrounds Recent Academic Journal Study
A new government study reviewing past research on the safety of fluoride for children found a slight decrease in IQ scores overall as levels of fluoride exposure increase. But the authors acknowledged that many of the papers included in the new analysis had a “high risk of bias,” and they said their work was not designed to address the public health implications of water fluoridation in the U.S. (Oza, 1/6)
- Lead in Baby Food
CNN: FDA Sets New, Lower Lead Limits in Baby Food — Critics Argue It’s Still Not Enough
For the first time in history, the US Food and Drug Administration has established guidance for levels of lead in processed baby foods that are sold on supermarket shelves and online. The agency’s action, announced Monday, only provides guidance to industry and is not enforceable. (LaMotte, 1/6)