Policy updates - 02/28/2022
Health Care Coverage
The Demise of Single-Payer in California Trips Up Efforts in Other States
The failure of single-payer health care legislation in California casts doubt on the ability of other states to pass government-run, universal health care. But activists in New York, Washington state, and elsewhere say they are taking lessons from California and changing their tactics. (Angela Hart, 2/25)
Changes to Medi-Cal’s Troubled Drug Program Reduce Backlog, but Problems Persist
After a troubled start to the new Medi-Cal prescription drug program, the state’s contractor has hired staffers to reduce wait times for medication approvals and patients seeking help. But some doctors and clinics report that patients continue to face delays. (Samantha Young, 2/24)
Medicaid Premiums May End For More People: Medi-Cal, the state’s safety net health program, isn’t free for everyone. More than half a million of California’s lowest-income children, pregnant individuals and working disabled adults are required to pay health insurance premiums, ranging from $13 a month to as much as $350. That may change this year under two proposals being floated in Sacramento. Read more from CapRadio.
COVID
Majority In Favor Of School Mandates: Nearly two-thirds of California voters, including a majority of parents, support mask and vaccine mandates in K-12 schools, according to a poll conducted this month by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Read more at Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Tribune.
AP: CDC To Significantly Ease Pandemic Mask Guidelines Friday
The Biden administration will significantly loosen federal mask-wearing guidelines to protect against COVID-19 transmission on Friday, according to two people familiar with the matter, meaning most Americans will no longer be advised to wear masks in indoor public settings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday will announce a change to the metrics it uses to determine whether to recommend face coverings, shifting from looking at COVID-19 case counts to a more holistic view of risk from the coronavirus to a community. Under current guidelines, masks are recommended for people residing in communities of substantial or high transmission — roughly 95% of U.S. counties, according to the latest data. (Miller, 2/25)
Orange County Register: ‘Stealth Omicron’ Is On Its Way. How Nervous Should We Be?
Mighty omicron has morphed into distinct subvariants — including “stealth omicron,” which might be even more infectious. Omicron-specific vaccines are in the works, but may not offer any more protection than what we have now. And there has been talk of a fourth shot, at least for those who are most vulnerable to illness. But before you erupt in a primal scream, take a deep breath: Experts say there’s no need to worry just yet. (Sforza, 2/24)
Los Angeles Times: Masking Rules Are Easing In California. But It’s Complicated
As Omicron fades, communities across California are continuing to ease masking rules. But that does not mean face coverings will suddenly disappear in public indoor spaces. Moreover, many health officials say it still makes sense to wear masks inside, even when there is no longer a mandate, because they offer strong protection. (Money and Lin II, 2/24)
DEI
CalMatters: COVID-19 Has Turned Deadlier For Black Californians
California’s African Americans are dying from COVID at a higher rate now. And they make up a disproportionate and growing share of the death toll for middle-aged Californians. (Hwang, 2/25)
The Washington Post: Black Women Overrepresented In Health Care’s Toughest Jobs, Study Says
Mills Jones’s union, SEIU Local 2015, is leading a campaign to bump California caregivers’ salaries up to $20 an hour. For Mills Jones, that increase would be transformative, she said: “$20 [an hour] would make me a member of society. … I literally live from check to check.” A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services said the agency “cannot release any personal information as to whether or not she is a provider.” (The Washington Post reviewed Mills Jones’s pay stubs from the state.) (McShane, 2/24)
The Verge: Telemedicine Leaves Behind Non-English Speakers, Study Shows
People who speak limited English struggled to access telehealth services in the US during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis, affecting their ability to connect with medical care. It’s something experts worried about as soon as health organizations made the switch from in-person to virtual care. “That was really a concern of ours — who is getting left out?” says Denise Payán, an assistant professor of health, society, and behavior at the University of California, Irvine, who worked on the study. Payán and her colleagues interviewed staff and patients at two community health centers in California about their experiences with telehealth between December 2020 and April 2021. One of the clinics serves a primarily Spanish-speaking population, and the second serves a primarily Chinese-speaking population. Neither had offered video or phone visits before the pandemic started. Both started to them available soon after the California stay-at-home orders in March 2020 — first with phone calls, then with video. The researchers spoke with 15 clinic workers and nine patients. (Wetsman, 2/24)
California Healthline: Health Care Firms Were Pushed To Confront Racism. Now Some Are Investing In Black Startups.
A new investment fund launched by one of the few Black venture capitalists in health care is focused on backing Black entrepreneurs. And the investors include some of the biggest names in for-profit health care. (Farmer, 2/25)
KHN: Health Care Firms Were Pushed To Confront Racism. Now Some Are Investing In Black Startups
Tenn. — Marcus Whitney stands out in Nashville’s $95 billion health care sector as an investor in startups. In addition to co-founding a venture capital firm, he’s organized an annual health tech conference and co-founded the city’s professional soccer club. And, often, he’s the only Black man in the room. So in summer 2020, as Black Lives Matter protesters filled city streets around the country following George Floyd’s murder, Whitney pondered the racial inequalities that are so obvious in his industry — especially locally. (Farmer, 2/25)
CIDRAP: COVID-19 Patient ZIP Codes May Affect Disease Severity
A pooled cross-sectional study in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that COVID-19 patients’ ZIP codes may affect clinical outcomes, with patients from high-vulnerability neighborhoods more likely to be hospitalized for infections. The study is based on data from 2,309 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at 38 Michigan hospitals. Medical history was compared with patients’ social vulnerability index (SVI), which takes into account the local area’s average income, education level, household density to percentage of households led by single parents, and homes in which English is the not the primary language. (2/22)
Bloomberg: U.S. Black Maternal Mortality Rate Triple That Of White, Hispanic Women In 2020
The U.S. maternal mortality rate — already high compared to other wealthy countries — has increased, with Black women faring far worse than their White peers, according to new data. In 2020, 861 women died of maternal causes in the U.S., up from 754 in 2019, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That puts the 2020 maternal mortality rate at 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births, a figure that is more than double the rate in countries including the U.K., Canada or France. (Butler, 2/23)
