Lawmakers to consider rules for health insurance market

Los Angeles Times

Lawmakers are set to consider new rules for California's health insurance market on Wednesday, including a requirement for insurers to cover consumers who have preexisting medical conditions, and limits on how much they can charge based on age. The proposals, scheduled to be taken up by the Assembly and Senate health committees, are part of a legislative package that aims to help California implement President Obama's healthcare overhaul.

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DNA Manipulation Reduces 'Problem' Drinking

Bioscience Technology

A study by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco identified a potential new approach for reducing problem drinking: A new family of drugs with the ability to manipulate DNA structure without changing it. The drugs, already approved for human use for other indications, reduced drinking and alcohol-seeking behavior in pre-clinical models— mice and rats trained to drink large quantities of alcohol.

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Gambling and alcohol addiction linked, report says

BBC News

Alcohol Concern Cymru and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) in Wales claim alcohol and gambling issues can be dealt with side-by-side. The report says one in six respondents to a survey who sought help for alcohol misuse admitted they had also experienced problems with gambling. It urges restrictions to prevent both problems becoming worse.

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Are Apps Making Your Child A Gambling Addict?

Oregon Public Broadcasting

iPhones and tablets have been a boon to game manufacturers -- and parents. An obstreperous child can quickly become compliant when allowed to play a game on a mobile device. But now, some experts are warning that some games might be "addictive" and may be "grooming" kids to be future gamblers.

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Cost to expand Medi-Cal a mystery

Los Angeles

Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration has warned repeatedly that California is venturing into unknown territory with the expansion of healthcare under the new federal law. The exact cost of implementation is unknown. A report issued Tuesday by the Legislative Analyst’s Office shows how big a range of potential bills California taxpayers are confronted with when it comes to a central component of the healthcare law: growing the Medi-Cal insurance program for the poor by about 1 million people. 

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Young immigrants shut out of health reform

San Francisco Chronicle

California's young immigrants who have been granted reprieves to stay in the country stand to gain little from the federal health reform law that the state Legislature is working to implement. The Affordable Care Act excludes illegal immigrants from accessing the law's benefits, but some immigrant and health advocates are angry that the young people known as Dreamers have been left out, saying the policy contradicts the law's intent of expanding coverage to more people.

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California budget increasingly goes to salaries, healthcare, report says

Los Angeles Times

When Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his latest budget proposal, he emphasized his push to send more money to universities and local schools. But a new report says those two areas have lost ground to the growing costs of salaries and retirement benefits for public employees. The report was released Tuesday by California Common Sense, a nonpartisan research group at Stanford University. The state will still send more money to education than to public employees. But the proportion of money spent on salaries, retirement benefits and debt payments has grown since 2007, while the proportion going to government services like schools and social services has dropped, the report said.

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Drug overdose deaths climbed for 11th straight year, driven by potent, addictive painkillers

Associated Press

Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines. "The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed the data. In 2010, the CDC reported, there were 38,329 drug overdose deaths nationwide. Medicines, mostly prescription drugs, were involved in nearly 60 per cent of overdose deaths that year, overshadowing deaths from illicit narcotics.

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With drug overdose deaths on rise, experts push to recognize signs of addiction

CBS News

Drug addiction can be a hard fact to face and accept, but it's an ongoing problem that needs dire attention. A new report published in Tuesday's Journal of the American Medical Association shows that drug overdose deaths were on the rise for the 11th straight year. There were a total of 38,329 drug overdose deaths in 2010 according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention -- and 60 percent were due to medications, the majority of which were prescription drugs.

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Study: Internet Addicts Suffer Withdrawal Symptoms Like Drug Users

Time

A new study shows that when heavy Internet users go offline, they undergo withdrawal symptoms similar to those experienced by drug users. The study, carried out by researchers at Swansea and Milan Universities, is the first into the immediate negative psychological impacts of Internet use.

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Key legislative committee to consider Medi-Cal expansion

Los Angeles Times

A key Assembly panel will consider legislation Tuesday that would dramatically expand Medi-Cal, the state's public insurance program for the poor. The proposal, authored by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles), is part of a legislative package that aims to help California implement President Obama's healthcare overhaul.

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Geography To Play Bigger Role in Calif. Health Insurance Costs

California Healthline

In California and across the nation, geography is expected to play a larger role in the cost of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the AP/Sacramento Bee reports. Background: Under the ACA, insurers no longer can deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions or place lifetime limits on medical care. They also cannot charge older policyholders more than three times what younger enrollees pay.

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Editorial: John Perez's bill is the best path to health care reform in California

Mercury News

California will decide in the next 10 days if it really wants to be the national leader in health care reform. It has a golden opportunity to improve its health care system by so much for so little state money. The Legislature will begin the debate Tuesday on two crucial bills to expand Medi-Cal eligibility to as many as 1.4 million low-income residents. Assembly Speaker John Perez's AB1X-1 is the best plan. It would insure as many people as possible in the cheapest, most efficient manner.

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Health insurance aid for high-risk groups blocked due to funding crunch

Mercury News

Tens of thousands of Americans who can't get health insurance due to pre-existing medical problems will be blocked from a program designed to help them because funding for the measure is running low. Obama administration officials said Friday that the state-based "high risk pools" set up under the 2010 health-care law were to be closed to new applicants as soon as Saturday and no later than March 2, depending on the state. However, they stressed that coverage for about 100,000 people who are currently enrolled in the high risk pools won't be affected.

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California's budget windfall could end soon, officials say

Los Angeles Times

The surge of revenue that showed up unexpectedly in state coffers last month may well be offset by a revenue dip in coming months, according to Gov. Jerry Brown's administration. The surprise money has been the source of much speculation in the Capitol. Unanticipated tax receipts filled state coffers with more than $5 billion beyond initial projections for January — more tax dollars than are allocated to the entire state university system in a year.

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Jerry Brown administration digs in against unions on pensions

Los Angeles Times

Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is pushing back against labor union efforts to roll back some of the pension changes made by state lawmakers last year. The governor has vowed to fight any legal or legislative effort that he views as softening the law, which requires current employees to pay more of their own retirement costs and increases the retirement age for public workers. In Contra Costa County, the local pension system has sued the state over the law's benefit cuts that it says are illegal. Brown said recently his administration would vigorously defend the law in court.

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Will California state workers get a big salary bump?

Los Angeles Times

Now that the state is no longer in the grips of a budget crisis, public employee unions are optimistic that they finally have some leverage to negotiate a raise. Will Gov. Jerry Brown hold the line on spending, as he has vowed, and keep salaries in check? The Times’ Chris Megerian takes a look at the issue in a article Monday.

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Gov. Jerry Brown prepares to negotiate with unions that backed him

Los Angeles Times

When Gov. Jerry Brown needed help pushing his tax plan last year, public-worker unions rallied to his side with millions of dollars and thousands of campaign foot soldiers. Now Brown's administration will be negotiating with some of those unions on labor agreements worth billions. Contracts affecting almost half of all 350,000 state workers — engineers, administrative staff, librarians, corrections officers and more — are due to expire this summer.

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Jerry Brown's views on deficits a mixed bag

Sacramento Bee

Jerry Brown is forever cautioning California residents and politicians about the need to balance the state budget and pay down debt. But the other day, in talking about the costs of extending medical insurance coverage to millions of Californians, he thanked the federal government for going more deeply into debt to pay for it. Nor is Brown confining his support for expanding federal deficits to health care for the poor. He's also counting on tens of billions of federal dollars – borrowed dollars – to underwrite large portions of the state budget and to finance the statewide bullet train system he so ardently embraces.

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