There’s a new group in the homeless community, the economic homeless—people without a home because of the economic climate and resulting job shortages. As a result, the homeless population could continue to grow if prevention and intervention efforts are not steadfastly stepped up.
Month: June 2011
Hoping to lead an industry push toward more affordable health insurance, Blue Shield of California will voluntarily limit its net income to no more than 2 percent of its revenue, company executives said Tuesday. The cap will be retroactive, leading the company to let go of $180 million in income from 2010 that exceeded the self-imposed limit.
Christina Alvarez, who turned 17 on Monday, has a 15-month-old son. She barely speaks to the father any more. And while she hopes to earn her high school diploma and move her baby away from the crime, poverty and emotional defeat of her own childhood neighborhood, she knows the odds are against her. Activists say that for many teenage parents in Kern County, Alvarez’s experience is typical. Increasingly, it’s out of sync with the rest of California.
A decade of advances in telehealth have improved patient outcomes in underserved California counties, but continued promise of reducing the state’s wide health disparities depends on overcoming several financial, policy, and technical hurdles.
As the Sacramento budget stalemate over extending temporary taxes continues, will lawmakers turn to fees instead as a way to raise money for the cash-short state? Previously the answer might have been an emphatic yes. But this year, thanks to new restrictions imposed by voters in November, legislators will find it harder to use fees as a substitute for taxes.
“Have you seen ‘Charlie Bit My Finger?’” Trelena Thomas asked through a tempered laugh when calhealthreport.org met up with her to film the final piece in our three-part series on the family. Since carrying her San Diego Broadband Initiative computer through the door of her Mid-City apartment a week ago, family time has come to include YouTube favorites. But what’s more, Thomas has connected to services and groups that promise to improve her family’s quality of life–her middle daughter has already climbed half a reading level thanks to an online reading program.
Item No. 13 on his California State University admissions application was the first time it really hit him—Victor, who asked that his last name be withheld, didn’t have a social security number. It was a fact he had grown up with since the age of three when his mother brought him to City Heights from Coahuila, Mexico. When asked to produce the 10-digit number during his junior year of high school, he finally understood its significance. He was undocumented.
City and county health workers joined with community activists and organizers around this theme: Richmond’s mission begins with something as simple as more bicycles. They’ve coordinated with the goal of improving the health and wellness of Richmond’s people, and they’re aiming at the goal from many different angles.
The good news for Gov. Jerry Brown is that Californians overwhelmingly agree with his proposal for a special election on his plan to extend temporary taxes to help erase the state’s budget shortfall. The bad news for Brown, however, is that those same voters are not nearly as enthusiastic about the plan itself. Many apparently want a chance to vote on it so they can vote it down. Those are among the findings from a new, independent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.
At a Planned Parenthood clinic near Salinas, women farm workers who plan to have kids in the near future are learning to protect themselves against pesticide exposure on the job. Billions of pounds of pesticides are sprayed or injected in the ground each year in California, but researchers say they’re just beginning to learn how those chemicals affect pregnant women and their children.