When a child comes into the emergency room at Children’s Hospital in Oakland suffering from a serious medical condition, the staff at Northern California’s most active pediatric trauma center is ready to jump into action. But in a rural hospital the family of a critical child faces a much different scenario: there are likely no pediatric specialists in the ER and they are hundreds of miles from the nearest trauma center.
The mortality rate in Los Angeles County declined 19 percent over a decade, 6 percent more than the national decline, according to a new report, released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health that looked at mortality rates between 2001 and 2010.
A new independent poll of Californians has a rather startling result about the federal health reform: two-thirds of those without insurance say they plan to get covered next year. If that were to happen, about 4 million of California’s estimated 6 million uninsured residents would get coverage. That’s a higher number than many health care experts in California expect to see even after the law
More than half of teens with psychiatric disorders do not receive treatment of any kind, according to a recent analysis of a survey of thousands of teenagers in the U.S. The new study also found that when treatment does occur, the providers very often are not mental health specialists. The findings are based on the National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement, an in-person survey of just over 10,000 U.S. teens between the ages of 13 and 17.
Hundreds of paid canvassers and volunteers fanned out across the state over the last two weeks to tell residents about the new health-care law and encourage the uninsured to sign up for coverage.
For the past five weeks, 60-year-old Christine Valdivia has been spending her Monday nights at the West Contra Costa County Health Center learning about a condition she was diagnosed with five years ago. The Bay Area county started an asthma clinic in September to help local residents, who suffer from the disorder more often and with more vigor than those in more affluent neighborhoods. Similar patterns prevail throughout the state.
California’s government finances are riding the roller coaster again. Buoyed by a soaring stock market and rising home prices, personal income tax receipts are flowing into the state treasury at a rate exceeding all expectations. The result: a surplus of $6 billion or more is likely if Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature simply stay the course on spending and taxes for the next 18 months. And that’s after taking into account billions of dollars in higher spending on the schools that the state Constitution will require if tax revenues grow as now projected by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s office. But one big question looms as lawmakers and the governor consider how to spend the government’s new found riches: what will happen when the music stops?