Low-income Californians are more likely to feel empowered and engaged in decisions about their health care when they are more informed about their condition and the options available to them, according to a report released Monday.
Author: California Health Report
Seven years after a surge in heat-related deaths among farm workers prompted California to adopt the nation’s strictest safety standards, the state has made progress on reducing fatalities in the fields. But more work still remains to be done. Joy Hepp reports.
By Callie Shanafelt
A recent report showed that investors are snapping up foreclosed homes in Oakland. But is that trend bad for the neighborhoods that were hard-hit by the housing crisis?
By Daniel Weintraub
The Supreme Court decision last week upholding President Barack Obama’s health reform law clears the way for a transformation in the way millions of Californians will get their health insurance, and, ultimately, their care.
For the shrinking number of people who still receive insurance coverage as a benefit from their employers – mostly at big companies – the changes will be gradual at first, though still significant. And despite assurances from Obama, it is still not clear that most people will be able to keep the coverage they have today.
But for individuals who do not have insurance because they are unemployed, self-employed or working in places that do not offer health benefits, the change will be dramatic, fast and probably to their liking.
Claudia Lopez tries to comfort her 9-month-old son Brian as the doctor examines the baby to figure out why he’d been vomiting all night. She explains, in Spanish, why she relies on this low-cost clinic: “I need this place because I make so little at work and I don’t have insurance.”
By Marnette Federis
Long known as one of the most violent cities in California, Oakland is taking a novel step to try to reduce crime: empowering children to train one another in violence prevention.
Mary Flynn
Primary care physicians are critical to a new model of care where patients have a medical home that provides treatment and preventative care. But there’s a problem – not enough primary docs to go around. Contra Costa County is trying to remedy the shortage with a residency program.
By Hannah Hough
For Dominique Martinez, turning 18 meant facing the possibility of homelessness. The Ventura resident grew up in the state’s foster care system, and when she aged out in 2010, she didn’t know the first thing about finding an apartment, signing a lease or paying rent. She didn’t even know how to go grocery shopping. Martinez, now 20, says she might have ended up on the streets were it not for Alice’s House, a Ventura cooperative-living home for former foster children.
By Genevieve Bookwalter
As federal health care reform promises insurance for tens of thousands of Santa Clara County residents, local health clinics are scrambling to prepare for the expected onslaught in demand.
By Robin Urevich
Decades-old research suggests link between trauma early in life and health, but doctors remain reluctant to probe patients past, says expert who revealed connection.