Donald Vidal has had both of his knees replaced, but the 85-year-old Novato resident experienced different levels of care with each procedure. Although the same surgeon performed both operations, during the second one Vidal was part of a federal pilot program that aims to improve care and save money.
The phones at Dientes Community Dental Care have been ringing almost constantly since California restored its dental program for low-income adults this month.
Anthony Forrest has lived almost half of his 52 years behind bars. He’s been in and out of prison for much of his life, spending a total of 25 years incarcerated, he said. Less than two months before he left San Quentin State Prison for the last time, Forrest said, he knelt down and prayed for help turning his life around. He walked out of the room and saw a flier for Planting Justice, offering paroled felons from Alameda and Contra Costa counties jobs planting gardens around the East Bay and greater Bay Area after they got out.
When a patient at St. James Health Center needs mental health care, the first thing Susana Farina does is check insurance. The type of insurance patients have — if they have any at all — determines what kind of doctor they can see and even the date of their appointments. The Affordable Care Act covers treatment for some mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, but the law is not comprehensive and many Californians with mental illnesses still face challenges accessing care.
St. James Health Center is ready for the onslaught. The community health clinic, one of the busiest in San Jose, sits on the corner of 2nd and Julian streets near downtown. Doctors, dentists, pharmacists and other health-care providers here treat some of the poorest patients in Santa Clara County — patients whom many expect to have newly-minted health insurance this year as the federal Affordable Care Act kicks in.
For the first time since 1992, United States officials are strengthening rules to protect farmworkers across the nation from pesticide poisoning.
The billboards are impossible to miss along the freeways running through Oakland. “Being a prostituted teen isn’t a choice. It’s slavery,” reads one. They are the most visible part of the new Protect Oakland Kids campaign.
The cost of food likely will go up, but growers could have a more reliable work force after federal laws kick in requiring many farms to provide health insurance to their workers by 2015. That’s according to growers and agriculture experts in California and around the nation, as they and other employers in the United States prepare to offer health insurance if they employ 50 or more full-time workers.
A Missouri marketing company has applied for permits to sell tobacco at dozens of bars and clubs around San Francisco, a move that surprised both public health officials and bar owners who said they had no idea someone was applying to sell tobacco at their establishments without permission.
Two years ago, California began a massive experiment: shift low-level criminals from state prisons to county jails, and put local law enforcement in charge of their housing, treatment and parole. Now, early reports show a mixed bag of results.