Although more than half of California’s children are enrolled in the state’s low-income health program, the state does not report how many of them are born at a low birth weight, receive a developmental screening in their first three years of life or have a suicide-risk assessment if they have a major depressive disorder.
In every corner of California, in living rooms, community centers, and grassroots organizations, disabled activists are determined and organized to fight to preserve health programs and social services that help them and their communities.
Men remain less likely than women to have health insurance in the U.S., despite drops in the overall number of uninsured since the Affordable Care Act, new research shows.
Yvette Baptiste’s son Andrew was born with Klippel-Feil syndrome, a bone disorder where the neck vertebrae are fused, causing pain and limiting movement.
But even though Baptiste, as the Executive Director of Eastern Los Angeles Family Resource Center, was a seasoned health advocate, it still took more than a year to find a new doctor to treat her adult son.
Californians enrolled in the state’s low-income insurance program have more difficulty accessing health care than those with employer-sponsored insurance, a new study has found. The coverage gap was the greatest for people living in rural or suburban areas and for certain racial and ethnic groups.
A state review of a dental program that serves low-income Californians shows that significantly fewer dentists are accepting those patients, despite a surge in demand.
Palliative care, which is medical care that aims to improve the quality of life for people with chronic or serious illnesses, is not widely available in California. A new law, SB 1004, passed by the Legislature last August, directs the state to create a palliative care program for people enrolled in Medi-Cal, California’s low-income health plan. Nearly a third of Californians — about 12.3 million people — are enrolled in Medi-Cal.
In this story we go to Stockton where midwives are struggling to meet the high demand for their services. In California there is a shortage of Medi-Cal providers across the board, but especially for expectant mothers. In many areas of the state families are waiting weeks, maybe months before seeing a doctor for the first time in their pregnancy. Many turn to midwives who have to turn them away because they are not allowed to accept Medi-Cal patients. New legislation could change all that.
The Supreme Court upheld a major element of President Obama’s health care law Thursday, ruling that the government should continue offer insurance subsidies nationwide.
A health plan operating in three California counties remains below the state’s minimum performance level, data released this month shows.