It’s common for people with disabilities to have trouble accessing health care, but this problem is often overlooked. These challenges can affect people as they move from pediatric to adult care, and also as they age.
I’ve seen how disability and health intersect, both in my academic studies and through my own lived experiences as a person with disabilities.
Improving access to high-quality primary care is one of the best things we can do to improve health in America. The consolidation and corporatization of primary care is delivering the greater access and lower costs consumers are demanding.
Yet long-term, this approach may be harming, not improving, health equity.
As a practicing physician for more than 20 years and the son of two immigrant parents, patients often ask me whether applying for Medi-Cal health care coverage will affect their ability to stay in this country.
Medi-Cal has expanded to include every low-income California resident regardless of immigration status. When my patients ask me if they should apply for Medi-Cal, I can now assure them it is safe.
California’s ambitious journey to reshape health care through the multiyear Medi-Cal reform effort known as California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) represents a profound leap forward.
As someone with more than 30 years of experience in health care information technology, here are the strategies I believe can make CalAIM a success.
Domestic violence is a problem that exists in all communities irrespective of culture, religion, sexual orientation, income or immigration status.
Yet, despite its prevalence, we are facing federal budget cuts for programs that help domestic violence survivors and try to prevent future abuse.
An estimated 50 percent of children in the United States do not receive regular dental care because of social, economic and geographic barriers to care. Mexican American and Black preschool children have a higher prevalence of cavities than their white peers. More than 50 percent of low-income adults and even 20 percent of those above the poverty line have untreated cavities.
We have recommendations that can help end these disparities.
Our governor could take two steps right now that would bring together the committed players in domestic violence prevention, help identify and fill in gaps in support, and put the state even further along the road to meaningful leadership in preventing intimate partner violence.
In California, 58 percent of adult residents have been impacted by domestic violence directly or through a close friend or relative.
For the first time since 2020, millions of Californians are renewing their Medi-Cal benefits.
Since the health of approximately 40 percent of Californians depends on Medi-Cal coverage, the state and counties must look at everybody’s files — and find ways to contact them and evaluate them for ongoing coverage — before cutting off Medi-Cal.
To experience a world free from violence, California must invest in the necessary funding and resources to prevent it.
However, with one-time funding for sexual and domestic violence prevention set to expire in April 2024, effective prevention programs will become more difficult to maintain.
For optometrists in California, the gap between the cost of providing care and what the state covers is growing wider each year.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed improving Medi-Cal access by paying medical doctors, OB-GYNs and hospitals more this year, eye care is not included in this proposal.