[News article] California declares electronic cigarettes a health threat

From the 28 January 2015 Met article

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California health officials say electronic cigarettes are a health threat, especially to children, and should be strictly regulated like tobacco products.

A report released Wednesday by the California Department of Public Health says e-cigarettes emit cancer-causing chemicals and get users hooked on nicotine. California Health Officer Ron Chapman says new generations of young people will become nicotine addicts if the products remain largely unregulated.

E-cigarettes heat liquid nicotine from cartridges into inhalable vapour without tar and other chemicals found in traditional cigarettes. E-cigarette makers say their products are far safer than tobacco.

Related:

• Calgary and Alberta Health Services eye $25K study on e-cigarette regulation
• Ontario bans flavoured tobacco, cracks down on e-cigarettes
• Students want public Edmonton e-cigarette ban

Other states including Oklahoma and Arkansas already have issued advisories cautioning the use of e-cigarettes. California’s advisory comes after a state lawmaker introduced legislation this week to ban e-cigarettes in public places.

Related articles

• E-cigarette Vapors Chemical Levels Up To 15 Times Higher Than Cigarettes
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• E-cigarettes Not Safer than Ordinary Cigarettes, Contains High Concentration of Formaldehyde
• New Rules for E-Cigarette Users on Airplanes

Study: The Health Care Experiences and Expectations of Low-Income Californians – NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly

Study: The Health Care Experiences and Expectations of Low-Income Californians – NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly.

From the 24 October 2013 article BY ANNE EIGEMAN at NonProfit Quarterly

As the most recent update in an ongoing research project that began in 2011, this week, the Blue Shield Foundation of California released a report on the healthcare experiences and expectations of low-income Californians. Two central goals guided the project: 1) to help healthcare facilities—particularly California’s community health centers—successfully navigate the changes brought about by the ACA, and 2) to help community health centers identify the most effective ways of encouraging patients and providers alike to embrace primary care redesign and move closer toward the goal of patient empowerment. As key findings, the study points to the “wide range of positive outcomes” that come from successful communication between patients and providers and the “broad gap” that currently exists between the information patients possess and the information they want.

The study found that only 28 percent of low-income Californians feel they have easily comprehensible health information for decisions about care. In addition, almost 40 percent rely on media sources to address concerns—“a potential problem” according to the study, because “trust in information is much higher when it comes from a medical professional than from other sources.”

A central theme is the value to patients that comes from a strong patient-provider relationship, which can lead to improvement in a patient’s overall sense of being well informed about his or her health, the level of satisfaction with the quality of care at a specific facility, and trust of the information provided by doctors. In light of upcoming structural changes to healthcare systems from the ACA, the study’s note that “alternative communication approaches also show great promise in helping to improve patients’ relationships with their providers.” is significant. Examples of these new approaches include team based care, decision aids, health coaches, and online or smartphone-accessible health sites, all of which were found to “enhance, rather than diminish, the critical connection between patients and their providers.”

The study devotes considerable attention to the effect of the digital divide on healthcare for specific groups of low-income Californians. “While four in ten low-income Californians overall lack Internet access, that soars to 67 percent of Spanish-speakers, 63 percent of non-citizens, 62 percent of Latinas and 59 percent of those in only fair or poor health,” the study reports. In addition, the fact that 59 percent of low-income residents over 50 lack Internet access and 41 percent lack a text-capable phone makes this “vulnerable population particularly hard to reach with technology-based information and communications.”

 

 

Read the entire article here

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• Low-Income Patients Want More Health Information, Greater Engagement with Providers (sacbee.com)
• ‘Not Used to Paying an Insurance Premium’: CNN Reports Low-Income Patients Struggle with Obamacare (mediaite.com)
• ACA confusion continues > Most low-income Californians misunderstand their ACA eligibility. (newsreview.com)
• Don’t blame low income patients for seeking care from hospitals (kevinmd.com)
• Central Valley Medi-Cal eligibility grows (fresnobee.com)
• Siouxland providers prepare for patient surge from health law (siouxcityjournal.com)
• Defining Poverty Down: 48% Of School Now Classified As Low-Income (sayanythingblog.com)
• 500,000 Californians Lose Health Policies (nationalreview.com)
• Half a milllion Californians could lose their health care under Obamacare next year (sfgate.com)
• Viewpoints: Are you ready for open enrollment and state’s new health care exchange? (sacbee.com)

 

California to start regaining control of prison healthcare

Prison health care does seem to be improving in California.
Why I am I reporting this? Because health care (and I’m not talking non-elective procedures here) is a right. A right that does not depend on one’s socioeconomic status. I believe that because prisoners are human beings, it is our collective responsibility to make sure they do get needed health care.  Just as it is our collective responsibility for all.Being found guilty of crimes and committing crimes does not take away their humanity. It may be hard to have compassion for those who showed no compassion at some point in our lives. But as human beings, I believe we are truly capable of seeing good in all.

There are a number of factors here (see related articles). Excessive salaries for some prison health care workers. And prison overcrowding (at least partially attributable to the three strike law). So I think not only prison reform is in order, but who we criminalize and why needs to be rationally addressed.

Prison doors (Photo credit: rytc)

 

From the 25 October 2012 article at the Los Angeles Times

SACRAMENTO — Seven years after federal courts took control of California’s prison healthcare system, citing care so poor that inmates were dying needlessly, they will start the long process Friday of turning operations back over to the state.

J. Clark Kelso, the court-appointed overseer, said he could foresee a full resumption of state control in about two years. He will begin Friday with a test: handing over authority to staff and equip new care facilities, including a $1-billion project in Stockton, and the sensitive job of making sure inmates get to doctors, clinics and hospitals…

…

California lost its authority after U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson declared in June 2005 that “extreme measures” were needed to fix a care network that killed one inmate each week through incompetence or neglect. Henderson said that despite repeated warnings from his court, sick prisoners continued to die “for no acceptable reason.”

The state had two such deaths last year, a level Kelso said is within reason: “There are limits to how perfect medicine can be.”..

 

 

Related articles

• California begins regaining control of inmate care (kfwbam.com)
• High pay a costly legacy of Calif. prison receiver (heraldonline.com)
• California Prison Doctors Paid Second-Highest In The Nation (huffingtonpost.com)
• California’s bid to end U.S. control of prison healthcare denied (prisonmovement.wordpress.com)
• California calls prison release plan unsafe (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
• No quick end to federal control of prison healthcare, judge orders (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
• Skelton: Time to change California’s three-strikes law (latimesblogs.latimes.com)