Wednesday, January 26, 2022 | Kaiser Health News

Houston Chronicle:
Texas Reduce Medicaid Staffing All through The Pandemic. Hundreds of thousands Are Now At Threat Of Getting Dropped From The Method

A lot more than 1 million Texans ended up included to Medicaid coverage throughout the pandemic, several of them children, thanks to unexpected emergency federal funding that deters states from dropping recipients through the wellbeing disaster. But individuals gains could shortly be erased, in accordance to affected individual advocates, who fear that point out wellness officers are not ready for the influx of new and returning Medicaid purposes that could pour in as early as this spring, when the Biden administration is scheduled to raise the unexpected emergency declaration. (Blackman, 1/25)

In California news —

Los Angeles Situations:
COVID-19 Sick Pay out In California Would Return Below New Deal

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers reached an agreement Tuesday to yet again call for companies to supply personnel with up to two months of supplemental paid out unwell leave to get well from COVID-19 or treatment for a family members member with the virus. The legislation, which lawmakers would likely fast-monitor to the governor in the coming months, would apply to all firms with 26 or far more personnel. A equivalent law from 2021 that delivered 80 hrs of supplemental paid sick leave expired Sept. 30. (Luna and Gutierrez, 1/25)

Los Angeles Moments:
No Ifs, Ands Or Butts: California Monthly bill Would Ban Single-Use Cigarette smoking Products and solutions Like Cigarette Filters

California could see fewer cigarette butts and vape pods on the streets less than a measure introduced Tuesday. Assembly Invoice 1690 would ban single-use cigarette filters, e-cigarettes and vape products and solutions in the state with the aim of benefiting the atmosphere and community health and fitness. “For far more than 50 percent a century, tobacco filters have induced a general public and environmental wellness disaster that found renewed vigor in new years as the tobacco business began to market electronic vape merchandise,” Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), who introduced the bill, claimed in a information launch Tuesday. (Martinez, 1/25)

KHN:
What The Federal ‘No Surprises Act’ Implies In California 

Betty Chow, a Los Angeles resident, experienced a cervical disc replaced in August 2020 at a surgery center that was aspect of her Anthem Blue Cross PPO network. Thirteen months later on, she was blindsided by a monthly bill for virtually $2,000 from the anesthesiologist who was on her surgical crew but was not contracted with her PPO, or favored provider business. (Wolfson, 1/26)

In abortion and being pregnant information —

The Texas Tribune:
Planned Parenthood Drops Enchantment In Lubbock Abortion Circumstance

When the notion of banning abortion in Lubbock very first came up, the metropolis council declined to consider it up, arguing the proposal conflicted with condition legislation and federal court precedent. Residents handed the ordinance via a ballot initiative in any case in Could 2021, empowering non-public citizens, somewhat than general public officials, to provide lawsuits in opposition to anybody who assists anyone getting an abortion, like by driving them to a clinic — which the ordinance refers to as “aiding or abetting. ”The ordinance was right away challenged in court docket. But now, eight months later on, Prepared Parenthood has dropped that lawful challenge, expressing “it is clear we can’t count on the courts to shield our constitutional rights.” (Klibanoff, 1/25)

Bloomberg:
Boycott Pepsi Calls Develop Over Donation To Texas Republicans, Abortion Monthly bill

PepsiCo Inc. is going through an additional prospective boycott more than politics, this time for a $15,000 contribution to the Texas Republican Social gathering. Abortion-rights advocates are sounding the alarm that the donation, dated Aug. 5 in accordance to state ethics commission data, came almost three months after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into regulation a invoice banning most abortions in the condition. Pepsi says it designed the donation in 2020 but that the state celebration did not cash its test until the subsequent year. (Ceron, 1/25)

AP:
New Mexico Lawmakers Suggest $1 Million For ‘Baby Boxes’ 

Two lawmakers are proposing funding “baby boxes” in each and every of New Mexico’s 33 counties in an effort and hard work to raise solutions for mothers and fathers who want to abandon their babies underneath the state’s existing risk-free haven legislation. A monthly bill to fund the initiative launched by Sens. David Gallegos, a Republican, and Leo Jaramillo, a Democrat, would allocate about $30,000 for each and every of the bins, which would be equipped with warmth regulation and silent alarms. (1/25)

In other news from across the U.S. —

AP:
Nationwide Blood Shortage Places Idaho Hospitals In Dire Need 

A national blood lack brought on by a surge in omicron situations has strike Idaho tough, with some hospitals nearly managing out of the crucial clinical source right before they are resupplied, condition health officials said Tuesday. Considerably of the southern half of the condition entered crisis requirements of treatment on Monday, partly because of workers shortages and partly because the stock of blood goods made use of in transfusions, surgical procedures and other solutions is functioning dangerously minimal. The designation will allow hospitals to ration treatment as essential when they never have enough sources for all people. (Boone, 1/26)

AP:
Ga Lawmakers Goal To Tackle Spike In Suicides, Overdoses 

Struggling with a surge in overdose deaths and rural suicides, Ga lawmakers want to bolster the state’s dismal psychological well being care program by pressuring private insurers to make improvements to coverage and growing point out funding for therapy and disaster services. Associates of the condition Legislature are scheduled to unveil a plan package for mental overall health and compound abuse on Wednesday. Attempts to make sure private insurers give the similar amount of positive aspects for melancholy, stress and anxiety and other psychological diseases as they do for healthcare conditions are expected to be a central component of the legislation. (Thanawala, 1/26)

Philadelphia Inquirer:
CHOP Is Opening A $289 Million Facility In King Of Prussia As Other Hospitals Wrestle

Although normal hospitals are economically stretched skinny by the COVID-19 pandemic, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is opening a new $289 million, 52-mattress medical center a lot less than 20 miles northwest of its urban flagship, in the coronary heart of King of Prussia’s buying district. The facility, which has a pediatric emergency section and 16-mattress intensive care device, is supposed to simplicity pressure on CHOP’s crowded West Philadelphia medical center and draw in new affected person people from farther west, who may not have been in a position or prepared to vacation into Philadelphia for care. Opening Wednesday, it shares a campus with just one of CHOP’s busiest specialty treatment centers, on South Goddard Highway. (Gantz, 1/25)