California risks losing $114.6 billion in federal funds within a decade for its Medicaid program under the Senate health care bill, a decline that would require the state to completely dismantle and rebuild the public insurance program that now serves one-third of the state, health leaders said Wednesday. The reductions in the nation’s largest Medicaid…
Should Healthcare Trainees Be Treated As Paid Employees?
Narciso Lara, 36, was trying to support his family in Salinas as a forklift driver but didn’t see any opportunity for advancement. So last year, he enrolled in a community college program to become a radiologic technologist. Now, Lara takes classes at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California, and gets hands-on training at a…
A Safety-Net Medical Center Wrestles With Specter Of ‘Repeal’
Little surprises Lynda Sutherland, who has been a licensed vocational nurse for 35 years at San Mateo Medical Center. But in the past few years, Sutherland says, she’s been surprised by what’s missing: the patients who used to return again and again to the public hospital for the same ailments. “They’re just not coming back,”…
Single-Payer Healthcare Bill Introduced In California Senate
Legislation introduced in the California Senate last week would set the state on a path toward the possible creation of a single-payer healthcare system ― a proposal that has failed to gain traction here in the past. The bill, which is a preliminary step, says that it is the “intent of the Legislature” to enact a…