Too many families must fight health plans to get mental health care for their children. The process to get care is often time-consuming, confusing and burdensome.
That is why we are sponsoring Senate Bill 238. Under this bill, parents will no longer have to appeal health plan decisions through the arduous Department of Managed Health Care process.
This winter, the U.S. experienced a dramatic increase in the number of children needing emergency medical care for respiratory infections.
These events should renew attention to factors we can control to keep demand for routine pediatric emergency medical care to a minimum, such as food access.
A woman dies every minute of heart disease in America. Yet the stereotypes about heart disease tend to suggest it is something that only affects men.
Think back to the last time you saw a heart disease-related commercial in a glossy magazine. It featured a white man in his 60s, right? It’s not a coincidence. After all, older men still run the country, when you look at the numbers in Congress.
As a physician, when a patient comes to me with an issue or illness that can be treated or even cured, my priority is to make sure they receive the correct and most effective treatment or medication.
Unfortunately, I am often forced to include another consideration in what I prescribe: a patient’s ability to afford the medication.
Health systems must acknowledge racism’s role in patient harm and medical errors.
That starts with more systematically collecting race, ethnicity and other data on both patient health and patient safety — which, incredibly, is not required today.
As an abled parent of a disabled child, I’m learning to help my son manage accessibility burdens because our communities and institutions aren’t designed with him in mind.
We can do better for children with disabilities by building more accessible, more inclusive communities and by teaching them how to assert their rights in situations that aren’t in compliance with the law.
California’s expansions of Medi-Cal to cover most low-income children and adults are a major step towards health equity in California.
But expanding health coverage is only the beginning. Now it’s time for California to lead the way again by shoring up quality and access within the system.
I recently introduced Senate Bill 387 to help teachers and school-based staff receive training on how to recognize the signs of a mental health crisis.
Although teachers and school-based staff are not trained mental health professionals, they are in a unique position to support youth who need help. By equipping teachers with the training needed to recognize the signs of someone experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge, we’ll help ensure students don’t slip through the cracks.
Black Californians have one of the lowest life expectancies in California. This is despite the fact that the vast majority of these residents have some form of insurance coverage and consistently demonstrate a strong interest in taking care of their health.
This contradiction begs the question: What is wrong with health care for Black Californians?
As a psychiatrist, I regularly see patients with severe, life-threatening addictions to digital content, including social media.
If we hope to reverse the current trends afflicting our children, we must hold the large, multi-billion-dollar companies responsible for the part they play in creating highly addictive products.