A law to require insurance companies to cover smoking cessation services at no out-of-pocket cost to consumers would improve public health and the economy at a cost of less than $1 a month for each person covered by insurance, according to an independent analysis of the proposal.
San Jose pediatrician Daniel Delgado has a big problem. His young patients – all from low-income families – are overweight or obese and in danger of developing diabetes. Many don’t have access to the fresh fruits and vegetables vital for better nutrition. How to connect his patients with the foods they so desperately need?
Health policy, Dr. Richard Jackson says, is about more than medical care. It is about farm policy. Transportation. Housing. And so much more. Because how healthy we are is determined largely by where and how we live. Jackson, a professor of Environmental Health Services at the UCLA School of Public Health and the former state health officer for California, is an expert on the connections between urban design and health. He was the lead speaker at a conference in Sacramento last month that brought together environmentalists, planners, physicians and developers to share ideas and look for common ground on issues connecting the urban environment and health.
In the class I teach on chronic illness for UC Davis medical students, I am trying to get my students to see illness in a new way. I want them to be more pro-active rather than simply re-active, to anticipate their patients’ diseases and conditions, and to help their patients stay healthy, rather than treating them only when they are sick. I believe this is not only the right thing to do. It may also be the only way our family medicine physicians will be able to cope with the rising pressures coming with an aging population and an expanded workload brought about by the recently passed federal health reform, which will broaden access to health care for millions who have not had it.
California has one week. If the state budget is not passed by the constitutional deadline of June 15, health care providers like us will soon begin to experience a delay in payments. This will make things difficult on the clinics and potentially devastating for the fragile population that depends on our services.
On Saturday, May 22, more than 100 youth and adults attended the Youth Media Forum for Social Change at the KCRA Channel 3 Studios in Sacramento. Eleven social media projects and their youth producers were featured in a two-hour live online show that showcased and honored their work.
Joanne Neft has been eating local since before it was hip. As founder of the Placer County farmers market, it was just what she did. Nearly every Saturday in Auburn, rain or shine, hot or cold, for 20 years Neft has been there, filling bags with fruits and vegetables and plenty of meat to grace her table for the week to come. Now the rest of the world is catching up with Neft, and she welcomes the company.
On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I decided to test my belief that walking is an important way to promote weight loss and healthy lifestyles by doing as much walking as possible in our nation’s capital. I decided to keep track of my efforts and see just how easy it was to stay physically active while on a highly scheduled two-day business trip.
San Diego’s safety net is in tatters. There is no county hospital and no school of dentistry. In order to receive County Medical Services, the health care program for indigent adults, people have to sign a lien against any future property they might own. And so, a “student-run” program has become part of the safety net.
The number of unemployed in California, the rate of unemployment, the average duration of employment: all of these indicators have risen dramatically since 2007. However, there is a less-known job indicator that also has risen dramatically and may have more to do with stalling a job recovery in California than any other: the number of workers involuntarily working part-time.