|
Stay Well
breaking health news & updates
| |
| |
When Rogue Brokers Switch A Person's ACA Health Insurance, Tax Surprises Can Follow | |
Tax season is never fun. But some tax filers this year face an added complication: Their returns are being rejected because they failed to provide information about Affordable Care Act coverage they didn't even know they had.
While the concern about unscrupulous brokers enrolling unsuspecting people in ACA coverage has simmered for years, complaints have risen in recent months as consumers discover their health insurance coverage isn't what they thought it was.
Now such unauthorized enrollments are also causing tax headaches. Returns are getting rejected by the Internal Revenue Service and some people will have to pay more in taxes.
Unauthorized sign-ups can happen in several ways. Some rogue agents troll online enrollment portals that are accessible only to brokers but are integrated with the HealthCare.gov website. When those agents open a new policy or switch an already enrolled policyholder to a different plan, they garner the associated monthly commissions.
Other consumers unwittingly sign up when they respond to advertisements touting gift cards or government subsidies and then are transferred to agents who enroll them in health coverage. It's happening even after new rules were put in place requiring agents to get written or recorded consent from clients before making changes. NPR Read more
| |
"(Early in the pandemic) Blacks and Latinos struggled much more … in terms of mortality rates than any other population, primarily compared to Asian and White populations. But that has flipped.”
Dr. John Swartzberg, Clinical Professor Emeritus at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health
| |
 |
Who’s Dying Now? Here’s How Recent COVID Deaths Compare To The Early Months Of The Pandemic In California
Four years after the start of the COVID pandemic, the age and race of its victims in California have dramatically shifted: Now, a Bay Area News Group analysis finds, those who are dying from the virus are much older, and more often White than Latino, a notable switch.
While COVID deaths in California have plunged across all race and age groups, a comparison of deaths from the first six months of the pandemic to the most recent six months of data compiled by the California Department of Public Health shows 70% of those dying nowadays are 75 or older — up from just over half in early 2020.
And while Latinos made up nearly half of all Californians killed by COVID in the first six months of the pandemic, White residents now account for nearly 60% of all deaths.
The changing demographics and plummeting overall death toll exhibit how Californians built up immunity to the virus, experts say, through exposures and vaccines, and which groups are now the most vulnerable to the worst outcomes.
After four years of living with the virus, life is largely back to pre-pandemic normal. But when the virus first shut down our lives in 2020, face masks and working from home were foreign concepts to most. And while the speed of developing the first COVD vaccines was unprecedented in science, it took until early 2021 — the heart of the pandemic’s deadliest wave — for the public to get immunized. While COVID’s risk has certainly diminished, how much has its deadly wake actually changed in that time? Mercury News Read more
| | |
Black Women's Health Forum To Be Held in Oakland Tomorrow
It is a well-known fact that black women across the Bay Area have limited access to quality health services throughout their communities. Join us for this free one-day event as we will examine and celebrate strategies, policies, and practical techniques that center around maternal and reproductive health, chronic disease, cancer, and mental illness. We encourage Black women of all ages and socioeconomic statuses to join us as we examine and celebrate strategies that will reduce those disparities and help us achieve equity in healthcare. The forum is set for Thursday, April 18, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Oakland Marriott City Center.
Get more details and register
| |
"I Want Black And Brown People To Live Longer": Hip-Hop And Health Mix At S.F. Festival And In Oakland
Dej Summerville sat down at the free Umoja Health booth and as beats from Stunnaman02’s rap set pulsated through the walls she received a COVID booster, blood pressure test and diabetes screening blood prick. “I have been neglecting my health the last three years, just putting it on the back burner,” said Summerville, a Cal State East Bay student. “This is forcing me to hold myself accountable.” This was exactly what Khafre Jay had in mind when he decided to merge hip-hop and public health and bring the third iteration of D.R.I.P. Fest to the Western Addition on Saturday afternoon, an event that attracted hundreds of attendees. Jay, an activist for 15 years, noticed a large number of health organizations offering important services to communities in need, but failing to reach their target. Jay organized an Oakland version, one in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, and plans to host a fourth D.R.I.P. (Dropping Resources in Place), focusing on reproductive rights, in the Excelsior district next quarter. Pivotal to each event is incorporating local hip hop artists to draw crowds who often fall through the cracks.
SF Chronicle Read more
| |
Invasive, Dengue-Carrying Mosquito Species Detected In The Bay Area
Bay Area authorities are racing to eliminate an invasive mosquito species known to transmit potentially deadly diseases including dengue, Zika and yellow fever. This week, officials in Santa Clara County announced they had detected six female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in a residential area of East San Jose. The discovery marked the second appearance of this nonnative species in the South Bay since they attempted to eradicate them in 2022. “If Aedes aegypti gains a foothold in Santa Clara County, it will not only threaten public health but also affect our quality of life,” the County of Santa Clara Vector Control District said in a statement. SF Chronicle
Read more
| |
COVID Pandemic Made Poorest Countries Even Worse Off, World Bank Warns
The devastating impact of the pandemic on the world’s poorest countries has brought poverty reduction to a halt and led to a widening income gap with nations in the rich west, the World Bank has warned. In a report released to coincide with its half-yearly meeting, the Washington-based organisation said half of the world’s 75 poorest nations had seen income per head rise more slowly than in developed countries over the past five years. Urging governments and the private sector to do more to help tackle what it called a “great reversal”, the Bank said that since 2019 there had been a surge in food insecurity and debt distress. The Guardian Read more
| |
Pandemic Alcohol-Related Health Complications Hit Middle-Aged Women Hardest, Pitt Study Finds
Middle-aged women experienced "stark" increases in alcohol-related health complications during the pandemic, according to research led by a University of Pittsburgh physician-scientist.
The research published Friday in JAMA Health Forum sounds the alarm about the need for public health and clinical interventions to reverse the trend, scientists said. "Even though alcohol-related deaths are higher among men than women, the rate of change has increased faster among women compared to men over the last decade," lead author Dr. Bryant Shuey, assistant professor of medicine and internal medicine physician at UPMC, said in a news release. "We anticipated finding some increase in hospitalizations for alcohol-related complications among women. We didn't realize it would be this stark." CBS News Read more
| |
COVID Vaccines Not Linked To Fatal Heart Problems In Young People, CDC Finds
There is no evidence that mRNA Covid vaccines cause fatal cardiac arrest or other deadly heart problems in teens and young adults, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday shows. Ever since the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were authorized in late 2020, anti-vaccination groups in the U.S. have blamed the shots for fatal heart problems in young athletes. One of the most notorious examples of vaccine misinformation involves Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, 26, who in 2023 collapsed on “Monday Night Football” as a result of cardiac arrest. Hamlin was resuscitated on the field and eventually recovered. He returned to play for the Bills last season. NBC News Read more
| |
Survivors Of Severe COVID Face Persistent Health Problems
UC San Francisco researchers examined COVID-19 patients across the United States who survived some of the longest and most harrowing battles with the virus and found that about two-thirds still had physical, psychiatric, and cognitive problems for up to a year later. The study, which appears April 10, 2024, in the journal Critical Care Medicine, reveals the life-altering impact of SARS-CoV-2 on these individuals, the majority of whom had to be placed on mechanical ventilators for an average of one month. Too sick to be discharged to a skilled nursing home or rehabilitation facility, these patients were transferred instead to special hospitals known as long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs). These hospitals specialize in weaning patients off ventilators and providing rehabilitation care, and they were a crucial part of the pandemic response. UCSF Read more
| |
State/National/International News | | |
"Nobody Saw This Coming"; California Dairies Scramble To Guard Herds Against Bird Flu
Earlier this spring, California dairy farmers noted a puzzling drop in milk production in Texas, New Mexico, Idaho, Ohio, Kansas and Michigan. Weeks later, news broke that several herds in these states, as well as North Carolina, had been diagnosed with avian influenza — the same strain that has devastated bird populations across the globe and shown a troubling ability to jump to mammals. In an effort to prevent local herds from infection, officials in California and elsewhere have imposed restrictions on cattle imports from the affected states, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture has urged livestock managers to minimize the movement of cattle as much as possible. Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the current risk for the general public is low, the development has left dairy farmers reeling. Never before have U.S. dairy cows been infected with H5N1 bird flu viruses. LA Times Read more
| |
California Hospitals Keep Closing Their Labor Wards. Can Lawmakers Do Anything About It?
In just the first few months of 2024, four California hospitals have closed or announced plans to close their maternity wards.The closures are part of an accelerating trend unfolding across the state, creating maternity care deserts and decreasing access to prenatal care. In the past three years, 29 hospitals stopped delivering babies, according to a CalMatters investigation on maternity ward closures. Nearly 50 obstetrics departments have closed over the past decade. Now, California lawmakers are trying to slow the trend. Assemblymember Akilah Weber and Sen. Dave Cortese are pursuing legislation to increase transparency around planned maternity ward closures, potentially giving counties and the state time to intervene. CalMatters Read more
| |
Nearly 1 In 4 Adults Dumped From Medicaid Are Now Uninsured, Survey Finds
Nearly a quarter of adults disenrolled from Medicaid in the past year say they are now uninsured, according to a survey released Friday that details how tens of millions of Americans struggled to retain coverage in the government insurance program for low-income people after pandemic-era protections began expiring last spring. The first national survey of adults whose Medicaid eligibility was reviewed during the unwinding found nearly half of people who lost their government coverage signed back up weeks or months later — suggesting they should never have been dropped in the first place. While 23% reported being uninsured, an additional 28% found other coverage — through an employer, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplace, or health care for members of the military, the survey by KFF found.
KFF Health News Read more
| |
Hundreds Of Drugs Are In Short Supply Around The U.S., Pharmacists Warn
A growing number of drugs are in short supply around the U.S., according to pharmacists. In the first three months of the year, there were 323 active medication shortages, surpassing the previous high of 320 shortages in 2014, according to a survey by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and Utah Drug Information Service. It also amounts to the most shortages since the trade group started keeping track in 2001. "All drug classes are vulnerable to shortages. Some of the most worrying shortages involve generic sterile injectable medications, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency medications stored in hospital crash carts and procedural areas," ASHP said in a statement. CBS News Read more
| |
As Bans Spread, Fluoride In Drinking Water Divides Communities Across The U.S.
Regina Barrett, a 69-year-old retiree who lives in this small North Carolina city southeast of Charlotte, has not been happy with her tap water for a while. “Our water has been cloudy and bubbly and looks milky,” said Barrett, who blames fluoride, a mineral that communities across the nation have for decades added to the water supply to help prevent cavities and improve dental health. “I don’t want fluoride in my nothing!” said Barrett, echoing a growing number of people who not only doubt the mineral’s effectiveness but also believe it may be harmful despite decades of data pointing to public health and economic benefits. In February, the Board of County Commissioners in Union County, whose seat is Monroe, voted 3-2 to stop adding fluoride to drinking water at the Yadkin River Water Treatment Plant, the only water source wholly owned and operated by the county. KFF Health News Read more
| |
WHO: Hepatitis Is Second-Leading Infectious Cause Of Death Worldwide
More than 6,000 people a day are infected with viral hepatitis — and progress fighting the disease has stalled, a recently released World Health Organization report suggests. The analysis, released at the World Hepatitis Summit in Lisbon this month, looks at the burden of viral hepatitis in 187 countries and assesses the world’s progress toward eliminating the disease. Though hepatitis can be caused by heavy alcohol use and some medications, it can also be sparked by a virus that causes liver inflammation, jaundice, fever and other symptoms. Washington Post
Read more
| |
Every Year, Tuberculosis Kills Over A Million People. Can A New Vaccine Turn The Tide?
It’s 2024, and people are still dying from ... consumption. This ancient disease, known today as tuberculosis or TB, has plagued humanity for thousands of years, and as recently as a few hundred years ago, was thought to be responsible for some 25 percent of all deaths in Europe and North America. Today, TB is both preventable and treatable — there’s a century-old vaccine, effective antibiotics, and known behavioral and sanitation safeguards that disrupt transmission.
Yet in 2022, more than 10 million people globally still fell ill from TB and 1.3 million died. VOX Read more
| |
San Jose Bans Homeless Encampments Near Schools, Limits Overnight RV Parking
In San Jose’s latest move to regulate its homeless population, city leaders this week passed two new laws that will ban encampments near school zones and create new limits on where RVs and lived-in vehicles can park. Officials said the new laws are needed to make students and families feel safer on city streets, which are also home to the city’s 4,411 unsheltered residents. “We have to do a better job of managing the safety on our roads, particularly for our children,” Mayor Matt Mahan said at a recent City Council meeting. He said he received letters from a dozen students describing the difficulties they had getting to school because of nearby encampments. The first law will give the council the power to create “no overnight parking” zones, in which police and other city workers have the power to tow large vehicles. The second bans encampments within 150 feet of K-12 schools around the city. The laws will be enforced starting in May. Mercury News Read more
| |
Meth, Death And Abuse: Inside The Private Security Forces Patrolling California’s Homeless
Wendy Powitzky thought she’d finally found a way off the street in Orange County. The former hairdresser had spent years sleeping in her car and parks around Anaheim, near the suburban salons where she used to work. One day a social worker told Powitzky about an old piano shop recently converted into a shelter. She just had to clear security to reach her new twin bed. That’s where guards at the taxpayer-funded shelter groped and strip-searched her and several of her neighbors, and left them in constant fear of eviction, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of eight former Orange County shelter residents. “It was going to be my saving grace,” Powitzky said of the Anaheim shelter. “It was more unsafe.” As California’s homeless population spiked nearly 40% in the past five years, the growth has been accompanied by a boom in private security. Governments, nonprofits and businesses are increasingly turning to hired guards to triage homelessness, opening a new front in the state’s housing crisis — one ripe for violence and civil rights issues, but thin on accountability and state oversight. CalMatters Read more
| |
Paris Hilton Backs California Bill Requiring Sunshine On "Troubled Teen Industry"
Celebrity hotel heiress Paris Hilton is backing California lawmakers’ push to increase the transparency of residential teen therapeutic centers by requiring these programs to report the use of restraints or seclusion rooms in disciplining minors. “We shouldn’t be placing youth in facilities without knowing what these children will be subjected to,” Hilton testified Monday to the Senate Human Services Committee in Sacramento. “The Accountability in Children’s Treatment Act is a simple transparency measure that would make a lasting impact and show the world what truly happens behind closed doors.” Hilton, 43, has become a high-profile advocate for getting tough on what she describes as the “troubled teen industry,” which promises to rehabilitate teenagers struggling with substance abuse, mental illness, and problematic behavior. Such programs lack federal oversight and have been exposed for riots, assaults, and even deaths of minors, prompting a pushback to protect the rights of young people. California Healthline
Read more
| |
Exercise Changes The Brain In A Way That Helps Heart Health, Especially For People With Depression
It’s common knowledge that exercise is good for your mental health and your heart health — and now a new study suggests that all three are working together. In addition to the physical benefits of exercise, it’s also associated with a reduction in stress signals in the brain, which leads to a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the study. Researchers analyzed data of more than 50,000 adults around age 60 from the Mass General Brigham Biobank, according to the study published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The study looked at a survey that participants were given about their physical activity, imaging of their brains to track activity related to stress, and digital records of cardiovascular events. CNN
Read more
| |
|
Childhood anxiety disorders impact one in eight kids, making this a condition many families grapple with. But despite how common they are, anxiety disorders in kids aren’t discussed a lot, leaving plenty of parents feeling unprepared and even helpless when it comes to raising an anxious child. “Kids with anxiety disorders can often be clingy, may have difficulty doing things independently, and can have angry outbursts,” says Tyanna Snider, PsyD, a pediatric psychologist with Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “It can impact the entire family.” Parents face the tough challenge of trying to set limits for a child while also validating their emotions, Snider says. But psychologists say they regularly help kids with anxiety disorders, and part of that treatment is teaching families how to respond to symptoms of the condition. Fortune Well
Read more
| |
Fentanyl Crisis/Drug Trends | | |
House Panel Says China Subsidizes Fentanyl Production To Fuel Crisis In The United States
China is fueling the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. by directly subsidizing the manufacturing of materials that are used by traffickers to make the drug outside the country, according to a report released Tuesday by a special House committee focused on countering the Chinese government. Committee investigators said they accessed a government website that revealed tax rebates for the production of specific fentanyl precursors as well as other synthetic drugs as long as those companies sell them outside of China. “Through its actions, as our report has revealed, the Chinese Communist Party is telling us that it wants more fentanyl entering our country,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the special House committee. “It wants the chaos and devastation that has resulted from the epidemic.” AP Read more
| |
Swap Funds Or Add Services? Use Of Opioid Settlement Cash Sparks Strong Disagreements
State and local governments are receiving billions of dollars in opioid settlements to address the drug crisis that has ravaged America for decades. But instead of spending the money on new addiction treatment and prevention services they couldn’t afford before, some jurisdictions are using it to replace existing funding and stretch tight budgets. Scott County, Indiana, for example, has spent more than $250,000 of opioid settlement dollars on salaries for its health director and emergency medical services staff. The money usually budgeted for those salaries was freed to buy an ambulance and create a financial cushion for the health department. In Blair County, Pennsylvania, about $320,000 went to a drug court the county has been operating with other sources of money for more than two decades. KFF Health News Read more
| |
Small Gift Cards Can Be A Key Tool To Stop Stimulant Addiction, But Stigma Stands In The Way
Clyde Davis battled a methamphetamine and heroin addiction for over nine years. He tried various treatment programs, but none worked for him before he reached his insurance maximum and was forced to discharge. “I was trying to die; just putting myself through torture because I didn’t feel like I deserved to live and be happy,” Davis said. Then three years ago, he became one of the first participants in a new contingency management program at the Rimrock Foundation, Montana’s oldest nonprofit addiction treatment center. Contingency management uses positive reinforcement as a behavioral treatment for stimulant addiction. People are rewarded with small-value gift cards or vouchers for submitting urine drug tests negative for stimulants. CNN Read more
| |
Gluten-Free Diet Isn't Healthy For Everyone. Here's Why
You know that the gluten-free diet has reached peak cultural awareness when bottles of water — which have never contained a speck of gluten — are now carrying the “gluten-free” imprint. Research on celiac disease (which is affected by the intake of gluten) has been conducted as far back as the 1950s, but it was considered a rare genetic disorder at that time. However, as awareness of the seriousness of food allergies grew earlier this century — remember the first time you were asked to bring nut-free donations to a bake sale? — our understanding of food-related sensitivities began to increase. With about 1 in 4 of us leaving it out of our diet, has gluten become something that we all need to avoid? The experts say no. HuffPost Read more
| |
About Eden Health District | | |
The Eden Health District Board of Directors are Chair Pam Russo, Vice Chair Ed Hernandez, Secretary/Treasurer Roxann Lewis, Mariellen Faria and Surlene Grant. The Chief Executive Officer is Mark Friedman.
The Eden Health District is committed to ensuring that policy makers and community members receive accurate and timely information to help make the best policy and personal choices to meet and overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other health issues.
We welcome your feedback on our bulletin. Please contact editor Lisa Mahoney.
| | | | | |
