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For most California residents, and the vast majority of the state’s lower income workers, the cost of health insurance has been running away from them for years. That’s hardly news to anyone who has actually used their health policy in the recent past. But the health care squeeze is largely incremental — an increase in the cost of a doctor visit here, a hike in an X-ray price there. Though those costs almost never go down, they rise in such a gradual, consistent way that many people aren’t aware of just how dramatically they’ve escalated. A new report from the UC Berkeley Labor Center puts those costs in context, and the result is breathtaking. In short, Californians have been absolutely hammered by insurers and providers over the past 20 years. As a result, many of the state’s residents either don’t use their health coverage even though they need it, or they go into debt trying to pay for the insurance and the medical costs their plans don’t cover. (Kreidler, 2/8)

The window to sign up for health insurance through California’s state marketplace, Covered California, ends Friday at midnight. The window for new customers was originally slated to close on Jan. 31, but the state exchange said that it decided to extend the deadline to Feb. 9 given the large volume of demand and a cybersecurity incident earlier in the month that affected customer service call centers. (Dean, 2/8)

Virginia Democrats are pushing to expand state-funded health insurance to illegal immigrant children with a critical committee vote scheduled for Thursday. The Senate bill, named the "Cover All Kids" Act by proponents, seeks to provide illegal immigrant children access to a "state-funded comprehensive health care coverage" program with eligibility requirements similar to the state's Medicaid program. (Schoffstall, 2/8)

A House panel approved a bill that would create a process for public hospital districts to convert to nonprofit organizations and require districts to study the financial feasibility of converting to nonprofits or selling to for-profit companies. The House Select Committee on Health Innovation on Monday voted 7-3 to approve the proposal (HB 1421), sponsored by Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County. (2/8)

A push to let physicians prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients is getting major attention in statehouses this year, with lawmakers in 19 states considering bills to allow the practice. Despite continuing skepticism from the medical establishment, the controversial policy is gaining new momentum because of personal anecdotes, experience from states that were among the first to allow it, and changing attitudes partly driven by the pandemic's devastation. (Goldman, 2/9)

Doubts swirled from the start. After Cynthia King’s baby Wiley Muir died suddenly at a home-based day care in Honolulu, she fixated on the things that seemed off. The medical examiner said he died of pneumonia, but Wiley hadn’t been sick that morning. King wondered how sickness could take him so suddenly — how they could have missed that. But most of all, there was the notebook, which King began keeping just four days earlier, when Wiley started at the day care. (Carrazana, 2/8)

Albany County has recently launched a partnership between Volunteers of America and local law enforcement. It's meant to connect people calling during a mental health crisis with the right resources in the community. The idea is if someone continually calls law enforcement while experiencing a mental health crisis - officials will pass those calls to the community crisis manager, Heather Wiseman, who was recently hired by the partnership. (Kudelska, 2/8)