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Catastrophic wildfires are common in California, and mental health specialists have become a key part of local governments’ response to extreme weather events, which scientists say are becoming more intense and frequent due to climate change. Los Angeles County has been modifying its approach with each disaster.
California has a few major changes coming to its health policy landscape in 2025. New laws that took effect Jan. 1 ban medical debt from credit reports, allow public health inspections of private immigration detention centers, and ban toxic chemicals in makeup.
鶹Ů Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
A primary care clinic burned, medical offices closed, and hospitals struggled with possible evacuations. The wildfires that have incinerated large swaths of Los Angeles County are stressing the region’s health care infrastructure. Still, providers continue to find ways to deliver vital care.
The growing toll of climate-related disasters is a risk to the emotional well-being of young people. An Orange County, California, pediatric emergency doctor wants to add questions about climate change to standard mental health screenings conducted in pediatricians’ offices and other settings where kids seek care.
Across the country, trash incinerators disproportionately overburden majority-Black and -Hispanic communities. Though the number of incinerators has declined nationwide since the 1980s, Florida offers financial incentives to waste management companies that expand existing facilities or build new ones.
Doctors in Boston got tired of writing letters to utility companies asking for assistance for their medically vulnerable patients who need power and heat to stay healthy. So a hospital decided to share the power its solar panels generate with patients who needed help with their electricity and gas bills.
Researchers found toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water wells dotting California’s rural farming regions, far from known contamination sources. The discovery complicates the state’s drinking water problem, which disproportionately affects farmworkers and communities of color.
With the arrival in California of dengue, a dangerous mosquito-borne disease present mainly in more tropical climates, public health authorities are deploying a range of strategies to beat back the Aedes mosquitoes that spread the virus.
California voters will decide in November whether to approve a $10 billion climate bond that supporters say is needed to jump-start water system repairs for residents without safe drinking water. Opponents say those repairs should be prioritized in the state budget, not put on a credit card.
The United States has made almost no progress in closing racial health disparities despite promises, research shows. The government, some critics argue, is often the underlying culprit.
Laborers have suffered in extreme heat triggered by climate change. Deaths aren’t inevitable, researchers say: Employers can save lives by providing ample water and breaks.
鶹Ů Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in the last two weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Flooding wrought by Hurricane Helene devastated communities around Asheville, North Carolina. A host of government programs are helping restore water, food, and medicine.
鶹Ů Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
鶹Ů Health News' Céline Gounder shares advice on how to prepare before a hurricane.
As part of her presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris has rolled out a plan for Medicare to provide in-home long-term care services. The proposal would fill a longtime need for families trying to simultaneously care for young children and older parents, but its enormous price tag makes it a promise unlikely to be fulfilled. Meanwhile, a growing number of Republican candidates up and down the ballot facing voter backlash over their support for abortion restrictions are trying to reinvent their positions. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico join 鶹Ů Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, excerpts from a 鶹Ů lunch with “Shark Tank” panelist and generic drug discounter Mark Cuban, who has been consulting with the Harris campaign about health care issues.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has a plan to protect farmworkers from extreme heat and wildfire smoke, but farmworkers who pick California grapes say they need more, as climate change brings more extreme weather.
鶹Ů Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on state and local media in recent weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
An increasing number of Americans struggle with energy poverty, the inability to adequately heat or cool one’s dwelling. Health officials and climate experts are sounding the alarm as record-breaking heat sweeps the nation.
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