Texas Reduce Medicaid Staffing — Shortly This May perhaps Induce Problems For Signups
According to a report, throughout the pandemic, Texas reduce the selection of people functioning in Medicaid expert services even as a million Texans acquired protection because of to crisis federal funding. Now, staffing issues may perhaps impact an anticipated flood of new and returning applicants.
Houston Chronicle:
Texas Slash Medicaid Staffing Throughout The Pandemic. Thousands and thousands Are Now At Possibility Of Becoming Dropped From The Software
A lot more than 1 million Texans were being added to Medicaid protection through the pandemic, lots of of them little ones, thanks to unexpected emergency federal funding that deters states from dropping recipients throughout the well being disaster. But these gains could shortly be erased, according to individual advocates, who stress that state well being officers are not prepared for the inflow of new and returning Medicaid apps that could pour in as early as this spring, when the Biden administration is scheduled to elevate the emergency declaration. (Blackman, 1/25)
In California information —
Los Angeles Occasions:
COVID-19 Unwell Spend In California Would Return Below New Deal
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attained an agreement Tuesday to all over again require companies to offer personnel with up to two weeks of supplemental paid out unwell leave to recuperate from COVID-19 or treatment for a relatives member with the virus. The legislation, which lawmakers would most likely quick-track to the governor in the coming months, would apply to all enterprises with 26 or more employees. A identical legislation from 2021 that furnished 80 hours of supplemental paid out unwell leave expired Sept. 30. (Luna and Gutierrez, 1/25)
Los Angeles Instances:
No Ifs, Ands Or Butts: California Monthly bill Would Ban One-Use Using tobacco Merchandise Like Cigarette Filters
California could see fewer cigarette butts and vape pods on the streets underneath a evaluate released Tuesday. Assembly Monthly bill 1690 would ban single-use cigarette filters, e-cigarettes and vape products and solutions in the state with the intention of benefiting the atmosphere and general public health. “For a lot more than 50 percent a century, tobacco filters have prompted a community and environmental well being crisis that identified renewed vigor in the latest several years as the tobacco marketplace began to provide electronic vape products,” Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), who released the monthly bill, reported in a news launch Tuesday. (Martinez, 1/25)
KHN:
What The Federal ‘No Surprises Act’ Signifies In California
Betty Chow, a Los Angeles resident, experienced a cervical disc replaced in August 2020 at a surgical procedure centre that was portion of her Anthem Blue Cross PPO network. 13 months later on, she was blindsided by a invoice for nearly $2,000 from the anesthesiologist who was on her surgical team but was not contracted with her PPO, or most well-liked service provider corporation. (Wolfson, 1/26)
In abortion and being pregnant information —
The Texas Tribune:
Prepared Parenthood Drops Appeal In Lubbock Abortion Circumstance
When the notion of banning abortion in Lubbock initial came up, the city council declined to acquire it up, arguing the proposal conflicted with point out legislation and federal courtroom precedent. Citizens passed the ordinance via a ballot initiative anyway in May well 2021, empowering non-public citizens, relatively than community officers, to carry lawsuits against any person who assists an individual getting an abortion, like by driving them to a clinic — which the ordinance refers to as “aiding or abetting. ”The ordinance was quickly challenged in court. But now, 8 months later on, Prepared Parenthood has dropped that legal problem, saying “it is crystal clear we simply cannot rely on the courts to secure our constitutional legal rights.” (Klibanoff, 1/25)
Bloomberg:
Boycott Pepsi Phone calls Develop Above Donation To Texas Republicans, Abortion Monthly bill
PepsiCo Inc. is facing a further potential boycott above politics, this time for a $15,000 contribution to the Texas Republican Bash. Abortion-rights advocates are sounding the alarm that the donation, dated Aug. 5 in accordance to condition ethics fee data, arrived practically a few months after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into regulation a monthly bill banning most abortions in the state. Pepsi suggests it made the donation in 2020 but that the state party didn’t cash its examine right up until the next year. (Ceron, 1/25)
AP:
New Mexico Lawmakers Propose $1 Million For ‘Baby Boxes’
Two lawmakers are proposing funding “baby boxes” in each of New Mexico’s 33 counties in an exertion to improve solutions for dad and mom who want to abandon their toddlers beneath the state’s present safe haven legislation. A invoice to fund the initiative released by Sens. David Gallegos, a Republican, and Leo Jaramillo, a Democrat, would allocate all-around $30,000 for every single of the packing containers, which would be outfitted with warmth regulation and silent alarms. (1/25)
In other news from throughout the U.S. —
AP:
Nationwide Blood Lack Places Idaho Hospitals In Dire Need
A nationwide blood scarcity brought about by a surge in omicron scenarios has strike Idaho really hard, with some hospitals practically jogging out of the significant medical source before they are resupplied, point out well being officers stated Tuesday. A great deal of the southern 50 percent of the condition entered disaster specifications of treatment on Monday, partly due to the fact of workers shortages and partly since the inventory of blood solutions employed in transfusions, surgeries and other remedies is operating dangerously low. The designation will allow hospitals to ration treatment as needed when they don’t have sufficient resources for all clients. (Boone, 1/26)
AP:
Georgia Lawmakers Purpose To Deal with Spike In Suicides, Overdoses
Dealing with a surge in overdose fatalities and rural suicides, Ga lawmakers want to bolster the state’s dismal psychological wellness care system by pressuring personal insurers to strengthen protection and expanding condition funding for procedure and crisis expert services. Users of the condition Legislature are scheduled to unveil a policy package deal for mental wellbeing and compound abuse on Wednesday. Efforts to make certain non-public insurers provide the exact amount of positive aspects for depression, stress and anxiety and other psychological disorders as they do for health care ailments are expected to be a central element of the laws. (Thanawala, 1/26)
Philadelphia Inquirer:
CHOP Is Opening A $289 Million Facility In King Of Prussia As Other Hospitals Struggle
Whilst normal hospitals are fiscally stretched slim by the COVID-19 pandemic, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is opening a new $289 million, 52-bed healthcare facility fewer than 20 miles northwest of its city flagship, in the coronary heart of King of Prussia’s shopping district. The facility, which has a pediatric emergency division and 16-bed intense treatment device, is supposed to simplicity stress on CHOP’s crowded West Philadelphia hospital and catch the attention of new client people from farther west, who might not have been ready or willing to vacation into Philadelphia for treatment. Opening Wednesday, it shares a campus with one of CHOP’s busiest specialty care centers, on South Goddard Road. (Gantz, 1/25)
