August 10, 2020These stories are co-published with .America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides.“Lost on the Frontline,” a collaboration between KHN and The Guardian, has identified such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic.We have published profiles for workers whose deaths have been confirmed by...…August 10, 2020These stories are co-published with .America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides.“Lost on the Frontline,” a collaboration between KHN and The Guardian, has identified such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic.We have published profiles for workers whose deaths have been confirmed by...WW…

August 10, 2020These stories are co-published with .America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides.“Lost on the Frontline,” a collaboration between KHN and The Guardian, has identified such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic.We have published profiles for workers whose deaths have been confirmed by...…August 10, 2020These stories are co-published with .America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides.“Lost on the Frontline,” a collaboration between KHN and The Guardian, has identified such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic.We have published profiles for workers whose deaths have been confirmed by...WW…

SACRAMENTO — A rogue industry. A gun to our head. Extortion.This story also ran on . It can beThat’s how infuriated lawmakers described soft drink companies — and what they pulled off in 2018 when they scored a legislative deal that bars California’s cities and counties from imposing taxes on sugary drinks.Yet, despite its tarnished reputation, the deep-pocketed industry continues to exert its political influence in the nation’s most populous state, spending millions of dollars on politically connected lobbyists and doling out campaign contributions to nearly every state lawmaker.The...…SACRAMENTO — A rogue industry. A gun to our head. Extortion.This story also ran on . It can beThat’s how infuriated lawmakers described soft drink companies — and what they pulled off in 2018 when they scored a legislative deal that bars California’s cities and counties from imposing taxes on sugary drinks.Yet, despite its tarnished reputation, the deep-pocketed industry continues to exert its political influence in the nation’s most populous state, spending millions of dollars on politically connected lobbyists and doling out campaign contributions to nearly every state lawmaker.The...WW…

SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is framing the burgeoning effort to remove him from office as a fringe Republican movement backed by right-wing extremists, Trump supporters and QAnon conspiracy theorists.This story also ran on . It can beBut Newsom isn’t telling the whole story about who supports his recall.Democrats and independent voters — who together dominate the state’s electorate — have also signed the , motivated by frustration with Newsom’s response to the covid-19 pandemic. Even Californians who helped elect Newsom to his first term in 2018 are angry over prolonged school...…SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is framing the burgeoning effort to remove him from office as a fringe Republican movement backed by right-wing extremists, Trump supporters and QAnon conspiracy theorists.This story also ran on . It can beBut Newsom isn’t telling the whole story about who supports his recall.Democrats and independent voters — who together dominate the state’s electorate — have also signed the , motivated by frustration with Newsom’s response to the covid-19 pandemic. Even Californians who helped elect Newsom to his first term in 2018 are angry over prolonged school...WW…

SACRAMENTO — Gavin Newsom was just making a name for himself as mayor of San Francisco in 2005 when Blue Shield of California wrote him its first major check.This story also ran on . It can beThe young, business-friendly Democrat had exploded onto the national scene the year before by issuing same-sex marriage licenses in San Francisco, and he was pushing his next big idea, called Project Homeless Connect. The initiative would host bazaar-style events in neighborhoods across the city, linking homeless people to services like food assistance and health care.Newsom needed financial support...…SACRAMENTO — Gavin Newsom was just making a name for himself as mayor of San Francisco in 2005 when Blue Shield of California wrote him its first major check.This story also ran on . It can beThe young, business-friendly Democrat had exploded onto the national scene the year before by issuing same-sex marriage licenses in San Francisco, and he was pushing his next big idea, called Project Homeless Connect. The initiative would host bazaar-style events in neighborhoods across the city, linking homeless people to services like food assistance and health care.Newsom needed financial support...WW…

This story also ran on . It can beEven as the pandemic derailed some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s biggest health care proposals, such as lowering prescription drug costs, it crystallized another: the pressing need to address California’s rapidly aging population.Already nine months into their work when Newsom issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order last March, members of a state task force on aging watched as the coronavirus disproportionately sickened and killed older people, and left many isolated in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and their own homes.“In many ways, it...…This story also ran on . It can beEven as the pandemic derailed some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s biggest health care proposals, such as lowering prescription drug costs, it crystallized another: the pressing need to address California’s rapidly aging population.Already nine months into their work when Newsom issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order last March, members of a state task force on aging watched as the coronavirus disproportionately sickened and killed older people, and left many isolated in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and their own homes.“In many ways, it...WW…

California mom Megan Bacigalupi has had enough. She wants her kindergartner and second grader back in their Oakland classrooms.This story also ran on . It can beBut the coronavirus is spreading too quickly to open schools in Alameda County, based on the current state standards. And the local teachers union hasn’t agreed to go back — even after teachers have been vaccinated. So she expects her kids will be logging on to school from home for a while.Subscribe to KHN's free Morning Briefing.“The impediments to opening are just too great,” said Bacigalupi, who is lobbying California lawmakers...…California mom Megan Bacigalupi has had enough. She wants her kindergartner and second grader back in their Oakland classrooms.This story also ran on . It can beBut the coronavirus is spreading too quickly to open schools in Alameda County, based on the current state standards. And the local teachers union hasn’t agreed to go back — even after teachers have been vaccinated. So she expects her kids will be logging on to school from home for a while.Subscribe to KHN's free Morning Briefing.“The impediments to opening are just too great,” said Bacigalupi, who is lobbying California lawmakers...WW…

January 26, 2021SACRAMENTO — As intensive care units filled and coronavirus cases surged over the holidays, Carmela Coyle invoked a World War II-era quote attributed to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to rally her own troops: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”Coyle is head of the California Hospital Association, and her “troops” are the highly paid hospital executives she represents. Throughout the pandemic, as in in which she quoted Churchill, she has employed battlefield rhetoric to galvanize their massive political and financial clout.That’s because Coyle believes...…January 26, 2021SACRAMENTO — As intensive care units filled and coronavirus cases surged over the holidays, Carmela Coyle invoked a World War II-era quote attributed to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to rally her own troops: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”Coyle is head of the California Hospital Association, and her “troops” are the highly paid hospital executives she represents. Throughout the pandemic, as in in which she quoted Churchill, she has employed battlefield rhetoric to galvanize their massive political and financial clout.That’s because Coyle believes...WW…

December 10, 2020SACRAMENTO — The nation’s dialysis industry has poured $233 million into California campaigns over the past four years, establishing its leading companies as a formidable political force eager to protect their bottom line and influence state policy.Most of the money the industry spent from Jan. 1, 2017, through Nov. 30, 2020, funded the defeat of two union-backed ballot measures that would have regulated dialysis clinics — and eaten into their profits. But the companies and their trade association also stepped up their offense, dedicating about $16.4 million to lobbying and...…December 10, 2020SACRAMENTO — The nation’s dialysis industry has poured $233 million into California campaigns over the past four years, establishing its leading companies as a formidable political force eager to protect their bottom line and influence state policy.Most of the money the industry spent from Jan. 1, 2017, through Nov. 30, 2020, funded the defeat of two union-backed ballot measures that would have regulated dialysis clinics — and eaten into their profits. But the companies and their trade association also stepped up their offense, dedicating about $16.4 million to lobbying and...WW…

SACRAMENTO — President-elect Joe Biden didn’t back “Medicare for All” during his campaign.Yet his choice of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve in the nation’s is fueling California lawmakers’ most progressive health care dreams, including pursuing a government-run single-payer system at the state level.“Now it’s much more real, and it energizes me in terms of pushing for single-payer now,” said state Assembly member Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), who is considering spearheading a new single-payer campaign next year — a move he argues is more plausible under the Biden-Harris...…SACRAMENTO — President-elect Joe Biden didn’t back “Medicare for All” during his campaign.Yet his choice of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve in the nation’s is fueling California lawmakers’ most progressive health care dreams, including pursuing a government-run single-payer system at the state level.“Now it’s much more real, and it energizes me in terms of pushing for single-payer now,” said state Assembly member Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), who is considering spearheading a new single-payer campaign next year — a move he argues is more plausible under the Biden-Harris...WW…