Opinion: Bill to Strengthen Paid Family Leave is Good Medicine
Paid Family Leave and State Disability Insurance are supposed to prevent low-income Californians from falling into poverty or homelessness when they need to take time off work. But the program is...
View ArticleOpinion: California’s Offering Health Care to More People Than Ever, But We...
Community health workers and promotoras are stepping in more to help vulnerable populations navigate lifesaving services, and access to them is now a Medical benefit. But without proactive outreach to...
View ArticlePreparing for Wildfires With Evacuation Plans, Emergency Supplies – And...
As wildfires and other natural disasters increase due to our warming climate, so too do risks to domestic violence survivors and others vulnerable to abuse during times of disruption. Because about 1...
View ArticleAnalysis: We Can Talk About Abortion Without Being Ableist
I made the choice to continue a high-risk pregnancy, but I honor the choice of any pregnant person who opts to terminate given the same set of facts. What I don’t like is seeing ableism — that is,...
View ArticleOpinion: California Missed An Opportunity to Protect Children From Social Media
As a psychiatrist, I regularly see patients with severe, life-threatening addictions to digital content, including social media. If we hope to reverse the current trends afflicting our children, we...
View ArticleAnalysis: Black Californians Want Better Health Care. Here’s How We Can...
Black Californians have one of the lowest life expectancies in California. This is despite the fact that the vast majority of these residents have some form of insurance coverage and consistently...
View ArticleMost Older Adults Want to Live at Home. Here’s How California Can Make it...
Most older adults want to stay in their homes and communities as they age. To do that, many eventually need assistance with routine and personal care. But 40 percent of older adults and adults with...
View ArticleWildfire Smoke Is Hurting Pregnant People And Babies. Can California Cities...
The legacy of redlining in Fresno isn’t just linked to housing access. It also has deadly effects on air quality and preterm birth. People living in substandard housing, a problem tied to redlining,...
View ArticleOpinion: It’s Time to Fulfill Our Promise to Teachers, Students and Parents
I recently introduced Senate Bill 387 to help teachers and school-based staff receive training on how to recognize the signs of a mental health crisis. Although teachers and school-based staff are not...
View ArticleCalifornia Elders Say They’re Misled When Enrolling in Medicare Plans. Here...
Bonnie Burns was shocked into action the first time she learned that seniors were being coerced into Medicare Advantage plans that either didn’t suit their needs, misled them about costs, or lured them...
View ArticleThe Specialist Squeeze: How to Fix the Shortage of Doctors in the Rural North
California’s rural north has significantly worse health care access than the rest of the state. The barriers to treatment are even higher when residents try to access care from specialist physicians....
View ArticleSchools must help homeless students. Here’s what you should know
During the 2019-20 school year, close to 1.3 million children in the nation’s public schools were identified as homeless. But that figure may vastly underestimate the actual number. A Center for Public...
View ArticleStudents Experiencing Homelessness Are Supposed to Get Extra Help. Here’s How...
Almost all children who experience housing insecurity also experience trauma because of the stress of their situation. California and the federal government recognize this, and require schools to...
View ArticleAnalysis: Most Californians Have Health Coverage. Now Is the Time to Bolster...
California's expansions of Medi-Cal to cover most low-income children and adults are a major step towards health equity in California. But expanding health coverage is only the beginning. Now it’s time...
View ArticleAnalysis: 30 Years After the Americans with Disabilities Act, There’s Still...
As an abled parent of a disabled child, I’m learning to help my son manage accessibility burdens because our communities and institutions aren’t designed with him in mind. We can do better for children...
View ArticleThere’s A New Pathway to Special Education for Up to 300,000 California Children
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are alcohol-related disorders thought to be the most common birth defects in the western world. A recently passed California law should make it easier for children...
View ArticleFor Many Rural Californians, Abortion Isn’t Accessible. Here’s What Can Be Done
Even in California, a state where voters overwhelmingly decided to protect the right to reproductive freedom in the constitution this November, many rural residents struggle to access abortion...
View ArticleFinancial Abuse Is Common. Now There Are Protections For Survivors
A new law will compel creditors to recognize coerced debt if a survivor can provide proof such as a police report, a court order specifying financial abuse, identity theft report or letter from a...
View ArticleNursing Shortage Puts Medically Fragile Children at Risk, Spurs Calls for Change
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding nurses to care for medically fragile children at home has become extremely difficult, according to parents of children with disabilities and home...
View ArticleCommunity Workers Fan Out to Persuade Immigrant Seniors to Get Covered
As of October, the most recent month for which data is available, more than 300,000 older immigrant adults who lack legal residency had enrolled in full Medi-Cal benefits, 30 percent more than the...
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