WELLNESS

HEALTH WATCH - When Susan Whitney was a therapist at Kaiser Permanente, her colleagues missed working in prison.

WELLNESS - For years, the private insurance company lobby has falsely claimed that California can’t afford quality and universal healthcare.

HEALTH WATCH - Premiums for health insurance plans sold through the state marketplace will increase an average of 6% next year, Covered California officials announced today.

SUPREME INJUSTICE - A good friend who heads a leading law firm once explained that when a lawyer’s case is weak, he argues precedent.

MENTAL HEALTH - In early March, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a controversial proposal to compel people with serious mental health issues into care and housing. 

THE DOCTOR IS IN - The first baby I ever helped deliver as a third-year medical student at Galveston, Texas was from a 17-year-old petite 5' 0" black female, who walked into the OB-Gyn delivery suite with an unforgettable, blank, and defeated look in her eyes.

WELLNESS - In the near future, Black men in Compton may be able to get a haircut, have their blood pressure checked and maybe even get their COVID shots all in one place: the barbershop.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - This is 2022, and not 2020. There WAS an Operation Warp Speed that got us two mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) for us to use in 2021,

MEDICAL WATCH - By now, everyone has heard about monkeypox, which is now in numerous countries.

HEALTH & WELLNESS - My son JJ has cerebral palsy. He’s unable to speak or use his arms and legs.

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES - A young man with a history of mental illness has been sitting in San Francisco County Jail for nearly a year.

BABY FORMULA CRISIS - My 8-month-old daughter, Jayde, was born with a growth restriction.

WELLNESS - A leaked draft of a United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade, a landmark 1973 decision that gave women the constitutional right to abortion, recently put abortion rights once again on the global agenda.

COVID WATCH - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, told The Root today that cases of the deadly Covid-19 virus are slowly rising again across the country and warned that Black Americans could be particularly at risk in the event a more aggressive variant should appear. 

WELLNESS - Anyone holding a high-deductible health plan understands the dynamic:

COVID ANALYSIS - As our country approaches 1 million deaths from COVID-19, it can feel impossible to wrap our heads around such a devastating figure.

MEDICAL WATCH - A major testing company in the United States announced this week that it will now charge people without Medicare, private coverage, or other insurance a $125 out-of-pocket charge to receive a Covid-19 PCR test—

GUEST COMMENTARY - At this most critical juncture of public health and the fate of the planet, science and scientists have been reduced to a political punching bag.

CORONA VIRUS - Community clinics in California that have been waiting for more than a year to be reimbursed for COVID-19 vaccinations may soon be flooding state officials with tens of millions of dollars in bills.

WELLNESS - Now that Covid has heightened awareness of disease and how infections play out differently across disparate populations, this is about an ignored health crisis that emphasizes the divide between East and West LA.

HEALTH CRISIS - For health workers on the front lines of California’s COVID fight, one of the more baffling moments of the pandemic occurred in relative obscurity last May, with the state suddenly awash in tens of billions of dollars in extra revenue.