WASHINGTON — The "great American comeback” President Donald Trump claimed in his State of the Union speech drew on falsehoods about U.S. energy supremacy, health care and the economy as well as distortions about his predecessor's record. In arguing, in essence, that he has made America great again, Trump took...
California Could Be 1st State to Sell Own Prescription Drugs
SACRAMENTO — California could become the first state with its own prescription drug label under a proposal that Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled Thursday in a bid to lower prices by increasing competition in the generic market. Newsom wants the nation's most populous state, home to nearly 40 million people, to...
Health Care Price Transparency: Fool's Gold or Money in Your Pocket?
Health care news is full of stories about monumental surprise hospital bills, sky-high drug prices and patients going bankrupt. The government’s approach to addressing this, via an executive order that President Trump signed June 24, is to make hospitals disclose prices, including negotiated rates with insurers, so that patients supposedly can...
Fact Check: Trump Declares ‘Treason’ Over Scrutiny of Campaign
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is using "treason" rather lightly as he assails unidentified U.S. officials for investigating operatives of his campaign in 2016. There's no allegation or even suggestion that they committed this punishable-by-death crime, if any crime at all. Trump's hyperbolic characterization echoed at the end of a...
TV Pitches for Prescription Drugs Will Have to Include Price
WASHINGTON — TV pitches for prescription drugs will soon include the price, giving consumers more information upfront as they make medication choices at a time when new drugs can carry anxiety-inducing prices. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday the Trump administration has finalized regulations requiring drug companies...
Newsom's First Actions as Governor Target Health Care
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom's first act as governor Monday was to propose state-funded health coverage for 138,000 young people in the country illegally and a reinstatement of a mandate that everyone buy insurance or face fines. Newsom also proposed giving subsidies to middle-class families that make too much to...
Newsom Hits Trump's White House Hard in Inaugural Speech
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom was sworn in Monday and immediately drew sharp battle lines with President Donald Trump, pledging to enact "progressive, principled" policies as the antidote to the White House's "corruption and incompetence." "People's lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe — they...