Here’s the link to the audio clip by reporter Sarah Varney.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that a married lesbian court employee is entitled to receive health benefits for her wife, just like married heterosexual court workers, and that the Court has final authority to end benefits discrimination against its employees.  Lambda Legal article.

Are too many children from poor families receiving powerful psychiatric drugs when they don’t really need them?  This article looks at children on Medicaid receiving anti-psychotic drugs.  New York Times article.

Hiram Johnson High School opens a first-of-its-kind medical clinic.  The clinic is limited to Hiram Johnson students now, but will open to the community in about six months.  Read the story in the Sacramento Bee.

Residents living in low-income neighborhoods of Sacramento are more susceptible to the effects of the H1N1 flu virus compared with those living in more economically stable neighborhoods.  Severity of symptoms due to lack of access to services is one factor.  More details in the article from the Sacramento Bee.

The California Office of the Patient Advocate (OPA)  and the California Department of Insurance have put out a report card rating the five largest PPO health plans in California. OPA has done a yearly report card rating HMOs buy this is the first year they have done a rating of PPOs. The report card rates overall quality, and treatment of asthma care, cancer screenings, diabetes care and treating children, among other things.

People who have benefited from the COBRA subsidy since it began in March 2009 will no longer be eligible for the 65% federal subsidy. The COBRA subsidy only lasts for 9 months. People who began benefitting from the COBRA subsidy after March will still be eligilbe until they hit 9 months, so long as they remain otherwise eligible for COBRA. There is a possibilty that Congress will extend the time to longer than 9 month, but that has yet to happen. (Los Angeles Times)

As reported in the Oakland Tribune’s “Inside the Bay Area,” a federal judge has halted a slashing of the In-Home Supportive Service program which would have affected 130,000 disabled and elderly Californians starting Nov. 1.

Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed into law AB 171 (Jones), which is intended to protect dental patients from predatory marketing practices used by dental credit card companies, and AB 1142 (Price), which makes the practice of “balance billing” Medi-Cal beneficiaries unlawful when the beneficiary presents evidence of Medi-Cal eligibility at a hospital.

Mercy Medical Center in Merced, California has implemented a policy to allow Hmong shamans to perform ceremonial practices. It is believed to be the first such program in the country. The New York Times reported the story.