The CHCF Blog

Welcome to The CHCF Blog, which features health policy insights from experts inside and outside CHCF. Get a round-up of the latest blog posts delivered right into your inbox every week.

Health Care Costs Accounted for 17.7 Percent of GDP in 2018

Katherine Wilson

Health Care Costs, Payment & Financing

New CHCF Almanac shows hospital care was the biggest spending category.

Finding a Cure for a Pandemic of Misinformation

Xenia Shih Bion

Stories That Caught Our Attention: As coronavirus continues spreading across the physical world, scientific misinformation about it is proliferating in the online world.

Black Lives Do Matter

Sandra R. Hernández

No one should tolerate a system that devalues Black lives.

How California Can Advance Health Equity in the COVID-19 Era

Kiran Savage-Sangwan

Four things the state needs to do right away.

Californians Trust Health Officials to Keep Them Safe. Business Leaders Should Too.

Sandra R. Hernández

We must continue to put our confidence in the expertise of local health officials who have kept so many of us safe.

Testing the Mission: What I Learned as a COVID-19 Volunteer

Homelessness & Health Care

Volunteers are helping San Francisco communities of color fight the pandemic.

COVID-19 Tracking Poll: Two Months into Crisis, Californians Have High Level of Trust in Health Officials

Kristof Stremikis

Health Care Costs, Telehealth

Nearly 7 in 10 Californians have confidence in the California Department of Public Health and in their county public health department.

One in Six Adults in California Immigrant Families Avoided Public Benefits in 2019, Study Finds

Insurance Coverage, Medi-Cal

Confusion about the public charge rule and the chilling effect it has caused are urgent problems in light of COVID-19 and its economic fallout.

Overturn of ACA Would Wreak Havoc in Time of Pandemic

Xenia Shih Bion

ACA/Health Reform, Insurance Coverage, Medi-Cal

Stories That Caught Our Attention: Americans are watching warily as the US Supreme Court considers the future of the ACA.

COVID-19 Tracking Poll: One-Third of California Primary Care Doctors Worry Their Practices Won’t Survive

Kristof Stremikis

Workforce, Telehealth

Many physicians say their practices furloughed or laid off staff or cut physician pay while increasing telehealth visits with patients.

You’re Not Losing Your Mind — Really

Xenia Shih Bion

Behavioral Health

Stories That Caught Our Attention: Even if the COVID-19 threat eases soon, the damage done to our psyches may be with us for a long, long time.

Striving for Equity in COVID-19 Testing

Claudia Boyd-Barrett

Health Care Costs, Patient-Centered Care

Georges C. Benjamin, MD, talks about what it will take to create fair and effective ways to provide coronavirus testing in communities of color.

Community Health Centers Need a COVID-19 Safety Net

Xenia Shih Bion

Investing in Innovation, Telehealth, Workforce, Providers

Stories That Caught Our Attention: The COVID-19 crisis is an existential threat to thousands of primary care providers nationwide — especially those in the safety net.

COVID-19 Tracking Poll: California Critical Care Doctors Report Increased Availability of Protective Gear, Tests

Kristof Stremikis

Compared with two weeks ago, California frontline clinicians are now less worried about hospitals meeting staffing needs in the next month.

Heading Off a COVID-19 Disaster for Californians Experiencing Homelessness

Michelle Schneidermann

Homelessness & Health Care, Behavioral Health

Philanthropy has a critical role to play in supporting progressive approaches to serving vulnerable people in need.