Alameda County Officials Look to Stave Off Mass Hospital Layoffs as Medicaid Cuts Loom
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Kaiser Strike Enters Its Fourth Week
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Kaiser Strike Delays Surgeries, Disrupts Care as More Workers Walk Off Jobs
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/alameda-county\">Alameda County\u003c/a> leaders are sounding cautiously optimistic about stopping mass layoffs at the East Bay’s public safety-net hospital system ahead of a hearing on the layoff plan on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.alamedahealthsystem.org/service-reductions/\">latest proposal\u003c/a> from Alameda Health System would cut 187 positions, down from earlier plans for close to 300, as executives brace for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997707/how-will-trumps-mega-bill-impact-health-care-in-california\">major reductions in Medicaid revenue\u003c/a> because of HR 1 — the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” signed into law by President Donald Trump last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 187 full-time-equivalent positions equate to 211 individuals, AHS said, some of them working part-time. Those 211 employees have already received layoff notices with a March 9 separation date, though that could change. The cuts would affect nurses, therapists, food workers and administrative assistants, among others, and would eliminate some programs completely, including two that provide outpatient behavioral health services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a rally outside Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Campus in Oakland on Tuesday, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley urged health care workers to weigh in \u003ca href=\"https://alamedacounty.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=7805\">at the hearing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Speak your mind, let us know how these reductions in force, the reduction in labor, is going to impact safety net services so that the Board of Supervisors can come to the rescue,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The layoff plans come as AHS expects to lose over $100 million a year by 2030 as a result of HR 1 and its Medicaid cuts, a spokesperson \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068383/alameda-health-system-to-lay-off-hundreds-in-january-after-massive-federal-cuts\">previously told KQED\u003c/a>. Medicaid payments make up about 60% of the health system’s revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074475\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074475\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_015-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_015-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_015-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_015-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, who represents District 4, speaks during a resident physician “unity break” outside Highland Hospital in Oakland on Feb. 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Miley, who leads the Board of Supervisors’ health committee, said he met with AHS leaders last week and sees a path for the county to come up with funding to suspend the layoffs — at least in the short term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current estimate, he said, is that AHS needs between $44 million and $52 million to hold back layoffs for a year. AHS officials confirmed that they are in conversations with the county “about ways they can help us, given the extensive funding cuts we’re facing,” but wouldn’t confirm the figures Miley provided, saying it was “premature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My hope is the county is going to be able to kick in at least the initial $11 [million] to $13 million so that we can suspend the layoffs for a period of time,” Miley said.[aside postID=news_12072837 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8137B-KQED.jpg']He aims to create a working group made up of labor leaders, county staff, supervisors and Alameda Health System administrators and trustees to develop a more long-term plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miley suggested that revenue from \u003ca href=\"https://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/MeasureWAllocationPresentation.pdf\">Measures W\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://budget.alamedacountyca.gov/Content/pdf/FY24-25/FY2024-25ProposedBudget-7_10_24.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">and A\u003c/a> — sales taxes approved by voters to raise money for medical and essential services, among other things — could help offset some of the cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also floated the idea of the county easing up, at least temporarily, on repayment of what’s known as the “net negative balance,” essentially a county line of credit that Alameda Health System uses to cover expenses when bills come due before large state or federal reimbursements arrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are avenues we can pursue,” he said, noting that cuts to non-safety-net services might be left standing. “There might be some things that are good to have but are not necessary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas agreed that the county can likely stanch the bleeding in the near term, but she emphasized that the real solutions are systemic: “It’s about single payer. It’s about making sure that we close the loophole in Prop. 13 and really address how resources and wealth are distributed in our country, as well as our state and our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074473\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074473\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nikki Fortunato Bas, a member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, speaks during a resident physician “unity break” outside Highland Hospital in Oakland on Feb. 24, 2026. Physicians cited layoffs, staffing shortages and contract negotiations with Alameda Health System. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, she said she would seek to hold AHS accountable for doing everything possible to raise revenue and ensure officials there are “very clear and thoughtful about what they’re looking at, and that they’re actually talking in good faith with our labor partners to make sure that we’re addressing all the potential impacts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some AHS employees and their unions have criticized system executives for acting rashly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These layoffs are anticipatory,” said Dr. Elijah Lustig, a resident physician at Highland Hospital and union leader with the Committee of Interns and Residents, part of Service Employees International Union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re not talking to our department heads before instituting cuts or proposing layoffs,” he said of the process. “The people who are deciding who gets fired, frankly, do not have a good grasp on how this hospital runs, on what services are crucial, on what services are impacted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_010-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_010-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_010-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_010-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Campus is seen through flowering branches in Oakland on Feb. 24, 2026. The hospital is part of Alameda Health System. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement, AHS said it “must take a proactive approach” to reducing costs. “We do not approach this painful decision lightly,” it said. “However, AHS reasonably predicts that it will run out of funds within six months, by August of 2026, if it does not act now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s hearing is required by law to give the public an opportunity to comment on the proposed cuts to health care services. Supervisors won’t take any action there, but Miley said he hopes the board will reach a decision on allocating funding to prevent layoffs as soon as March 3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing takes place at 3 p.m. at the Alameda County Administration Building, Board of Supervisors’ Chambers, Fifth Floor, Room 512, 1221 Oak St.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/alameda-county\">Alameda County\u003c/a> leaders are sounding cautiously optimistic about stopping mass layoffs at the East Bay’s public safety-net hospital system ahead of a hearing on the layoff plan on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.alamedahealthsystem.org/service-reductions/\">latest proposal\u003c/a> from Alameda Health System would cut 187 positions, down from earlier plans for close to 300, as executives brace for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997707/how-will-trumps-mega-bill-impact-health-care-in-california\">major reductions in Medicaid revenue\u003c/a> because of HR 1 — the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” signed into law by President Donald Trump last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 187 full-time-equivalent positions equate to 211 individuals, AHS said, some of them working part-time. Those 211 employees have already received layoff notices with a March 9 separation date, though that could change. The cuts would affect nurses, therapists, food workers and administrative assistants, among others, and would eliminate some programs completely, including two that provide outpatient behavioral health services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a rally outside Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Campus in Oakland on Tuesday, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley urged health care workers to weigh in \u003ca href=\"https://alamedacounty.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=7805\">at the hearing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Speak your mind, let us know how these reductions in force, the reduction in labor, is going to impact safety net services so that the Board of Supervisors can come to the rescue,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The layoff plans come as AHS expects to lose over $100 million a year by 2030 as a result of HR 1 and its Medicaid cuts, a spokesperson \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068383/alameda-health-system-to-lay-off-hundreds-in-january-after-massive-federal-cuts\">previously told KQED\u003c/a>. Medicaid payments make up about 60% of the health system’s revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074475\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074475\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_015-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_015-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_015-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_015-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, who represents District 4, speaks during a resident physician “unity break” outside Highland Hospital in Oakland on Feb. 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Miley, who leads the Board of Supervisors’ health committee, said he met with AHS leaders last week and sees a path for the county to come up with funding to suspend the layoffs — at least in the short term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current estimate, he said, is that AHS needs between $44 million and $52 million to hold back layoffs for a year. AHS officials confirmed that they are in conversations with the county “about ways they can help us, given the extensive funding cuts we’re facing,” but wouldn’t confirm the figures Miley provided, saying it was “premature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My hope is the county is going to be able to kick in at least the initial $11 [million] to $13 million so that we can suspend the layoffs for a period of time,” Miley said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He aims to create a working group made up of labor leaders, county staff, supervisors and Alameda Health System administrators and trustees to develop a more long-term plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miley suggested that revenue from \u003ca href=\"https://www.acgov.org/board/bos_calendar/documents/MeasureWAllocationPresentation.pdf\">Measures W\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://budget.alamedacountyca.gov/Content/pdf/FY24-25/FY2024-25ProposedBudget-7_10_24.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">and A\u003c/a> — sales taxes approved by voters to raise money for medical and essential services, among other things — could help offset some of the cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also floated the idea of the county easing up, at least temporarily, on repayment of what’s known as the “net negative balance,” essentially a county line of credit that Alameda Health System uses to cover expenses when bills come due before large state or federal reimbursements arrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are avenues we can pursue,” he said, noting that cuts to non-safety-net services might be left standing. “There might be some things that are good to have but are not necessary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas agreed that the county can likely stanch the bleeding in the near term, but she emphasized that the real solutions are systemic: “It’s about single payer. It’s about making sure that we close the loophole in Prop. 13 and really address how resources and wealth are distributed in our country, as well as our state and our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074473\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074473\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nikki Fortunato Bas, a member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, speaks during a resident physician “unity break” outside Highland Hospital in Oakland on Feb. 24, 2026. Physicians cited layoffs, staffing shortages and contract negotiations with Alameda Health System. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, she said she would seek to hold AHS accountable for doing everything possible to raise revenue and ensure officials there are “very clear and thoughtful about what they’re looking at, and that they’re actually talking in good faith with our labor partners to make sure that we’re addressing all the potential impacts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some AHS employees and their unions have criticized system executives for acting rashly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These layoffs are anticipatory,” said Dr. Elijah Lustig, a resident physician at Highland Hospital and union leader with the Committee of Interns and Residents, part of Service Employees International Union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re not talking to our department heads before instituting cuts or proposing layoffs,” he said of the process. “The people who are deciding who gets fired, frankly, do not have a good grasp on how this hospital runs, on what services are crucial, on what services are impacted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_010-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_010-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_010-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/022426_ALAMEDA-COUNTY-HEALTH-CUTS-_GH_010-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Campus is seen through flowering branches in Oakland on Feb. 24, 2026. The hospital is part of Alameda Health System. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement, AHS said it “must take a proactive approach” to reducing costs. “We do not approach this painful decision lightly,” it said. “However, AHS reasonably predicts that it will run out of funds within six months, by August of 2026, if it does not act now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s hearing is required by law to give the public an opportunity to comment on the proposed cuts to health care services. Supervisors won’t take any action there, but Miley said he hopes the board will reach a decision on allocating funding to prevent layoffs as soon as March 3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing takes place at 3 p.m. at the Alameda County Administration Building, Board of Supervisors’ Chambers, Fifth Floor, Room 512, 1221 Oak St.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "widespread-kaiser-strike-to-end-after-4-weeks-with-no-deal-yet",
"title": "Widespread Kaiser Strike Ends After 4 Weeks With No Full Deal Yet",
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"content": "\u003cp>A four-week strike by thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> health care workers in California and Hawaii ended Tuesday morning, even though no full contract deal has been reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The walkout \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">initially involved\u003c/a> up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, optometrists and others. Following significant movement at the bargaining table over the weekend, according to the union, no picket lines were held Monday as return-to-work agreements were finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided to end this because we were making meaningful progress at the tables. And returning to work allows us to closely deal with the issues, the few that are still outstanding, while getting back to taking care of our patients,” said Elizabeth Hawkins, secretary of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nurses and other health care workers who walked picket lines several days a week are now expected to return to clinics and hospitals as early as Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser, which hired contingency staffers during the strike, said it was working to schedule returning employees over the coming days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care organization said union leadership recently accepted an across-the-board 21.5% wage increase over four years that Kaiser had offered since October 2025. The union sought a 25% raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073903\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073903\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. Kaiser workers on the picket lines have gone without their paychecks for four weeks, and many are facing financial and other difficulties. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have remained committed to reaching agreements that recognize the vital contributions of our employees while ensuring excellent, affordable care for our members,” Kaiser’s statement said. “Importantly, the increase is higher than any other health care provider in the country and keeps our employees at above market pay and among the best paid caregivers in the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the strike dragged on, the nation’s largest private nonprofit health care organization drew a hard line, maintaining that anything higher than a 21.5% raise would be unsustainable and lead it to increase premiums for its more than 9 million customers in California. The union said it acquiesced on wages because Kaiser agreed to additional improvements in safe staffing, recruitment and retention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both parties have been focused on completing contracts for each of dozens of local units forming UNAC/UHCP, Hawkins said. Kaiser walked away from bargaining on a long-standing national contract in December, a move the union calls unlawful and said partly led to the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pressure had been mounting on both parties to end the walkout, which began Jan. 26 and was dubbed the largest open-ended strike by nurses and other health care workers in the U.S. Top priorities in negotiations for Kaiser employees have been staffing levels and compensation, common concerns for health care workers nationwide.[aside postID=news_12073887 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01224_TV-KQED.jpg']The company reassigned non-picketing staffers, rescheduled non-urgent surgeries and modified other appointments at affected locations. But some patients were frustrated by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072837/kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs\">delays\u003c/a> in their operations, especially in Southern California, where most striking union members are located.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the picket lines, several workers told KQED they were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073887/californias-striking-kaiser-workers-without-pay-for-weeks-feel-the-financial-pressure\">financially and emotionally stressed\u003c/a> by forgoing their paychecks for weeks, as the union did not offer assistance via a strike fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Kaiser said about 40% of nurses and pharmacists across striking locations had returned to their jobs, though union officials countered that those figures were inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While they will keep negotiating, they are losing leverage by going back to work, which suggests that they didn’t feel they had the capacity to sustain the strike any longer,” said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University who specializes in the health care industry. “This is a tough outcome for these workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Givan contrasted the outcome in California and Hawaii with a weeks-long strike by about 15,000 nurses in New York City, which led to significant employer concessions, including maintenance of health care benefits and improvements to pay and staffing, before workers agreed to return to their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife at Kaiser Oakland, said she would have preferred to end the strike with a contract deal in hand, but she’s cautiously optimistic about what’s left of the bargaining progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073902\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073902\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife from Kaiser Oakland, poses for a portrait while on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser really saw how united we were and how strong we were, and even though we don’t have a contract in place now, I believe that my employer is negotiating in good faith and has been at the bargaining table,” said Baird, 53. ”I’m definitely feeling more like there’s a good chance of getting the things that we need in a contract, even if we don’t get everything we want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baird said she was looking forward to seeing patients and regaining her income. She’s nervous about the strain that the long strike could have on her relationships with co-workers who pitched in more hours to continue caring for patients. Still, she feels the strike will likely lead to improvements for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even with the disruptions in patient care, if we have a solid contract, we’ll have much more staff continuity. We’ll have people who are dedicated to being there, it will decrease the risks of turnover. And I think in the long run, it’s better for patients,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hawkins, the UNAC/UHCP secretary, said the union had not held a walkout at Kaiser for about 45 years prior to last year, when two much shorter strikes were held.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor experts said the company had a shining reputation as an employer with positive labor relations, but the recent walkout suggested a turning point for Kaiser, which has expanded to eight states and the District of Columbia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, which has dismissed employee claims of chronic understaffing and long delays for patients, said its health care workers are already paid on average more than those at other companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health care workers in California often earn more money than in other states, which labor experts say is due to the state’s high cost of living and unionization in the industry. Registered nurses, for example, make an annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/oes291141.htm\">mean of $113,200\u003c/a> in California, significantly higher than the national mean of $77,500, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A four-week strike by thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> health care workers in California and Hawaii ended Tuesday morning, even though no full contract deal has been reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The walkout \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">initially involved\u003c/a> up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, optometrists and others. Following significant movement at the bargaining table over the weekend, according to the union, no picket lines were held Monday as return-to-work agreements were finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided to end this because we were making meaningful progress at the tables. And returning to work allows us to closely deal with the issues, the few that are still outstanding, while getting back to taking care of our patients,” said Elizabeth Hawkins, secretary of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nurses and other health care workers who walked picket lines several days a week are now expected to return to clinics and hospitals as early as Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser, which hired contingency staffers during the strike, said it was working to schedule returning employees over the coming days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care organization said union leadership recently accepted an across-the-board 21.5% wage increase over four years that Kaiser had offered since October 2025. The union sought a 25% raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073903\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073903\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. Kaiser workers on the picket lines have gone without their paychecks for four weeks, and many are facing financial and other difficulties. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have remained committed to reaching agreements that recognize the vital contributions of our employees while ensuring excellent, affordable care for our members,” Kaiser’s statement said. “Importantly, the increase is higher than any other health care provider in the country and keeps our employees at above market pay and among the best paid caregivers in the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the strike dragged on, the nation’s largest private nonprofit health care organization drew a hard line, maintaining that anything higher than a 21.5% raise would be unsustainable and lead it to increase premiums for its more than 9 million customers in California. The union said it acquiesced on wages because Kaiser agreed to additional improvements in safe staffing, recruitment and retention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both parties have been focused on completing contracts for each of dozens of local units forming UNAC/UHCP, Hawkins said. Kaiser walked away from bargaining on a long-standing national contract in December, a move the union calls unlawful and said partly led to the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pressure had been mounting on both parties to end the walkout, which began Jan. 26 and was dubbed the largest open-ended strike by nurses and other health care workers in the U.S. Top priorities in negotiations for Kaiser employees have been staffing levels and compensation, common concerns for health care workers nationwide.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The company reassigned non-picketing staffers, rescheduled non-urgent surgeries and modified other appointments at affected locations. But some patients were frustrated by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072837/kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs\">delays\u003c/a> in their operations, especially in Southern California, where most striking union members are located.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the picket lines, several workers told KQED they were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073887/californias-striking-kaiser-workers-without-pay-for-weeks-feel-the-financial-pressure\">financially and emotionally stressed\u003c/a> by forgoing their paychecks for weeks, as the union did not offer assistance via a strike fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Kaiser said about 40% of nurses and pharmacists across striking locations had returned to their jobs, though union officials countered that those figures were inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While they will keep negotiating, they are losing leverage by going back to work, which suggests that they didn’t feel they had the capacity to sustain the strike any longer,” said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University who specializes in the health care industry. “This is a tough outcome for these workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Givan contrasted the outcome in California and Hawaii with a weeks-long strike by about 15,000 nurses in New York City, which led to significant employer concessions, including maintenance of health care benefits and improvements to pay and staffing, before workers agreed to return to their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife at Kaiser Oakland, said she would have preferred to end the strike with a contract deal in hand, but she’s cautiously optimistic about what’s left of the bargaining progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073902\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073902\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife from Kaiser Oakland, poses for a portrait while on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser really saw how united we were and how strong we were, and even though we don’t have a contract in place now, I believe that my employer is negotiating in good faith and has been at the bargaining table,” said Baird, 53. ”I’m definitely feeling more like there’s a good chance of getting the things that we need in a contract, even if we don’t get everything we want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baird said she was looking forward to seeing patients and regaining her income. She’s nervous about the strain that the long strike could have on her relationships with co-workers who pitched in more hours to continue caring for patients. Still, she feels the strike will likely lead to improvements for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even with the disruptions in patient care, if we have a solid contract, we’ll have much more staff continuity. We’ll have people who are dedicated to being there, it will decrease the risks of turnover. And I think in the long run, it’s better for patients,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hawkins, the UNAC/UHCP secretary, said the union had not held a walkout at Kaiser for about 45 years prior to last year, when two much shorter strikes were held.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor experts said the company had a shining reputation as an employer with positive labor relations, but the recent walkout suggested a turning point for Kaiser, which has expanded to eight states and the District of Columbia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, which has dismissed employee claims of chronic understaffing and long delays for patients, said its health care workers are already paid on average more than those at other companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health care workers in California often earn more money than in other states, which labor experts say is due to the state’s high cost of living and unionization in the industry. Registered nurses, for example, make an annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/oes291141.htm\">mean of $113,200\u003c/a> in California, significantly higher than the national mean of $77,500, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Nearly 31,000 health care workers with the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have been on strike for the last four weeks. Nurses, physicians assistants, pharmacists and other workers at Kaiser Permanente say that their wages have not kept up with inflation and that their workloads have negatively impacted patient care. As the strike drags on and negotiations continue to stall, more patients face canceled surgeries and appointments without an end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4078420376\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:33] \u003c/em>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Outside of Kaiser Oakland on Monday, Kaiser Permanente nurses, physicians assistants, and other workers stood out in the rain to hold the picket line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Picket Line: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:53] \u003c/em>Thank you. Be safe in the rain. Let’s get this contract done!\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:03] \u003c/em>It’s been four weeks since tens of thousands of Kaiser workers who make up the backbone of patient care for the company began striking over staffing and pay, including Chris Pyper, a physicians assistant at the Kaiser in San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Pyper: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:22] \u003c/em>It just kind of feels like they’ve forgotten the healthcare workers who are doing a lot of the patient care. I’m basically using up savings that I’ve had, hoping that this is going to produce a good contract and I’m willing to stay out as long as we need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:40] \u003c/em>Workers also have larger concerns over the direction of the company. Kaiser is the largest non-profit health insurer in the country. And employees say that as Kaiser has grown, their work has gotten harder and harder. Today, we talk with KQED labor correspondent, Farida Javala Romero, about the Kaiser strike and what it means for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:21] \u003c/em>This is a large strike, even for a very large company like Kaiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:29] \u003c/em>Farida Javala-Romero is a labor correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:33] \u003c/em>So this particular strike involves up to 31,000 employees in California. Most of them are based in Southern California, but there are some happening in Northern California as well. It’s made up of nurses, including nurse anesthetists, physicians assistants, physical therapists, midwives. And then in Southern California, there’s also pharmacists and other very key healthcare workers. They’re key people for operations and surgeries. So we’ve heard of some surgeries being delayed. And so I wanted to speak with Kaiser patients who are facing some of these disruptions in care because of the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:25] \u003c/em>Honestly, when the scheduler first called me and told me about it, I sobbed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:31] \u003c/em>So I spoke with folks like Kayla Howell in San Jose. She was going to have surgery to repair her torn ACL.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:39] \u003c/em>Having that taken away you realize like oh my god i use my leg for everything going to the bathroom taking a shower is extremely difficult and painful\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:48] \u003c/em>And so she was one of the folks who got a call saying, this thing is gonna be delayed until March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:55] \u003c/em>I’ve never had surgery before. It’s kind of a big thing. And so in my head, I was like, OK, this is what I’m going to do. I’m ready for it. You know, I’m preparing myself. It’s going to happen on this day. And then to have that, like, snatched away from me just like five days before it’s supposed to happen. I was, like Oh, that’s like a big paradigm shift, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:13] \u003c/em>Her mom was gonna travel from abroad to care for her. Her mom couldn’t change her ticket to come to the U.S. To help her and her lodging. It just seemed like there were so many ripple effects just for one patient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:27] \u003c/em>When Kaiser said they’re canceling non-essential surgeries, like before I would think like, oh, non-essential, like plastic surgery, stuff that like people don’t really like need, you know, but like I need my mobility and I need to my legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:41] \u003c/em>Some of the people that wrote to us, you know, to tell us about their stories, they had hip replacement surgeries, you know where everything hurts, like it hurts to get in and out of their car. They told me that they’ve been waiting for these surgeries for months already to get on the schedule. So this, you now, additional delay hit really hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:02] \u003c/em>I mean, that’s a huge inconvenience for people I can’t imagine. And we are already on week four which feels that feels pretty long to me is that long I guess in comparison to these other strikes that you’ve been talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:18] \u003c/em>Yeah, I think so. Since September, this is the third time they’ve gone on strike. But the previous strikes were limited duration, so they lasted one day or five days. And they said ahead of time how long it was going to last, which helps the employer prepare and also for people to know what’s going to happen. With this situation we have now, the stakes are higher because this could go on for a lot longer. It seems like many of these issues, at least from the employee’s perspective, are not getting resolved. And a lot of them have to do with staffing levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sanne Jacobsen: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:06] \u003c/em>I’ve been here for 14 years, I really am honestly at this point feeling like I work for an investment bank that poses as a healthcare organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:17] \u003c/em>Sanne Jacobson, I met her outside of the Oakland Medical Center. It was the first day of this strike on January 26. And she’s part of the bargaining committee. So they’re looking for more input into their scheduling, the number of patients that they see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sanne Jacobsen: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:36] \u003c/em>You get providers that are double and triple booked and they can’t adequately provide care for the patients. And they suffer moral injury when they go to work and they can’t practice like they are supposed to be practicing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:50] \u003c/em>What she, and this is echoing what a lot of other folks have told me at Picket Lines, is that increasing pressure to see more and more patients, they feel like they need to rush more to see more patients. They’re seeing their patients have to wait longer to be able to return to come see them for follow-up visits. And then from Kaiser’s perspective, they have been, for months, dismissing any claims that their patient care quality is sliding. And that there aren’t enough staffers to see patients. They say they meet all of the staffing levels that are required. And so, at least from workers’ perspective, the company is focusing on wages and wage increases, but not so much talking about the staffing problems that workers see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:38] \u003c/em>So would you say that’s like, the main sticking point for workers in this particular strike? This feeling that they’re just a little overwhelmed with low staffing compared to the number of patients they have to take care of, and that wages maybe actually isn’t the number one issue for them?\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:58] \u003c/em>I think it’s all connected. We can say that compensation and staffing levels are the two top issues. And those are nationwide top concerns for nurses and other healthcare workers. And when we’re talking about wages in this particular strike, the union wants a 25% increase over four years and Kaiser has drawn the line at 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:31] \u003c/em>Well, I wanna zoom out a little bit from this strike because I feel like I’ve seen a lot of strikes from Kaiser workers lately. Why is that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:39] \u003c/em>We have seen several strikes in the last few years as these contracts expire and Kaiser is in negotiations for a new contract with different unions. This is a company where many of their employees, I think it’s more than 130,000, are unionized. And I think that goes back to this central conflict that we’re seeing for a company like Kaiser, which is. Employees feel like the company is moving away from its mission as a nonprofit, and that instead the company has expanded to new states, building new facilities, buying hospitals, and investing the revenues they’re getting from their health insurance business into growing. Meanwhile, the employees feel like they’ve been sort of left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Logan: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:36] \u003c/em>What’s happening at Kaiser in some ways reflects what’s happening in terms of the structure of the healthcare industry at the national level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:45] \u003c/em>John Logan chairs the Labor Studies Department at San Francisco State University. He’s a really interesting person to talk to about the strike because he’s kept an eye on Kaiser for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Logan: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:01] \u003c/em>You know, the one thing about the Kaiser partnership that’s existed now for over 25 years, nurses, technicians, others had a great deal more say over working conditions, scheduling, and those types of things. And that’s what a lot of the workers say has been eroded in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:22] \u003c/em>The mission of Kaiser is to reinvest all of its revenues into patient care and their facilities. But employees, many of them who’ve worked at Kaiser for more than 10 years, they see the company as changing, they describe it as more corporate, more top-down, and I think that’s some of the conflict that we’re seeing now. It’s making billions of dollars in net income. It has really large reserves. That Kaiser says it needs to deal with long-term commitments, like pensions and building maintenance, and have enough money in case there’s another emergency, like a pandemic. And employees say, hey, this company has a lot of money. How come they’re not investing in their workforce and improving patient care?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:14] \u003c/em>It sounds like employees are feeling like they have to shoulder a lot of this growth that is happening in Kaiser without necessarily getting the support to do that. What is Kaiser saying in response?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:28] \u003c/em>What they’ve said in their public statements is that Kaiser is a great health care provider, that they have a really good model benefiting patients, and that they’re trying their best to meet the demand of Kaiser customers or members, which is what they call them. They have not really addressed these employee big concerns about staffing, about scheduling problems. We have not been able to get an interview with like a Kaiser executive or a representative to really dig into you know how they’re thinking about their reality and this you know labor conflict they have now. And then what we talked about earlier that the policies of the federal government are giving health care executives a really uncertain financial picture for the next couple of years. At companies like Kaiser, which is a health insurer and health provider. I mean, this means they could see a lot less money from people not being able to buy insurance or losing their health insurance, at the same time that they could higher costs from uninsured folks coming to hospitals for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:42] \u003c/em>Well, I want to come back to Kayla who has the torn ACL. I mean, we’re four weeks into the strike now. I imagine she’s watching this all very, very closely. Do you have any sense of what public support is like from people like Kayla who are directly affected?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:03] \u003c/em>Kayla and other patients I spoke with, they all feel like they need the strike to be resolved as soon as possible so that they can get the care that they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:15] \u003c/em>We live in one of the richest countries in the world. I pay my health insurance and I pay my premiums and where is that money going to? I just wish they would figure out a way to resolve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:27] \u003c/em>I think many of these folks sympathize with the employees and they want Kaiser to treat this as a very urgent matter and, you know, come to some deal. I think from both sides, but definitely when you go talk to people at the picket line, they really feel for the patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:47] \u003c/em>What is it going to take for this to end and when could it end?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:52] \u003c/em>So, there’s a national contract for all of these workers. And then there are locals in each of the regions where workers are represented. And Kaiser, at this point, is refusing to meet with national union negotiators. And there is some bargaining at the local level. What the union folks have told me is that the strike is not going to be resolved without a national contract, or that would be the easiest way for Kaiser to resolve it. The conflict has gone to such a bad place on both sides that you have the employer saying, we’re not going to deal with these national union negotiators anymore. And so we’re just going to try to resolve everything at the local level. And meanwhile, the union is saying, ‘That’s illegal. No, you have to talk to us.’\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:45] \u003c/em>Do you see any parallels between this Kaiser strike and the teacher strike that just ended in San Francisco last week?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:53] \u003c/em>Yeah, I mean, so much right now with these big conflicts we’re seeing are about affordability. For example, the Kaiser employees on strike say that during the pandemic, they agreed to much smaller wage increases because Kaiser had some big financial and other challenges, as many health systems did. And so now they feel like it’s a time to catch up and to really try to keep up with inflation and the high prices of everything. And then in San Francisco, with the teachers… It was a similar big issue, which is people feel like they can’t afford to live, you know, where do they work in San Francisco? And so the big topic over all of this is affordability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:47] \u003c/em>And the teachers were talking about not being able to afford their health care\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:50] \u003c/em>Health insurance right.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:55] \u003c/em>Farida, thank you so much for breaking this down. I appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:57] \u003c/em>Thank you, Ericka.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Nearly 31,000 health care workers with the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have been on strike for the last four weeks. Nurses, physicians assistants, pharmacists and other workers at Kaiser Permanente say that their wages have not kept up with inflation and that their workloads have negatively impacted patient care. As the strike drags on and negotiations continue to stall, more patients face canceled surgeries and appointments without an end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4078420376\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:33] \u003c/em>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Outside of Kaiser Oakland on Monday, Kaiser Permanente nurses, physicians assistants, and other workers stood out in the rain to hold the picket line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Picket Line: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:53] \u003c/em>Thank you. Be safe in the rain. Let’s get this contract done!\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:03] \u003c/em>It’s been four weeks since tens of thousands of Kaiser workers who make up the backbone of patient care for the company began striking over staffing and pay, including Chris Pyper, a physicians assistant at the Kaiser in San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Pyper: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:22] \u003c/em>It just kind of feels like they’ve forgotten the healthcare workers who are doing a lot of the patient care. I’m basically using up savings that I’ve had, hoping that this is going to produce a good contract and I’m willing to stay out as long as we need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:40] \u003c/em>Workers also have larger concerns over the direction of the company. Kaiser is the largest non-profit health insurer in the country. And employees say that as Kaiser has grown, their work has gotten harder and harder. Today, we talk with KQED labor correspondent, Farida Javala Romero, about the Kaiser strike and what it means for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:21] \u003c/em>This is a large strike, even for a very large company like Kaiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:29] \u003c/em>Farida Javala-Romero is a labor correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:33] \u003c/em>So this particular strike involves up to 31,000 employees in California. Most of them are based in Southern California, but there are some happening in Northern California as well. It’s made up of nurses, including nurse anesthetists, physicians assistants, physical therapists, midwives. And then in Southern California, there’s also pharmacists and other very key healthcare workers. They’re key people for operations and surgeries. So we’ve heard of some surgeries being delayed. And so I wanted to speak with Kaiser patients who are facing some of these disruptions in care because of the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:25] \u003c/em>Honestly, when the scheduler first called me and told me about it, I sobbed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:31] \u003c/em>So I spoke with folks like Kayla Howell in San Jose. She was going to have surgery to repair her torn ACL.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:39] \u003c/em>Having that taken away you realize like oh my god i use my leg for everything going to the bathroom taking a shower is extremely difficult and painful\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:48] \u003c/em>And so she was one of the folks who got a call saying, this thing is gonna be delayed until March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:55] \u003c/em>I’ve never had surgery before. It’s kind of a big thing. And so in my head, I was like, OK, this is what I’m going to do. I’m ready for it. You know, I’m preparing myself. It’s going to happen on this day. And then to have that, like, snatched away from me just like five days before it’s supposed to happen. I was, like Oh, that’s like a big paradigm shift, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:13] \u003c/em>Her mom was gonna travel from abroad to care for her. Her mom couldn’t change her ticket to come to the U.S. To help her and her lodging. It just seemed like there were so many ripple effects just for one patient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:27] \u003c/em>When Kaiser said they’re canceling non-essential surgeries, like before I would think like, oh, non-essential, like plastic surgery, stuff that like people don’t really like need, you know, but like I need my mobility and I need to my legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:41] \u003c/em>Some of the people that wrote to us, you know, to tell us about their stories, they had hip replacement surgeries, you know where everything hurts, like it hurts to get in and out of their car. They told me that they’ve been waiting for these surgeries for months already to get on the schedule. So this, you now, additional delay hit really hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:02] \u003c/em>I mean, that’s a huge inconvenience for people I can’t imagine. And we are already on week four which feels that feels pretty long to me is that long I guess in comparison to these other strikes that you’ve been talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:18] \u003c/em>Yeah, I think so. Since September, this is the third time they’ve gone on strike. But the previous strikes were limited duration, so they lasted one day or five days. And they said ahead of time how long it was going to last, which helps the employer prepare and also for people to know what’s going to happen. With this situation we have now, the stakes are higher because this could go on for a lot longer. It seems like many of these issues, at least from the employee’s perspective, are not getting resolved. And a lot of them have to do with staffing levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sanne Jacobsen: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:06] \u003c/em>I’ve been here for 14 years, I really am honestly at this point feeling like I work for an investment bank that poses as a healthcare organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:17] \u003c/em>Sanne Jacobson, I met her outside of the Oakland Medical Center. It was the first day of this strike on January 26. And she’s part of the bargaining committee. So they’re looking for more input into their scheduling, the number of patients that they see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sanne Jacobsen: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:36] \u003c/em>You get providers that are double and triple booked and they can’t adequately provide care for the patients. And they suffer moral injury when they go to work and they can’t practice like they are supposed to be practicing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:50] \u003c/em>What she, and this is echoing what a lot of other folks have told me at Picket Lines, is that increasing pressure to see more and more patients, they feel like they need to rush more to see more patients. They’re seeing their patients have to wait longer to be able to return to come see them for follow-up visits. And then from Kaiser’s perspective, they have been, for months, dismissing any claims that their patient care quality is sliding. And that there aren’t enough staffers to see patients. They say they meet all of the staffing levels that are required. And so, at least from workers’ perspective, the company is focusing on wages and wage increases, but not so much talking about the staffing problems that workers see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:38] \u003c/em>So would you say that’s like, the main sticking point for workers in this particular strike? This feeling that they’re just a little overwhelmed with low staffing compared to the number of patients they have to take care of, and that wages maybe actually isn’t the number one issue for them?\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:58] \u003c/em>I think it’s all connected. We can say that compensation and staffing levels are the two top issues. And those are nationwide top concerns for nurses and other healthcare workers. And when we’re talking about wages in this particular strike, the union wants a 25% increase over four years and Kaiser has drawn the line at 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:31] \u003c/em>Well, I wanna zoom out a little bit from this strike because I feel like I’ve seen a lot of strikes from Kaiser workers lately. Why is that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:39] \u003c/em>We have seen several strikes in the last few years as these contracts expire and Kaiser is in negotiations for a new contract with different unions. This is a company where many of their employees, I think it’s more than 130,000, are unionized. And I think that goes back to this central conflict that we’re seeing for a company like Kaiser, which is. Employees feel like the company is moving away from its mission as a nonprofit, and that instead the company has expanded to new states, building new facilities, buying hospitals, and investing the revenues they’re getting from their health insurance business into growing. Meanwhile, the employees feel like they’ve been sort of left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Logan: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:36] \u003c/em>What’s happening at Kaiser in some ways reflects what’s happening in terms of the structure of the healthcare industry at the national level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:45] \u003c/em>John Logan chairs the Labor Studies Department at San Francisco State University. He’s a really interesting person to talk to about the strike because he’s kept an eye on Kaiser for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Logan: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:01] \u003c/em>You know, the one thing about the Kaiser partnership that’s existed now for over 25 years, nurses, technicians, others had a great deal more say over working conditions, scheduling, and those types of things. And that’s what a lot of the workers say has been eroded in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:22] \u003c/em>The mission of Kaiser is to reinvest all of its revenues into patient care and their facilities. But employees, many of them who’ve worked at Kaiser for more than 10 years, they see the company as changing, they describe it as more corporate, more top-down, and I think that’s some of the conflict that we’re seeing now. It’s making billions of dollars in net income. It has really large reserves. That Kaiser says it needs to deal with long-term commitments, like pensions and building maintenance, and have enough money in case there’s another emergency, like a pandemic. And employees say, hey, this company has a lot of money. How come they’re not investing in their workforce and improving patient care?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:14] \u003c/em>It sounds like employees are feeling like they have to shoulder a lot of this growth that is happening in Kaiser without necessarily getting the support to do that. What is Kaiser saying in response?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:28] \u003c/em>What they’ve said in their public statements is that Kaiser is a great health care provider, that they have a really good model benefiting patients, and that they’re trying their best to meet the demand of Kaiser customers or members, which is what they call them. They have not really addressed these employee big concerns about staffing, about scheduling problems. We have not been able to get an interview with like a Kaiser executive or a representative to really dig into you know how they’re thinking about their reality and this you know labor conflict they have now. And then what we talked about earlier that the policies of the federal government are giving health care executives a really uncertain financial picture for the next couple of years. At companies like Kaiser, which is a health insurer and health provider. I mean, this means they could see a lot less money from people not being able to buy insurance or losing their health insurance, at the same time that they could higher costs from uninsured folks coming to hospitals for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:42] \u003c/em>Well, I want to come back to Kayla who has the torn ACL. I mean, we’re four weeks into the strike now. I imagine she’s watching this all very, very closely. Do you have any sense of what public support is like from people like Kayla who are directly affected?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:03] \u003c/em>Kayla and other patients I spoke with, they all feel like they need the strike to be resolved as soon as possible so that they can get the care that they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:15] \u003c/em>We live in one of the richest countries in the world. I pay my health insurance and I pay my premiums and where is that money going to? I just wish they would figure out a way to resolve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:27] \u003c/em>I think many of these folks sympathize with the employees and they want Kaiser to treat this as a very urgent matter and, you know, come to some deal. I think from both sides, but definitely when you go talk to people at the picket line, they really feel for the patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:47] \u003c/em>What is it going to take for this to end and when could it end?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:52] \u003c/em>So, there’s a national contract for all of these workers. And then there are locals in each of the regions where workers are represented. And Kaiser, at this point, is refusing to meet with national union negotiators. And there is some bargaining at the local level. What the union folks have told me is that the strike is not going to be resolved without a national contract, or that would be the easiest way for Kaiser to resolve it. The conflict has gone to such a bad place on both sides that you have the employer saying, we’re not going to deal with these national union negotiators anymore. And so we’re just going to try to resolve everything at the local level. And meanwhile, the union is saying, ‘That’s illegal. No, you have to talk to us.’\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:45] \u003c/em>Do you see any parallels between this Kaiser strike and the teacher strike that just ended in San Francisco last week?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:53] \u003c/em>Yeah, I mean, so much right now with these big conflicts we’re seeing are about affordability. For example, the Kaiser employees on strike say that during the pandemic, they agreed to much smaller wage increases because Kaiser had some big financial and other challenges, as many health systems did. And so now they feel like it’s a time to catch up and to really try to keep up with inflation and the high prices of everything. And then in San Francisco, with the teachers… It was a similar big issue, which is people feel like they can’t afford to live, you know, where do they work in San Francisco? And so the big topic over all of this is affordability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:47] \u003c/em>And the teachers were talking about not being able to afford their health care\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:50] \u003c/em>Health insurance right.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:55] \u003c/em>Farida, thank you so much for breaking this down. I appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:57] \u003c/em>Thank you, Ericka.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Trump Administration Sends Pregnant Unaccompanied Minors to Texas Shelter Flagged as Medically Inadequate",
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"headTitle": "Trump Administration Sends Pregnant Unaccompanied Minors to Texas Shelter Flagged as Medically Inadequate | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Trump\u003c/a> administration is sending all pregnant unaccompanied minors apprehended by immigration enforcement to a single group shelter in South Texas. The decision was made over urgent objections from the government’s own health and child welfare officials, who say both the facility and the region lack the specialized care the girls need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to seven sources who work at the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which handles the custody and care of children who cross the border without a parent or legal guardian, or are separated from family by immigration authorities. All of the sources declined to be named for fear of retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since late July, more than a dozen pregnant minors have been placed at the Texas facility, which is located in the small border city of San Benito. Some were as young as 13, and at least half of those taken in so far became pregnant as a result of rape, sources said. Their pregnancies are considered\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877575625000722\"> high risk\u003c/a> by definition, particularly for the\u003ca href=\"https://utswmed.org/medblog/early-teen-pregnancy-health-risks/\"> youngest\u003c/a> girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This group of kids is clearly recognized as our most vulnerable,” one of the sources said. Rank-and-file staff, the source said, are “losing sleep over it, wondering if kids are going to be placed in programs where they’re not going to have access to the care they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move marks a sharp departure from longstanding federal practice, which placed pregnant, unaccompanied migrant children in ORR shelters or foster homes around the country that are equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies. ORR sources, along with more than a dozen former government officials, health care professionals, migrant advocates and civil rights attorneys, said they worry the Trump administration is putting children in danger at the San Benito shelter to advance an ideological goal: denying them access to abortion by placing them in a state where it’s virtually banned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073141\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073141 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_GlobalX_PL_03.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_GlobalX_PL_03.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_GlobalX_PL_03-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_GlobalX_PL_03-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Global X plane sits on a runway near Valley International Airport in Harlington, Texas, on Nov. 4, 2025. The Charter airline operates most deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, transporting migrants across the country and abroad. \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This is 100% and exclusively about abortion,” said Jonathan White, a longtime federal health official who ran ORR’s unaccompanied children program for part of President Donald Trump’s first term. White, who recently retired from the government, said the administration tried and failed to restrict abortion access for unaccompanied minors in 2017. “Now they casually roll out what they brutally fought to accomplish last time and didn’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked via email why the administration is sending pregnant children to San Benito, an HHS spokesperson who asked not to be named wrote that “ORR’s placement decisions are guided by child welfare best practices and are designed to ensure each child is housed in the safest, most developmentally appropriate setting, including for children who are pregnant or parenting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But several of the ORR officials took issue with the agency’s statement. “ORR is supposed to be a child welfare organization,” one of them said. “Putting pregnant kids in San Benito is not a decision you make when you care about children’s safety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ORR’s acting director, Angie Salazar, instructed agency staff to send “any pregnant children” to San Benito beginning July 22, 2025, according to an internal email obtained as part of a six-month investigation by The California Newsroom and The Texas Newsroom, public media collaboratives that worked together to produce this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073165\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073165\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/KQED-Email-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/KQED-Email-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/KQED-Email-2-160x58.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/KQED-Email-2-1536x560.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot of a July 22, 2025, email notifying ORR supervisors of a directive to send pregnant unaccompanied minors to a single shelter in San Benito, Texas, despite objections from the government’s own health and child welfare officials.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Several sources said a handful of pregnant girls have mistakenly been placed in other shelters because immigration authorities didn’t know they were pregnant when they were transferred to ORR custody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the July order, none of the pregnant girls at the San Benito facility have experienced major medical problems, according to ORR sources and Aimee Korolev, deputy director of ProBAR, an organization that provides legal services to children there. They said several of the girls have given birth and are detained with their infants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But officials interviewed for this story said they worry the shelter is only one high-risk pregnancy away from catastrophe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like we’re just waiting for something terrible to happen,” one of the ORR sources said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Blown away by the level of risk’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are dozens of ORR shelters or foster homes across the country that are designated to care for pregnant unaccompanied children, according to ORR officials, with 14 in California alone. None of the officials could recall a time when all of the pregnant minors in the agency’s custody were concentrated in one shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Detaining them in San Benito, Texas, doctors and public health experts said, is a dangerous gambit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073147\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073147 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_06.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_06.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_06-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parked white vans inside a gated building at Urban Strategies, a facility that holds unaccompanied minor immigrants under contract with the US Office of Refugee Resettlement, in San Benito, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2025. Refugio San Benito is a facility operated by the group Urban Strategies. \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not good to be a pregnant person in Texas, no matter who you are,” said Annie Leone, a nurse midwife who recently spent five years caring for pregnant and postpartum migrant women and girls at a large family shelter not far from San Benito. “So, to put pregnant migrant kids in Texas, and then in one of the worst health care regions of Texas, is not good at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The specialized obstetric care that exists in Texas is mostly available \u003ca href=\"https://www.smfm.org/find-an-mfm?MapView=true&Address=San%20Benito%2C%20TX%2C%20USA&Latitude=26.132576&Longitude=-97.6311006&Radius=100\">in its larger cities\u003c/a>, hours from San Benito. And several factors, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/09/16/nx-s1-5542408/health-insurance-obbba-texas-uninsurance-rates\">the high number of uninsured patients\u003c/a>, have eroded the availability of \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/scorecard/2024/jul/2024-state-scorecard-womens-health-and-reproductive-care\">health care across the state\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Furthermore, Texas’ near-ban on abortion has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/high-risk-pregnancies-chronic-conditions-abortion-bans\">especially devastating to obstetric care\u003c/a>. The law allows an exception in cases where the mother’s life is in danger or one of her bodily functions is at risk, but doctors have been confused as to what that means.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many doctors have \u003ca href=\"https://19thnews.org/2023/06/abortion-gender-affirming-care-bans-doctors-leaving-texas/\">left to practice elsewhere\u003c/a>, and those who’ve stayed are often \u003ca href=\"https://assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/9fd8e81d-74db-00ef-d0b1-5d17c12fdda9/34392fc8-1c9a-48a2-be8f-3f79d8a4a7d5/FINAL-TX-OBGYN-Workforce-Study_2024-10_f.pdf\">scared\u003c/a> to perform procedures they worry could come with criminal charges. While Texas passed a law \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/07/19/nx-s1-5445143/texas-abortion-life-of-mother\">clarifying the exceptions\u003c/a> last year, experts \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-medical-board-abortion-training-doctors\">have said\u003c/a> it may not be enough to assuage doctors’ fears.[aside postID=news_12067561 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/MexicoBorderChildrenGetty.jpg']Several maternal health experts described a sobering list of dangers for the girls at the San Benito shelter: If one of them develops an \u003ca href=\"https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/understanding-ectopic-pregnancy\">ectopic pregnancy\u003c/a> (where the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus), if she \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/16798/\">miscarries\u003c/a> or if her \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/termination-of-pregnancy-can-be-necessary-to-save-a-womans-life-experts-say-idUSL1N2TC0VD/\">water breaks too early\u003c/a> and she gets an infection, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.acog.org/news/news-releases/2019/09/abortion-can-be-medically-necessary\"> emergency care she needs\u003c/a> could be \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/series/life-of-the-mother\">delayed or denied by doctors\u003c/a> wary of the abortion ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting the care that is available could take too long to save her life or the baby’s, they added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adolescents are also more likely to give birth early, which can be life-threatening for both mother and baby. The youngest face complications during labor and delivery because their pelvises aren’t fully developed, said Dr. Anne-Marie Amies Oelschlager, an obstetrician in Washington state who specializes in adolescent pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are young adolescents who are still going through puberty,” she said. “Their bodies are still changing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pregnant girls who recently endured the often harrowing journey to the U.S. face even more risk, obstetrics experts said. Many \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6752644/\">have been raped\u003c/a> along the way and have sexually transmitted infections that can be dangerous during pregnancy. Add to that \u003ca href=\"https://www.projecthope.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Project-Hope-Mexico-NEW-FINAL-1_19_23.pdf\">little to no access to prenatal care\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/immigration/many-migrants-arriving-at-border-malnourished-health-experts-say/\">proper nourishment\u003c/a>, and then the trauma of \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8570101/\">being detained\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You couldn’t set up a worse scenario,” said Dr. Blair Cushing, who runs a women’s health clinic in McAllen, about 45 minutes from San Benito. “I’m kind of blown away by the level of risk that they’re concentrating in this facility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A history of problems\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The San Benito shelter is owned and operated by Urban Strategies, a for-profit company that has contracted with the federal government to care for unaccompanied children for more than a decade, according to \u003ca href=\"http://usaspending.gov\">USAspending.gov\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main building, an old tan brick Baptist Church, occupies a city block in downtown San Benito, a quiet town of about 25,000. The church was converted to a migrant shelter in 2015 and was managed by two other contractors before Urban Strategies \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/11/30/2021-25971/announcement-of-intent-to-issue-replacement-award-to-provide-residential-services-shelter\">took it over in 2021\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a fall day last year, there were no signs of activity at the facility, though children’s lawn toys and playground equipment were visible behind a wooden fence. A guard was stationed at one of the entrances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073070\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_MELIZA_PL_01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_MELIZA_PL_01-KQED.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_MELIZA_PL_01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_MELIZA_PL_01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meliza Fonseca lives across the street from the San Benito shelter. She said she occasionally sees children in the yard on weekends, “but for the most part, you don’t see them.” \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty quiet, just like it is today,” said Meliza Fonseca, who lives nearby. “That’s the way it is every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she occasionally sees kids playing in the yard on weekends, “but for the most part, you don’t see them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by email, the founder and president of Urban Strategies, Lisa Cummins, wrote that the company is “deeply committed to the care and well-being of the children we serve,” but directed any questions about ORR-contracted shelters to the federal agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the San Benito facility, the ORR spokesperson wrote that “Urban Strategies has a long-standing record of delivering high-quality care to pregnant unaccompanied minors, with a consistently low staff turnover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073142\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_04.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_04.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_04-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_04-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A gated building at Urban Strategies, a facility that holds unaccompanied minor immigrants under contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, in San Benito, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But agency sources who spoke with the newsrooms said that as recently as 2024, staff members at the shelter failed to arrange timely medical appointments for pregnant girls or immediately share critical health information with the federal agency and discharged them without arrangements to continue their medical care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ORR temporarily barred the shelter from receiving pregnant girls while Urban Strategies implemented a remediation plan, but the plan did not add staff or enhance their qualifications, the sources said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several sources inside the agency said its leadership was provided with a list of shelters that are better prepared to handle children with high-risk pregnancies. All of those shelters are located outside of Texas, in regions where the full range of necessary medical care is available. Yet the directive to place them at San Benito remains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s cruel, it’s just cruel,” one of the officials said. “They don’t care about any of these kids. They’re playing politics with children’s health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘A dress rehearsal’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jonathan White, who ran ORR’s unaccompanied children program from January of 2017 to March of 2018, said he wasn’t surprised to learn that the new administration is moving pregnant unaccompanied children to Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been expecting this since Trump returned to office,” White said in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he views the San Benito order as a continuation of an anti-abortion policy shift that began in 2017, which “ultimately proved to be a dress rehearsal for the current administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073151 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_RioGrande_PL_02.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_RioGrande_PL_02.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_RioGrande_PL_02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_RioGrande_PL_02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Rio Grande is seen near the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse Museum in Hidalgo, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2025. Migrants often cross the river en route to the United States. \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scott Lloyd, the agency’s director at the time, denied girls in ORR custody permission to end their pregnancies, \u003ca href=\"https://www.acludc.org/cases/jd-v-azar-formerly-garza-v-azar-and-garza-v-hargan-challenging-trump-administrations-refusal/\">court records show\u003c/a>. Lloyd also required the girls to get counseling about the benefits of motherhood and the harms of abortion and personally pleaded with some of them to reconsider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I worked to treat all of the children in ORR care with dignity, including the unborn children,” Lloyd told the newsrooms in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the fall of 2017, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclu.org/cases/garza-v-hargan-challenge-trump-administrations-attempts-block-abortions-young-immigrant-women\">class action lawsuit\u003c/a> against Lloyd and the Trump administration on behalf of pregnant girls in ORR custody. The ACLU argued that denying the girls abortions violated their constitutional rights, established by the Supreme Court in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.[aside postID=news_12071297 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/AP26020826398216-KQED.jpg']Not long after the lawsuit was filed, White said he received a late-night phone call from Lloyd, who had a request. He wanted White to transfer an unaccompanied pregnant girl who was seeking an abortion to a migrant shelter in Texas, where, under state law, it would have been too late for her to terminate her pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White believed following the order would have been unlawful because it might have denied the girl access to legal relief under the lawsuit, so he refused. The girl was not transferred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lloyd, who has since left the government, told the newsrooms he didn’t believe his request was illegal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The class action lawsuit was \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/result-aclu-litigation-trump-administration-ends-policy-prohibiting-immigrant-minors\">settled in 2020\u003c/a>; the first Trump administration agreed not to interfere with abortion access for migrant youth in federal custody going forward. Four years later, the Biden administration cemented the deal in official\u003ca href=\"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-04-30/pdf/2024-08329.pdf#page=219\"> regulations\u003c/a>: If a child who wanted to terminate her pregnancy was detained in a state where it was not legal, ORR had to move them to a state where it was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That rule remains in place, and the agency appears to be following it; ORR has transferred two pregnant girls out of Texas since July, though agency sources said one of them chose not to terminate her pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now that Trump is back in office, his administration is working to kill the policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Elegant and simple’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Even before Trump won reelection, policymakers in his circle were planning a renewed attempt to restrict abortion rights for unaccompanied minors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a politically conservative overhaul of the federal government, \u003ca href=\"https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf#page=510\">called for\u003c/a> ORR to stop facilitating abortions for children in its care. The plan advised the government not to detain unaccompanied children in states where abortion is available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such a change is now possible, Project 2025 argued, because Roe v. Wade is no longer an obstacle. Since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in 2022, there is no longer a federal right to abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11918029\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11918029\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/gettyimages-1241510158_wide-618b2eab892ca9097bca6e83bd698df2d7f47782-scaled-e1770775479336.jpg\" alt=\"A sign that reads 'We Dissent' is held up in the foreground. The Supreme Court can be seen in the background.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Abortion rights activists rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court after the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade, in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2022. \u003ccite>(Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Upon returning to office, Trump signed an \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/enforcing-the-hyde-amendment/\">executive order\u003c/a> “to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in early July, the Department of Justice \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1408241/dl\">reconsidered a longstanding federal law\u003c/a> governing the use of taxpayer money for abortion. The DOJ concluded that the government cannot pay to transport detainees from one state to another to facilitate abortion access, except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now, ORR is working to rescind the Biden-era requirement that pregnant girls requesting an abortion be moved to states where it’s available. On Jan. 23, the agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=1252114\">submitted the proposed change\u003c/a> for government approval, though it has not yet published the details.[aside postID=news_12071206 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg']Several of the ORR officials who spoke with the newsrooms said it’s unclear whether children in the agency’s custody who have been raped or need emergency medical care will still be allowed to get abortions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“HHS does not comment on pending or pre-decisional rulemaking,” the agency’s spokesperson wrote when asked for details of the regulatory change. “ORR will continue to comply with all applicable federal laws, including requirements for providing necessary medical care to children in ORR custody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the day the change was submitted, an unnamed Health and Human Services spokesperson told \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/01/23/exclusive-hhs-advances-rule-ending-taxpayer-funded-abortion-travel-for-alien-children/\">\u003cem>The Daily Signal\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a conservative news site, “Our goal is to save lives both for these young children that are coming across the border, that are pregnant, and to save the lives of their unborn babies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like other experts who spoke with the newsrooms, White, the former head of ORR’s unaccompanied children program, said he thinks the San Benito directive and the anti-abortion rule change are meant to work hand in hand: Once pregnant children are placed at the San Benito shelter, the new regulations could mean they cannot be moved out of Texas to get abortions — even if keeping them there puts them at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so elegant and simple,” White said. “All they have to do is send them to Texas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mose Buchele with The Texas Newsroom contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">\u003cem>The California Newsroom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> and \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kut.org/texasnewsroom\">\u003cem>The Texas Newsroom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. The California Newsroom is a collaboration of public media outlets that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED (San Francisco), LAist and KCRW (Los Angeles), KPBS (San Diego) and other stations across the state. The Texas Newsroom is a public radio journalism collaboration that includes NPR, KERA (North Texas), Houston Public Media, KUT (Austin), Texas Public Radio (San Antonio) and other stations across the state.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Trump Administration Sends Pregnant Unaccompanied Minors to Texas Shelter Flagged as Medically Inadequate | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Trump\u003c/a> administration is sending all pregnant unaccompanied minors apprehended by immigration enforcement to a single group shelter in South Texas. The decision was made over urgent objections from the government’s own health and child welfare officials, who say both the facility and the region lack the specialized care the girls need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to seven sources who work at the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which handles the custody and care of children who cross the border without a parent or legal guardian, or are separated from family by immigration authorities. All of the sources declined to be named for fear of retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since late July, more than a dozen pregnant minors have been placed at the Texas facility, which is located in the small border city of San Benito. Some were as young as 13, and at least half of those taken in so far became pregnant as a result of rape, sources said. Their pregnancies are considered\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877575625000722\"> high risk\u003c/a> by definition, particularly for the\u003ca href=\"https://utswmed.org/medblog/early-teen-pregnancy-health-risks/\"> youngest\u003c/a> girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This group of kids is clearly recognized as our most vulnerable,” one of the sources said. Rank-and-file staff, the source said, are “losing sleep over it, wondering if kids are going to be placed in programs where they’re not going to have access to the care they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move marks a sharp departure from longstanding federal practice, which placed pregnant, unaccompanied migrant children in ORR shelters or foster homes around the country that are equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies. ORR sources, along with more than a dozen former government officials, health care professionals, migrant advocates and civil rights attorneys, said they worry the Trump administration is putting children in danger at the San Benito shelter to advance an ideological goal: denying them access to abortion by placing them in a state where it’s virtually banned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073141\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073141 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_GlobalX_PL_03.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_GlobalX_PL_03.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_GlobalX_PL_03-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_GlobalX_PL_03-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Global X plane sits on a runway near Valley International Airport in Harlington, Texas, on Nov. 4, 2025. The Charter airline operates most deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, transporting migrants across the country and abroad. \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This is 100% and exclusively about abortion,” said Jonathan White, a longtime federal health official who ran ORR’s unaccompanied children program for part of President Donald Trump’s first term. White, who recently retired from the government, said the administration tried and failed to restrict abortion access for unaccompanied minors in 2017. “Now they casually roll out what they brutally fought to accomplish last time and didn’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked via email why the administration is sending pregnant children to San Benito, an HHS spokesperson who asked not to be named wrote that “ORR’s placement decisions are guided by child welfare best practices and are designed to ensure each child is housed in the safest, most developmentally appropriate setting, including for children who are pregnant or parenting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But several of the ORR officials took issue with the agency’s statement. “ORR is supposed to be a child welfare organization,” one of them said. “Putting pregnant kids in San Benito is not a decision you make when you care about children’s safety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ORR’s acting director, Angie Salazar, instructed agency staff to send “any pregnant children” to San Benito beginning July 22, 2025, according to an internal email obtained as part of a six-month investigation by The California Newsroom and The Texas Newsroom, public media collaboratives that worked together to produce this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073165\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073165\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/KQED-Email-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/KQED-Email-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/KQED-Email-2-160x58.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/KQED-Email-2-1536x560.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot of a July 22, 2025, email notifying ORR supervisors of a directive to send pregnant unaccompanied minors to a single shelter in San Benito, Texas, despite objections from the government’s own health and child welfare officials.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Several sources said a handful of pregnant girls have mistakenly been placed in other shelters because immigration authorities didn’t know they were pregnant when they were transferred to ORR custody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the July order, none of the pregnant girls at the San Benito facility have experienced major medical problems, according to ORR sources and Aimee Korolev, deputy director of ProBAR, an organization that provides legal services to children there. They said several of the girls have given birth and are detained with their infants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But officials interviewed for this story said they worry the shelter is only one high-risk pregnancy away from catastrophe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like we’re just waiting for something terrible to happen,” one of the ORR sources said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Blown away by the level of risk’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are dozens of ORR shelters or foster homes across the country that are designated to care for pregnant unaccompanied children, according to ORR officials, with 14 in California alone. None of the officials could recall a time when all of the pregnant minors in the agency’s custody were concentrated in one shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Detaining them in San Benito, Texas, doctors and public health experts said, is a dangerous gambit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073147\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073147 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_06.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_06.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_06-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Parked white vans inside a gated building at Urban Strategies, a facility that holds unaccompanied minor immigrants under contract with the US Office of Refugee Resettlement, in San Benito, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2025. Refugio San Benito is a facility operated by the group Urban Strategies. \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not good to be a pregnant person in Texas, no matter who you are,” said Annie Leone, a nurse midwife who recently spent five years caring for pregnant and postpartum migrant women and girls at a large family shelter not far from San Benito. “So, to put pregnant migrant kids in Texas, and then in one of the worst health care regions of Texas, is not good at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The specialized obstetric care that exists in Texas is mostly available \u003ca href=\"https://www.smfm.org/find-an-mfm?MapView=true&Address=San%20Benito%2C%20TX%2C%20USA&Latitude=26.132576&Longitude=-97.6311006&Radius=100\">in its larger cities\u003c/a>, hours from San Benito. And several factors, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/09/16/nx-s1-5542408/health-insurance-obbba-texas-uninsurance-rates\">the high number of uninsured patients\u003c/a>, have eroded the availability of \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/scorecard/2024/jul/2024-state-scorecard-womens-health-and-reproductive-care\">health care across the state\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Furthermore, Texas’ near-ban on abortion has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/high-risk-pregnancies-chronic-conditions-abortion-bans\">especially devastating to obstetric care\u003c/a>. The law allows an exception in cases where the mother’s life is in danger or one of her bodily functions is at risk, but doctors have been confused as to what that means.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many doctors have \u003ca href=\"https://19thnews.org/2023/06/abortion-gender-affirming-care-bans-doctors-leaving-texas/\">left to practice elsewhere\u003c/a>, and those who’ve stayed are often \u003ca href=\"https://assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/9fd8e81d-74db-00ef-d0b1-5d17c12fdda9/34392fc8-1c9a-48a2-be8f-3f79d8a4a7d5/FINAL-TX-OBGYN-Workforce-Study_2024-10_f.pdf\">scared\u003c/a> to perform procedures they worry could come with criminal charges. While Texas passed a law \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/07/19/nx-s1-5445143/texas-abortion-life-of-mother\">clarifying the exceptions\u003c/a> last year, experts \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-medical-board-abortion-training-doctors\">have said\u003c/a> it may not be enough to assuage doctors’ fears.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Several maternal health experts described a sobering list of dangers for the girls at the San Benito shelter: If one of them develops an \u003ca href=\"https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/understanding-ectopic-pregnancy\">ectopic pregnancy\u003c/a> (where the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus), if she \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/16798/\">miscarries\u003c/a> or if her \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/termination-of-pregnancy-can-be-necessary-to-save-a-womans-life-experts-say-idUSL1N2TC0VD/\">water breaks too early\u003c/a> and she gets an infection, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.acog.org/news/news-releases/2019/09/abortion-can-be-medically-necessary\"> emergency care she needs\u003c/a> could be \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/series/life-of-the-mother\">delayed or denied by doctors\u003c/a> wary of the abortion ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting the care that is available could take too long to save her life or the baby’s, they added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adolescents are also more likely to give birth early, which can be life-threatening for both mother and baby. The youngest face complications during labor and delivery because their pelvises aren’t fully developed, said Dr. Anne-Marie Amies Oelschlager, an obstetrician in Washington state who specializes in adolescent pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are young adolescents who are still going through puberty,” she said. “Their bodies are still changing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pregnant girls who recently endured the often harrowing journey to the U.S. face even more risk, obstetrics experts said. Many \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6752644/\">have been raped\u003c/a> along the way and have sexually transmitted infections that can be dangerous during pregnancy. Add to that \u003ca href=\"https://www.projecthope.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Project-Hope-Mexico-NEW-FINAL-1_19_23.pdf\">little to no access to prenatal care\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/immigration/many-migrants-arriving-at-border-malnourished-health-experts-say/\">proper nourishment\u003c/a>, and then the trauma of \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8570101/\">being detained\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You couldn’t set up a worse scenario,” said Dr. Blair Cushing, who runs a women’s health clinic in McAllen, about 45 minutes from San Benito. “I’m kind of blown away by the level of risk that they’re concentrating in this facility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A history of problems\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The San Benito shelter is owned and operated by Urban Strategies, a for-profit company that has contracted with the federal government to care for unaccompanied children for more than a decade, according to \u003ca href=\"http://usaspending.gov\">USAspending.gov\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main building, an old tan brick Baptist Church, occupies a city block in downtown San Benito, a quiet town of about 25,000. The church was converted to a migrant shelter in 2015 and was managed by two other contractors before Urban Strategies \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/11/30/2021-25971/announcement-of-intent-to-issue-replacement-award-to-provide-residential-services-shelter\">took it over in 2021\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a fall day last year, there were no signs of activity at the facility, though children’s lawn toys and playground equipment were visible behind a wooden fence. A guard was stationed at one of the entrances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073070\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_MELIZA_PL_01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_MELIZA_PL_01-KQED.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_MELIZA_PL_01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251104_MELIZA_PL_01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meliza Fonseca lives across the street from the San Benito shelter. She said she occasionally sees children in the yard on weekends, “but for the most part, you don’t see them.” \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty quiet, just like it is today,” said Meliza Fonseca, who lives nearby. “That’s the way it is every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she occasionally sees kids playing in the yard on weekends, “but for the most part, you don’t see them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by email, the founder and president of Urban Strategies, Lisa Cummins, wrote that the company is “deeply committed to the care and well-being of the children we serve,” but directed any questions about ORR-contracted shelters to the federal agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the San Benito facility, the ORR spokesperson wrote that “Urban Strategies has a long-standing record of delivering high-quality care to pregnant unaccompanied minors, with a consistently low staff turnover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073142\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_04.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_04.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_04-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_UrbanStrategy_PL_04-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A gated building at Urban Strategies, a facility that holds unaccompanied minor immigrants under contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, in San Benito, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But agency sources who spoke with the newsrooms said that as recently as 2024, staff members at the shelter failed to arrange timely medical appointments for pregnant girls or immediately share critical health information with the federal agency and discharged them without arrangements to continue their medical care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ORR temporarily barred the shelter from receiving pregnant girls while Urban Strategies implemented a remediation plan, but the plan did not add staff or enhance their qualifications, the sources said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several sources inside the agency said its leadership was provided with a list of shelters that are better prepared to handle children with high-risk pregnancies. All of those shelters are located outside of Texas, in regions where the full range of necessary medical care is available. Yet the directive to place them at San Benito remains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s cruel, it’s just cruel,” one of the officials said. “They don’t care about any of these kids. They’re playing politics with children’s health.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘A dress rehearsal’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jonathan White, who ran ORR’s unaccompanied children program from January of 2017 to March of 2018, said he wasn’t surprised to learn that the new administration is moving pregnant unaccompanied children to Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been expecting this since Trump returned to office,” White said in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he views the San Benito order as a continuation of an anti-abortion policy shift that began in 2017, which “ultimately proved to be a dress rehearsal for the current administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073151 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_RioGrande_PL_02.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_RioGrande_PL_02.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_RioGrande_PL_02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_RioGrande_PL_02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Rio Grande is seen near the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse Museum in Hidalgo, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2025. Migrants often cross the river en route to the United States. \u003ccite>(Patricia Lim/KUT News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scott Lloyd, the agency’s director at the time, denied girls in ORR custody permission to end their pregnancies, \u003ca href=\"https://www.acludc.org/cases/jd-v-azar-formerly-garza-v-azar-and-garza-v-hargan-challenging-trump-administrations-refusal/\">court records show\u003c/a>. Lloyd also required the girls to get counseling about the benefits of motherhood and the harms of abortion and personally pleaded with some of them to reconsider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I worked to treat all of the children in ORR care with dignity, including the unborn children,” Lloyd told the newsrooms in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the fall of 2017, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclu.org/cases/garza-v-hargan-challenge-trump-administrations-attempts-block-abortions-young-immigrant-women\">class action lawsuit\u003c/a> against Lloyd and the Trump administration on behalf of pregnant girls in ORR custody. The ACLU argued that denying the girls abortions violated their constitutional rights, established by the Supreme Court in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Not long after the lawsuit was filed, White said he received a late-night phone call from Lloyd, who had a request. He wanted White to transfer an unaccompanied pregnant girl who was seeking an abortion to a migrant shelter in Texas, where, under state law, it would have been too late for her to terminate her pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White believed following the order would have been unlawful because it might have denied the girl access to legal relief under the lawsuit, so he refused. The girl was not transferred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lloyd, who has since left the government, told the newsrooms he didn’t believe his request was illegal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The class action lawsuit was \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/result-aclu-litigation-trump-administration-ends-policy-prohibiting-immigrant-minors\">settled in 2020\u003c/a>; the first Trump administration agreed not to interfere with abortion access for migrant youth in federal custody going forward. Four years later, the Biden administration cemented the deal in official\u003ca href=\"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-04-30/pdf/2024-08329.pdf#page=219\"> regulations\u003c/a>: If a child who wanted to terminate her pregnancy was detained in a state where it was not legal, ORR had to move them to a state where it was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That rule remains in place, and the agency appears to be following it; ORR has transferred two pregnant girls out of Texas since July, though agency sources said one of them chose not to terminate her pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now that Trump is back in office, his administration is working to kill the policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Elegant and simple’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Even before Trump won reelection, policymakers in his circle were planning a renewed attempt to restrict abortion rights for unaccompanied minors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a politically conservative overhaul of the federal government, \u003ca href=\"https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf#page=510\">called for\u003c/a> ORR to stop facilitating abortions for children in its care. The plan advised the government not to detain unaccompanied children in states where abortion is available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such a change is now possible, Project 2025 argued, because Roe v. Wade is no longer an obstacle. Since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in 2022, there is no longer a federal right to abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11918029\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11918029\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/gettyimages-1241510158_wide-618b2eab892ca9097bca6e83bd698df2d7f47782-scaled-e1770775479336.jpg\" alt=\"A sign that reads 'We Dissent' is held up in the foreground. The Supreme Court can be seen in the background.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Abortion rights activists rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court after the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade, in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2022. \u003ccite>(Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Upon returning to office, Trump signed an \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/enforcing-the-hyde-amendment/\">executive order\u003c/a> “to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in early July, the Department of Justice \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1408241/dl\">reconsidered a longstanding federal law\u003c/a> governing the use of taxpayer money for abortion. The DOJ concluded that the government cannot pay to transport detainees from one state to another to facilitate abortion access, except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now, ORR is working to rescind the Biden-era requirement that pregnant girls requesting an abortion be moved to states where it’s available. On Jan. 23, the agency \u003ca href=\"https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=1252114\">submitted the proposed change\u003c/a> for government approval, though it has not yet published the details.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Several of the ORR officials who spoke with the newsrooms said it’s unclear whether children in the agency’s custody who have been raped or need emergency medical care will still be allowed to get abortions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“HHS does not comment on pending or pre-decisional rulemaking,” the agency’s spokesperson wrote when asked for details of the regulatory change. “ORR will continue to comply with all applicable federal laws, including requirements for providing necessary medical care to children in ORR custody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the day the change was submitted, an unnamed Health and Human Services spokesperson told \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/01/23/exclusive-hhs-advances-rule-ending-taxpayer-funded-abortion-travel-for-alien-children/\">\u003cem>The Daily Signal\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a conservative news site, “Our goal is to save lives both for these young children that are coming across the border, that are pregnant, and to save the lives of their unborn babies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like other experts who spoke with the newsrooms, White, the former head of ORR’s unaccompanied children program, said he thinks the San Benito directive and the anti-abortion rule change are meant to work hand in hand: Once pregnant children are placed at the San Benito shelter, the new regulations could mean they cannot be moved out of Texas to get abortions — even if keeping them there puts them at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so elegant and simple,” White said. “All they have to do is send them to Texas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mose Buchele with The Texas Newsroom contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">\u003cem>The California Newsroom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> and \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kut.org/texasnewsroom\">\u003cem>The Texas Newsroom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. The California Newsroom is a collaboration of public media outlets that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED (San Francisco), LAist and KCRW (Los Angeles), KPBS (San Diego) and other stations across the state. The Texas Newsroom is a public radio journalism collaboration that includes NPR, KERA (North Texas), Houston Public Media, KUT (Austin), Texas Public Radio (San Antonio) and other stations across the state.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Carrie Esqueda’s injured knee has hurt since last summer, sometimes agonizingly so. It hurts when she tries to walk in her hilly Riverside County neighborhood and show homes to real estate clients. The 57-year-old misses the regular one-hour strolls with friends that kept her healthy and fit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months waiting for a high-demand surgery at Kaiser Permanente to repair her torn meniscus, Esqueda said the procedure was scheduled for Jan. 29. But the night before, the nonprofit health care organization called with bad news: Her operation was canceled due to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">an employee strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was absolutely devastated. I literally wanted to cry,” Esqueda said. “I am in constant pain. I cannot really walk without a knee brace because it always feels like it’s going to buckle. So I’ve been in a bad situation. And now, who knows how long it’ll take.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esqueda is one of a growing number of patients reporting delays in care as a labor conflict intensifies at Kaiser, rippling across California and Hawaii, with no contract deal in sight. Meanwhile, the ranks of up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists and other health care workers striking for a third week over staffing levels and compensation swelled on Monday, as thousands more employees walked off pharmacy and laboratory jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care giant, which has kept most of its facilities open, declined requests for more information on how many procedures it has postponed since the strike began on Jan. 26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has relocated staffers to affected hospitals and medical offices, and hired temporary workers, a mounting expense that could add up to millions of dollars per week. Some pharmacies will close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072988\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072988\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Esqueda wears a knee brace at home in Wildomar on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser Permanente remains committed to its nurses, employees, and patients and focused on reaching a fair agreement that recognizes employees’ value while protecting access to affordable, quality care for the members and patients who rely on us every day,” a company statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Kaiser said its doctors, nurses and contingency personnel are working to meet members’ needs, the nurse anesthetists and other highly specialized professionals who are on the picket lines can be hard to replace. Disruptions are especially affecting patients in Southern California, where most of the workers on strike are based.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of cancer patients have said on social media that their chemotherapy treatments were canceled or moved with little warning to non-Kaiser facilities that required further travel, while others described deserted hospital halls and long pharmacy wait lines. Several patients told KQED that their postponed hip replacement and other surgeries due to the staffing shortages left them depressed and struggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel angry and hopeless because my surgery has been delayed by five weeks, and that’s five more weeks of my life waiting to get back to normal,” said Kayla Howell, whose Jan. 27 operation to repair a torn ACL was rescheduled to March. “Having that taken away, you realize, ‘Oh my God, I use my leg for everything, even taking a shower is extremely difficult and painful.’”[aside postID=news_12070141 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Emmas-room-2.jpg']The 27-year-old kindergarten teacher assistant in San José had enlisted her mother to travel from Ireland to help with post-surgery recovery, including the weeks Howell must spend on crutches. But the setback upended those plans, as rebooking her mother’s flight and lodging would cost hundreds more dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just so frustrating because we just want care, and we deserve care. I pay my health insurance, and I pay my premiums, and where is that money going?” she said, adding that she wants Kaiser executives to work urgently to resolve the strike. “Help people get care, because that’s what their company is supposed to be for. But instead, people are suffering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, labor negotiations are at a standstill, with both parties accusing each other of halting progress. Kaiser is refusing to meet with national union negotiators, saying it is shifting unresolved contract issues to local bargaining tables. The union, which has called that move illegal, filed a federal unfair labor practices complaint against Kaiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union-represented employees want a 25% raise over a four-year contract, with no cuts to pensions and other benefits, as well as more input on scheduling and staffing ratios. The company, which has dismissed claims of chronic understaffing or declining patient care, has stuck for months to its offer to increase wages by 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve put all of these years into this company, and to see that it has come to this, it’s very overwhelming and it’s heartbreaking,” said Christina Thomas, a 40-year-old pharmacy technician with the United Food and Commercial Workers who walked off the job this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mother of two said wages have not kept up with inflation, while she and co-workers struggle to fill thousands of prescriptions daily at a Lancaster pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11963409\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11963409\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt='A large modern building with the words \"Kaiser Permanente\" across the top.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 4, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, we are striking for our patients, and so that Kaiser can wake up and come back to the table,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a nonprofit health plan and care provider, Kaiser reinvests its revenue into facilities and services for patients. The organization, founded in 1945, has grown to serve more than 12 million people in eight states and the District of Columbia, emphasizing preventive care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Company executives argue that greater wage raises are unsustainable and would increase members’ premiums at a time when massive budget cuts to Medicaid and other federal policies could make insurance unaffordable for millions of Americans. Under the Trump administration, Kaiser and other health care systems face an uncertain financial forecast with potential revenue losses and increased costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the work stoppage drags on in California, where most Kaiser customers are located, the company risks increasing reputational damage among not only its patients but also its workforce, resulting in longer-term costs, according to health care business experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073048\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073048 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Esqueda at home in Wildomar, California, on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The bigger economic risk isn’t what the strike costs this week, but it’s what happens if workforce distrust becomes structural at Kaiser, because you will get higher turnover, you’re going to have higher recruitment costs,” said Michael Skolnik, academic director of the Dominican University of California’s health care executive MBA program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patients like Alice Gallagher sympathize with the strikers but fear further disruptions. Last week, the San Diego County clarinetist said she was temporarily unable to order her medication for epilepsy via the Kaiser app. She tried calling her local pharmacy and then a regional number, she said, but nobody would help her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher, 46, started to panic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I don’t have my medication, I end up in the hospital… because my seizures are so bad once they get out of control,” she said, adding that, as she can’t drive, it would take her hours to travel on paratransit to visit her pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher was later able to order her prescriptions online. But the experience left her wondering about other vulnerable patients in need of timely care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had my moment of panic,” she said. “But for someone who’s just been diagnosed with something and feels overwhelmed, or someone who has cancer and then they are at the mercy of this stalemate in the negotiations, that’s who’s really suffering. That’s what’s really tough here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esqueda, the real estate agent with a torn meniscus, said that she’s watching the news daily, hoping that Kaiser ends the strike so that she can get the surgery she needs to heal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just praying that they get to some resolution,” Esqueda said. “I hope they listen and take into consideration that there are people’s lives that are being turned upside down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Carrie Esqueda’s injured knee has hurt since last summer, sometimes agonizingly so. It hurts when she tries to walk in her hilly Riverside County neighborhood and show homes to real estate clients. The 57-year-old misses the regular one-hour strolls with friends that kept her healthy and fit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months waiting for a high-demand surgery at Kaiser Permanente to repair her torn meniscus, Esqueda said the procedure was scheduled for Jan. 29. But the night before, the nonprofit health care organization called with bad news: Her operation was canceled due to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">an employee strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was absolutely devastated. I literally wanted to cry,” Esqueda said. “I am in constant pain. I cannot really walk without a knee brace because it always feels like it’s going to buckle. So I’ve been in a bad situation. And now, who knows how long it’ll take.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esqueda is one of a growing number of patients reporting delays in care as a labor conflict intensifies at Kaiser, rippling across California and Hawaii, with no contract deal in sight. Meanwhile, the ranks of up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists and other health care workers striking for a third week over staffing levels and compensation swelled on Monday, as thousands more employees walked off pharmacy and laboratory jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care giant, which has kept most of its facilities open, declined requests for more information on how many procedures it has postponed since the strike began on Jan. 26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has relocated staffers to affected hospitals and medical offices, and hired temporary workers, a mounting expense that could add up to millions of dollars per week. Some pharmacies will close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072988\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072988\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Esqueda wears a knee brace at home in Wildomar on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser Permanente remains committed to its nurses, employees, and patients and focused on reaching a fair agreement that recognizes employees’ value while protecting access to affordable, quality care for the members and patients who rely on us every day,” a company statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Kaiser said its doctors, nurses and contingency personnel are working to meet members’ needs, the nurse anesthetists and other highly specialized professionals who are on the picket lines can be hard to replace. Disruptions are especially affecting patients in Southern California, where most of the workers on strike are based.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of cancer patients have said on social media that their chemotherapy treatments were canceled or moved with little warning to non-Kaiser facilities that required further travel, while others described deserted hospital halls and long pharmacy wait lines. Several patients told KQED that their postponed hip replacement and other surgeries due to the staffing shortages left them depressed and struggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel angry and hopeless because my surgery has been delayed by five weeks, and that’s five more weeks of my life waiting to get back to normal,” said Kayla Howell, whose Jan. 27 operation to repair a torn ACL was rescheduled to March. “Having that taken away, you realize, ‘Oh my God, I use my leg for everything, even taking a shower is extremely difficult and painful.’”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The 27-year-old kindergarten teacher assistant in San José had enlisted her mother to travel from Ireland to help with post-surgery recovery, including the weeks Howell must spend on crutches. But the setback upended those plans, as rebooking her mother’s flight and lodging would cost hundreds more dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just so frustrating because we just want care, and we deserve care. I pay my health insurance, and I pay my premiums, and where is that money going?” she said, adding that she wants Kaiser executives to work urgently to resolve the strike. “Help people get care, because that’s what their company is supposed to be for. But instead, people are suffering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, labor negotiations are at a standstill, with both parties accusing each other of halting progress. Kaiser is refusing to meet with national union negotiators, saying it is shifting unresolved contract issues to local bargaining tables. The union, which has called that move illegal, filed a federal unfair labor practices complaint against Kaiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union-represented employees want a 25% raise over a four-year contract, with no cuts to pensions and other benefits, as well as more input on scheduling and staffing ratios. The company, which has dismissed claims of chronic understaffing or declining patient care, has stuck for months to its offer to increase wages by 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve put all of these years into this company, and to see that it has come to this, it’s very overwhelming and it’s heartbreaking,” said Christina Thomas, a 40-year-old pharmacy technician with the United Food and Commercial Workers who walked off the job this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mother of two said wages have not kept up with inflation, while she and co-workers struggle to fill thousands of prescriptions daily at a Lancaster pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11963409\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11963409\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt='A large modern building with the words \"Kaiser Permanente\" across the top.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 4, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, we are striking for our patients, and so that Kaiser can wake up and come back to the table,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a nonprofit health plan and care provider, Kaiser reinvests its revenue into facilities and services for patients. The organization, founded in 1945, has grown to serve more than 12 million people in eight states and the District of Columbia, emphasizing preventive care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Company executives argue that greater wage raises are unsustainable and would increase members’ premiums at a time when massive budget cuts to Medicaid and other federal policies could make insurance unaffordable for millions of Americans. Under the Trump administration, Kaiser and other health care systems face an uncertain financial forecast with potential revenue losses and increased costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the work stoppage drags on in California, where most Kaiser customers are located, the company risks increasing reputational damage among not only its patients but also its workforce, resulting in longer-term costs, according to health care business experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073048\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073048 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Esqueda at home in Wildomar, California, on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The bigger economic risk isn’t what the strike costs this week, but it’s what happens if workforce distrust becomes structural at Kaiser, because you will get higher turnover, you’re going to have higher recruitment costs,” said Michael Skolnik, academic director of the Dominican University of California’s health care executive MBA program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patients like Alice Gallagher sympathize with the strikers but fear further disruptions. Last week, the San Diego County clarinetist said she was temporarily unable to order her medication for epilepsy via the Kaiser app. She tried calling her local pharmacy and then a regional number, she said, but nobody would help her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher, 46, started to panic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I don’t have my medication, I end up in the hospital… because my seizures are so bad once they get out of control,” she said, adding that, as she can’t drive, it would take her hours to travel on paratransit to visit her pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher was later able to order her prescriptions online. But the experience left her wondering about other vulnerable patients in need of timely care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had my moment of panic,” she said. “But for someone who’s just been diagnosed with something and feels overwhelmed, or someone who has cancer and then they are at the mercy of this stalemate in the negotiations, that’s who’s really suffering. That’s what’s really tough here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esqueda, the real estate agent with a torn meniscus, said that she’s watching the news daily, hoping that Kaiser ends the strike so that she can get the surgery she needs to heal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just praying that they get to some resolution,” Esqueda said. “I hope they listen and take into consideration that there are people’s lives that are being turned upside down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/steve-hilton\">Steve Hilton\u003c/a>, a leading Republican candidate for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> governor, said he would allow Louisiana to extradite a Bay Area abortion doctor to face charges if he’s elected, despite state laws prohibiting cooperation and strong public support for reproductive rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069971/california-lawmakers-defend-doctor-as-states-clash-over-abortion\">rejected\u003c/a> Louisiana’s request to send Healdsburg physician Dr. Rémy Coeytaux to face charges there. Coeytaux is accused of prescribing and mailing abortion pills to a Louisiana woman in October 2023 and was \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/us/louisiana-abortion-pills-california-indictment.html\">indicted\u003c/a> by the state’s GOP attorney general earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In rejecting the request, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/01/14/governor-newsom-rejects-louisianas-attempt-to-extradite-california-doctor-for-providing-abortion-care/\">cited\u003c/a> an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/6.27.22-EO-N-12-22-Reproductive-Freedom.pdf?emrc=4e1397\">executive order\u003c/a> he signed in 2022, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That executive order expressly bars the state from cooperating with extradition requests from other states investigating reproductive health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also pointed to California’s telemedicine abortion \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB345\">shield law\u003c/a>, which protects anyone who provides or receives reproductive health care in the state. The law is part of a suite of protections lawmakers passed in response to the Supreme Court’s decision, though it took effect after Coeytaux allegedly mailed the abortion pills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking on KQED’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/politicalbreakdown\">Political Breakdown\u003c/a>\u003c/em> podcast, Hilton said he understands that California voters have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11931183/californians-vote-to-protect-abortion-in-constitution\">enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution\u003c/a>, but said he would still “enforce the law” — referring to Louisiana’s law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Louisiana voted one way. California voted a different way. That’s the beauty of our federalist system, and I think that’s exactly right,” Hilton said. “But you can’t have one state imposing its will on another.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12006082\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12006082 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton, a leading Republican candidate for California governor, said he would allow Louisiana to extradite a Bay Area abortion doctor if elected, despite California laws barring such cooperation and broad public support for reproductive rights. \u003ccite>(Studio One-One/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hilton said he’s always supported the “decentralization of power” and believes decisions should be made as close as possible to the people. He argued that’s what the Supreme Court did when it overturned Roe v. Wade, handing decisions over abortion access to the states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, Hilton said by not honoring the extradition request, California is trying to impose its will on Louisiana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Louisiana is trying to uphold what its people voted for, and California is undermining it,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s right. Just as I wouldn’t want to see Louisiana coming in and undermining something that we voted for here in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Louisiana has also tried to extradite a doctor from New York, a request that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/nyregion/abortion-extradition-louisiana-doctor.html\">also refused\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12069984 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-06-KQED.jpg']Reproductive rights advocates slammed Hilton’s position. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California CEO and President Jodi Hicks accused Hilton of “brazenly” rejecting California’s “values and leadership as a reproductive freedom state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any governor or future governor’s job is to protect the values and principles here in California — and certainly ones that Californians have voted on,” Hicks said, noting that Proposition 1, which enshrined abortion access in the state constitution, passed with 67% support. “Their job is to protect those principles and anyone in California, including our California providers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of the national group Reproductive Freedom for All, called Louisiana’s extradition attempts “outrageous and dangerous\u003cstrong>,” \u003c/strong>saying in a written statement that by leaving abortion to the states, President Donald Trump has given “anti-abortion extremists free rein to criminalize providers, terrorize patients, and reach beyond state lines to block care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a moment for capitulation,” she said. “The next governor of California must be an unequivocal champion for reproductive freedom, willing to push back against the extremists working to undermine our fundamental rights.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Davis law professor Mary Ziegler, an expert on reproductive rights and laws, said California’s shield law may not technically prevent a governor from agreeing to an extradition order, but it would effectively prevent the extradition from happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because the law prohibits state and local government employees and contractors from participating in an extradition relating to abortion care, meaning a judge would not legally be able to issue an arrest warrant, and police could not take someone into custody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040027\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040027\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom stands in front of a state flag during a press conference about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at an almond farm in Ceres, California. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s true that there’s an executive order that Newsom introduced that could be rescinded,” by a future governor, Ziegler said. “But then there’s just the statute, which the governor on his own couldn’t rescind … There are a lot of limits on what other actors can do in terms of arrest and extradition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A governor, she said, “isn’t going to roll up and arrest people and extradite them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ziegler said Newsom likely cited the executive order in Coeytaux’s case because the alleged shipment of medication to Louisiana occurred in October 2023, months before California’s shield law took effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More broadly, she said, the situation illustrates how complicated the legal landscape has become since Roe v. Wade was overturned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a zero-sum game,” Ziegler said. “One state is imposing its will on the other. It’s just a question of which one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why the whole leaving it to the states thing wasn’t going to work, because the states were going to take diametrically opposed positions,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070825\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070825\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-05-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-05-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-05-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-05-KQED_1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton speaks with Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos on Political Breakdown at KQED in San Francisco on Jan. 22, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hilton’s remarks come as the race to succeed Newsom remains wide open. Despite Democrats outnumbering Republicans nearly two-to-one in the state — and the fact that no Republican has won statewide office in California in 20 years — Hilton has \u003ca href=\"https://emersoncollegepolling.com/california-2026-new-poll/\">led some recent polls\u003c/a>, along with another GOP candidate, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Democratic field is large, and support among those candidates remains fractured, leading to some consternation among Democrats that the two GOP candidates could make it into a November runoff; California’s election system allows the top two vote-getters to advance, regardless of party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But surveys also show a wide swath of the electorate is still undecided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton has largely avoided talking about abortion on the campaign trail. But in an interview last summer with Orange County evangelical pastor Jack Hibbs, he\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMSzxq8PCuV/\"> talked about\u003c/a> moving the state “towards life.” He called abortion an “awful, awful outcome” and said he would encourage adoption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hibbs, the founder and senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=26039887812314763\">endorsed\u003c/a> Hilton last week, sharing an audio clip where Hilton also said he would end the use of taxpayer funds to promote what he called “abortion tourism” if elected governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/steve-hilton\">Steve Hilton\u003c/a>, a leading Republican candidate for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> governor, said he would allow Louisiana to extradite a Bay Area abortion doctor to face charges if he’s elected, despite state laws prohibiting cooperation and strong public support for reproductive rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069971/california-lawmakers-defend-doctor-as-states-clash-over-abortion\">rejected\u003c/a> Louisiana’s request to send Healdsburg physician Dr. Rémy Coeytaux to face charges there. Coeytaux is accused of prescribing and mailing abortion pills to a Louisiana woman in October 2023 and was \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/us/louisiana-abortion-pills-california-indictment.html\">indicted\u003c/a> by the state’s GOP attorney general earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In rejecting the request, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/01/14/governor-newsom-rejects-louisianas-attempt-to-extradite-california-doctor-for-providing-abortion-care/\">cited\u003c/a> an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/6.27.22-EO-N-12-22-Reproductive-Freedom.pdf?emrc=4e1397\">executive order\u003c/a> he signed in 2022, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That executive order expressly bars the state from cooperating with extradition requests from other states investigating reproductive health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also pointed to California’s telemedicine abortion \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB345\">shield law\u003c/a>, which protects anyone who provides or receives reproductive health care in the state. The law is part of a suite of protections lawmakers passed in response to the Supreme Court’s decision, though it took effect after Coeytaux allegedly mailed the abortion pills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking on KQED’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/politicalbreakdown\">Political Breakdown\u003c/a>\u003c/em> podcast, Hilton said he understands that California voters have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11931183/californians-vote-to-protect-abortion-in-constitution\">enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution\u003c/a>, but said he would still “enforce the law” — referring to Louisiana’s law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Louisiana voted one way. California voted a different way. That’s the beauty of our federalist system, and I think that’s exactly right,” Hilton said. “But you can’t have one state imposing its will on another.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12006082\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12006082 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/US-and-California-Flags-Getty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton, a leading Republican candidate for California governor, said he would allow Louisiana to extradite a Bay Area abortion doctor if elected, despite California laws barring such cooperation and broad public support for reproductive rights. \u003ccite>(Studio One-One/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hilton said he’s always supported the “decentralization of power” and believes decisions should be made as close as possible to the people. He argued that’s what the Supreme Court did when it overturned Roe v. Wade, handing decisions over abortion access to the states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, Hilton said by not honoring the extradition request, California is trying to impose its will on Louisiana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Louisiana is trying to uphold what its people voted for, and California is undermining it,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s right. Just as I wouldn’t want to see Louisiana coming in and undermining something that we voted for here in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Louisiana has also tried to extradite a doctor from New York, a request that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/nyregion/abortion-extradition-louisiana-doctor.html\">also refused\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Reproductive rights advocates slammed Hilton’s position. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California CEO and President Jodi Hicks accused Hilton of “brazenly” rejecting California’s “values and leadership as a reproductive freedom state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any governor or future governor’s job is to protect the values and principles here in California — and certainly ones that Californians have voted on,” Hicks said, noting that Proposition 1, which enshrined abortion access in the state constitution, passed with 67% support. “Their job is to protect those principles and anyone in California, including our California providers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of the national group Reproductive Freedom for All, called Louisiana’s extradition attempts “outrageous and dangerous\u003cstrong>,” \u003c/strong>saying in a written statement that by leaving abortion to the states, President Donald Trump has given “anti-abortion extremists free rein to criminalize providers, terrorize patients, and reach beyond state lines to block care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a moment for capitulation,” she said. “The next governor of California must be an unequivocal champion for reproductive freedom, willing to push back against the extremists working to undermine our fundamental rights.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Davis law professor Mary Ziegler, an expert on reproductive rights and laws, said California’s shield law may not technically prevent a governor from agreeing to an extradition order, but it would effectively prevent the extradition from happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because the law prohibits state and local government employees and contractors from participating in an extradition relating to abortion care, meaning a judge would not legally be able to issue an arrest warrant, and police could not take someone into custody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040027\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040027\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GavinNewsom2025AP2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom stands in front of a state flag during a press conference about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at an almond farm in Ceres, California. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s true that there’s an executive order that Newsom introduced that could be rescinded,” by a future governor, Ziegler said. “But then there’s just the statute, which the governor on his own couldn’t rescind … There are a lot of limits on what other actors can do in terms of arrest and extradition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A governor, she said, “isn’t going to roll up and arrest people and extradite them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ziegler said Newsom likely cited the executive order in Coeytaux’s case because the alleged shipment of medication to Louisiana occurred in October 2023, months before California’s shield law took effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More broadly, she said, the situation illustrates how complicated the legal landscape has become since Roe v. Wade was overturned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a zero-sum game,” Ziegler said. “One state is imposing its will on the other. It’s just a question of which one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why the whole leaving it to the states thing wasn’t going to work, because the states were going to take diametrically opposed positions,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070825\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070825\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-05-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-05-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-05-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-05-KQED_1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton speaks with Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos on Political Breakdown at KQED in San Francisco on Jan. 22, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hilton’s remarks come as the race to succeed Newsom remains wide open. Despite Democrats outnumbering Republicans nearly two-to-one in the state — and the fact that no Republican has won statewide office in California in 20 years — Hilton has \u003ca href=\"https://emersoncollegepolling.com/california-2026-new-poll/\">led some recent polls\u003c/a>, along with another GOP candidate, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Democratic field is large, and support among those candidates remains fractured, leading to some consternation among Democrats that the two GOP candidates could make it into a November runoff; California’s election system allows the top two vote-getters to advance, regardless of party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But surveys also show a wide swath of the electorate is still undecided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton has largely avoided talking about abortion on the campaign trail. But in an interview last summer with Orange County evangelical pastor Jack Hibbs, he\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMSzxq8PCuV/\"> talked about\u003c/a> moving the state “towards life.” He called abortion an “awful, awful outcome” and said he would encourage adoption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hibbs, the founder and senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=26039887812314763\">endorsed\u003c/a> Hilton last week, sharing an audio clip where Hilton also said he would end the use of taxpayer funds to promote what he called “abortion tourism” if elected governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "what-to-know-about-californias-law-expanding-ivf-access-in-2026",
"title": "What to Know about California’s Law Expanding IVF Access in 2026",
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"headTitle": "What to Know about California’s Law Expanding IVF Access in 2026 | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Sarah Jolly has been trying to conceive with her husband for five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple bought a house on the Central Coast in 2021 as newlyweds and thought they were “doing everything correct, financially,” Jolly said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in reality, “we had no idea how many years infertility would strap us” when it came to their finances, she said. “It is one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testing, \u003cem>traveling \u003c/em>to get tested, seeking a diagnosis and treatments like intrauterine insemination have so far cost the couple around $15,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In vitro fertilization — when \u003ca href=\"https://crh.ucsf.edu/fertility-treatment/in-vitro-fertilization-ivf/\">eggs are paired with sperm in a lab and placed in the uterus\u003c/a> — was out of their reach, price-wise. One cycle of IVF in California could \u003ca href=\"https://www.pfcla.com/blog/ivf-costs-california\">potentially cost more than $20,000\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070657\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/embryologist.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/embryologist.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/embryologist-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/embryologist-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illia Brusianskyi, a senior embryologist in Fountain Valley, CA., prepares embryos for genetic testing on Feb. 29, 2024. \u003ccite>(Jay L. Clendenin via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are so many people in our situation, but also learning that infertility is not covered by insurance,” Jolly said. “It’s not really supported.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s why Jolly is so encouraged by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912616/new-california-ivf-law-dramatically-expands-access\">a new state law\u003c/a> kicking in this month, which requires large employer-sponsored health plans to cover up to three cycles of IVF, plus other infertility services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love that this law is being passed,” she said. “Taking the financial burden out of those choices would be life-changing for us.”[aside postID=news_12069971 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/GavinNewsomAP.jpg']California is now the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912616/new-california-ivf-law-dramatically-expands-access\">15th state in the country\u003c/a> to adopt insurance mandates around IVF. The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology’s most recent numbers show that in 2023 alone, \u003ca href=\"https://www.asrm.org/news-and-events/asrm-news/press-releasesbulletins/us-ivf-usage-increases-in-2023-leads-to-over-95000-babies-born/\">95,000 babies were born through IVF usage\u003c/a> in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://stateline.org/2025/08/25/as-republicans-spar-over-ivf-some-turn-to-obscure-maha-backed-alternative/\">conservative attacks on IVF\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://fightforfamilies.resolve.org/\">the overturning of \u003cem>Roe v. Wade\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> — \u003c/em>which previously protected \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/abortion\">abortion rights\u003c/a> in the U.S. — have left \u003ca href=\"https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-the-alabama-ivf-ruling-is-connected-to-upcoming-supreme-court-cases-on-abortion/\">IVF and its providers with an uncertain legal future\u003c/a>, this new state law is another example of how California has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/abortion\">strengthening its reproductive rights\u003c/a> amidst an increasingly hostile federal landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912616/new-california-ivf-law-dramatically-expands-access\">KQED \u003cem>Forum’s\u003c/em>\u003c/a> Mina Kim spoke to Jolly, the bill’s author, San Fernando Valley state Sen. Caroline Menjivar and Shefali Luthra, \u003ca href=\"https://19thnews.org/author/shefali-luthra/\">reporter at The 19th \u003c/a>on what Californians can expect to see from the new IVF law kicking in this January.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What is the new California IVF law? \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB729\">new law\u003c/a>, Senate Bill 729, dictates that large insurance groups (defined as \u003ca href=\"https://www.ivyfertility.com/news/california-senate-bill-729-faq\">101 or more employees\u003c/a>) must expand their services to cover infertility treatments and diagnoses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, according to \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB729\">the bill’s text\u003c/a>, large health insurance groups also must be able to cover “a maximum of 3 completed \u003ca href=\"https://www.pfcla.com/blog/egg-retrieval-process-what-to-expect\">oocyte retrievals\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An array of other \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/Portals/0/Docs/OPL/APL25-021-ImplementationofSenateBill729(2024)(12_30_2025).pdf?ver=U9xFsGl6wZuNEyfFwRISFw%3d%3d\">fertility-related services (link to PDF)\u003c/a> may include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Unlimited embryo transfers\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tubal evaluation and uterine evaluation\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Sperm DNA fragmentation analysis\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Thyroid function testing\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Ovarian reserve testing\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Procurement of donor semen, oocyte and embryo\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Physician services, including consultation and referral.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Surgery to treat infertility\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Medication to treat infertility\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Infectious disease screening and testing\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Medication to induce ovulation.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Keep in mind that some of these services are for \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/Portals/0/Docs/OPL/APL25-021-ImplementationofSenateBill729(2024)(12_30_2025).pdf?ver=U9xFsGl6wZuNEyfFwRISFw%3d%3d\">“medically necessary”\u003c/a> cases of infertility — like \u003ca href=\"https://resolve.org/learn/financial-resources/insurance-coverage/understanding-californias-ivf-insurance-law/\">egg freezing before cancer treatment\u003c/a>. But the law is “pretty broad in some ways,” \u003ca href=\"https://19thnews.org/author/shefali-luthra/\">The 19th\u003c/a>’s Luthra said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s for treatment of infertility diagnosis and fertility treatment even beyond IVF,” Luthra said. “This creates a benefit structure for anyone who is navigating fertility to really get a sense of what might be causing that and how to treat that — whether it is IVF or something else that could help you become a parent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>When does this law kick in?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The law kicks in for health insurance contracts \u003ca href=\"https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/millions-californians-now-have-health-plan-coverage-infertility-and-fertility-services\">issued or renewed\u003c/a> on or after January 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the national fertility organization Resolve, if an \u003ca href=\"https://resolve.org/learn/financial-resources/insurance-coverage/understanding-californias-ivf-insurance-law/\">“employer’s plan renews later in the year, coverage under California’s IVF mandate may not begin until that renewal date.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law will be \u003ca href=\"https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/millions-californians-now-have-health-plan-coverage-infertility-and-fertility-services\">delayed\u003c/a> for public employees who work for entities like the state government and are covered by \u003ca href=\"https://www.calpers.ca.gov/\">CalPERS\u003c/a>. For them, the law will start on July 1, 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Who does this law impact?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Anyone interested in having children. By adjusting the definition of infertility, the state law has now \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2025/12/aetna-lawsuit-lgbtq-ivf-fertility/\">expanded access\u003c/a> to LGBTQ+ couples or single people who would often have to pay out of pocket for multiple treatments, Mejivar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previously, the definition of infertility for major insurance companies like Aetna would include a person \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2025/12/aetna-lawsuit-lgbtq-ivf-fertility/\">attesting they’d been having heterosexual sex for a year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m glad that we outlawed that 30-year-old description,” Mejivar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Are there exceptions to the law? \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB729\">Religious employers\u003c/a>, small group employers and self-funded employers are \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccrmivf.com/blog/california-sb729-fertility-coverage/\">exempt\u003c/a> from this law. (But they can \u003ca href=\"https://www.blueshieldca.com/en/broker/resources/mandates\">opt to offer\u003c/a> these services, and employees of such organizations can \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccrmivf.com/blog/california-sb729-fertility-coverage/\">discuss options\u003c/a> with their human resources team.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to expanding to small individual health plans, Mejivar is also hoping to see the expansion reach Covered California: the state’s marketplace for plans offered under the Affordable Care Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052572\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052572\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/042924_Covered-CA_AH_06.jpg\" alt='A woman wearing a black and white striped shirt walks past a building with a sign that says \"Health Insurance Covered California.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/042924_Covered-CA_AH_06.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/042924_Covered-CA_AH_06-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/042924_Covered-CA_AH_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Covered California Enrollment Center in Chula Vista on April 29, 2024. \u003ccite>(Adriana Heldiz / CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We passed my bill, the governor signed it, and it’s now up to the federal government to approve it,” she said. “But we just got a letter that said that [federal officials are] putting a pause on all approvals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t a rejection. They’re just putting a pause,” she added. “We’re hopeful that they’re going to be coming back in approving what’s called the essential health benefits so that we can get more millions of people under other plans covered for IVF and fertility services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A new California state is rapidly expanding access to fertility treatments. Here’s what to know.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sarah Jolly has been trying to conceive with her husband for five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple bought a house on the Central Coast in 2021 as newlyweds and thought they were “doing everything correct, financially,” Jolly said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in reality, “we had no idea how many years infertility would strap us” when it came to their finances, she said. “It is one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testing, \u003cem>traveling \u003c/em>to get tested, seeking a diagnosis and treatments like intrauterine insemination have so far cost the couple around $15,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In vitro fertilization — when \u003ca href=\"https://crh.ucsf.edu/fertility-treatment/in-vitro-fertilization-ivf/\">eggs are paired with sperm in a lab and placed in the uterus\u003c/a> — was out of their reach, price-wise. One cycle of IVF in California could \u003ca href=\"https://www.pfcla.com/blog/ivf-costs-california\">potentially cost more than $20,000\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070657\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070657\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/embryologist.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/embryologist.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/embryologist-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/embryologist-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illia Brusianskyi, a senior embryologist in Fountain Valley, CA., prepares embryos for genetic testing on Feb. 29, 2024. \u003ccite>(Jay L. Clendenin via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are so many people in our situation, but also learning that infertility is not covered by insurance,” Jolly said. “It’s not really supported.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s why Jolly is so encouraged by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912616/new-california-ivf-law-dramatically-expands-access\">a new state law\u003c/a> kicking in this month, which requires large employer-sponsored health plans to cover up to three cycles of IVF, plus other infertility services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love that this law is being passed,” she said. “Taking the financial burden out of those choices would be life-changing for us.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California is now the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912616/new-california-ivf-law-dramatically-expands-access\">15th state in the country\u003c/a> to adopt insurance mandates around IVF. The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology’s most recent numbers show that in 2023 alone, \u003ca href=\"https://www.asrm.org/news-and-events/asrm-news/press-releasesbulletins/us-ivf-usage-increases-in-2023-leads-to-over-95000-babies-born/\">95,000 babies were born through IVF usage\u003c/a> in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://stateline.org/2025/08/25/as-republicans-spar-over-ivf-some-turn-to-obscure-maha-backed-alternative/\">conservative attacks on IVF\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://fightforfamilies.resolve.org/\">the overturning of \u003cem>Roe v. Wade\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> — \u003c/em>which previously protected \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/abortion\">abortion rights\u003c/a> in the U.S. — have left \u003ca href=\"https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-the-alabama-ivf-ruling-is-connected-to-upcoming-supreme-court-cases-on-abortion/\">IVF and its providers with an uncertain legal future\u003c/a>, this new state law is another example of how California has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/abortion\">strengthening its reproductive rights\u003c/a> amidst an increasingly hostile federal landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912616/new-california-ivf-law-dramatically-expands-access\">KQED \u003cem>Forum’s\u003c/em>\u003c/a> Mina Kim spoke to Jolly, the bill’s author, San Fernando Valley state Sen. Caroline Menjivar and Shefali Luthra, \u003ca href=\"https://19thnews.org/author/shefali-luthra/\">reporter at The 19th \u003c/a>on what Californians can expect to see from the new IVF law kicking in this January.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What is the new California IVF law? \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB729\">new law\u003c/a>, Senate Bill 729, dictates that large insurance groups (defined as \u003ca href=\"https://www.ivyfertility.com/news/california-senate-bill-729-faq\">101 or more employees\u003c/a>) must expand their services to cover infertility treatments and diagnoses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, according to \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB729\">the bill’s text\u003c/a>, large health insurance groups also must be able to cover “a maximum of 3 completed \u003ca href=\"https://www.pfcla.com/blog/egg-retrieval-process-what-to-expect\">oocyte retrievals\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An array of other \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/Portals/0/Docs/OPL/APL25-021-ImplementationofSenateBill729(2024)(12_30_2025).pdf?ver=U9xFsGl6wZuNEyfFwRISFw%3d%3d\">fertility-related services (link to PDF)\u003c/a> may include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Unlimited embryo transfers\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tubal evaluation and uterine evaluation\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Sperm DNA fragmentation analysis\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Thyroid function testing\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Ovarian reserve testing\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Procurement of donor semen, oocyte and embryo\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Physician services, including consultation and referral.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Surgery to treat infertility\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Medication to treat infertility\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Infectious disease screening and testing\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Medication to induce ovulation.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Keep in mind that some of these services are for \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmhc.ca.gov/Portals/0/Docs/OPL/APL25-021-ImplementationofSenateBill729(2024)(12_30_2025).pdf?ver=U9xFsGl6wZuNEyfFwRISFw%3d%3d\">“medically necessary”\u003c/a> cases of infertility — like \u003ca href=\"https://resolve.org/learn/financial-resources/insurance-coverage/understanding-californias-ivf-insurance-law/\">egg freezing before cancer treatment\u003c/a>. But the law is “pretty broad in some ways,” \u003ca href=\"https://19thnews.org/author/shefali-luthra/\">The 19th\u003c/a>’s Luthra said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s for treatment of infertility diagnosis and fertility treatment even beyond IVF,” Luthra said. “This creates a benefit structure for anyone who is navigating fertility to really get a sense of what might be causing that and how to treat that — whether it is IVF or something else that could help you become a parent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>When does this law kick in?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The law kicks in for health insurance contracts \u003ca href=\"https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/millions-californians-now-have-health-plan-coverage-infertility-and-fertility-services\">issued or renewed\u003c/a> on or after January 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the national fertility organization Resolve, if an \u003ca href=\"https://resolve.org/learn/financial-resources/insurance-coverage/understanding-californias-ivf-insurance-law/\">“employer’s plan renews later in the year, coverage under California’s IVF mandate may not begin until that renewal date.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law will be \u003ca href=\"https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/millions-californians-now-have-health-plan-coverage-infertility-and-fertility-services\">delayed\u003c/a> for public employees who work for entities like the state government and are covered by \u003ca href=\"https://www.calpers.ca.gov/\">CalPERS\u003c/a>. For them, the law will start on July 1, 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Who does this law impact?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Anyone interested in having children. By adjusting the definition of infertility, the state law has now \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2025/12/aetna-lawsuit-lgbtq-ivf-fertility/\">expanded access\u003c/a> to LGBTQ+ couples or single people who would often have to pay out of pocket for multiple treatments, Mejivar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Previously, the definition of infertility for major insurance companies like Aetna would include a person \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2025/12/aetna-lawsuit-lgbtq-ivf-fertility/\">attesting they’d been having heterosexual sex for a year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m glad that we outlawed that 30-year-old description,” Mejivar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Are there exceptions to the law? \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB729\">Religious employers\u003c/a>, small group employers and self-funded employers are \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccrmivf.com/blog/california-sb729-fertility-coverage/\">exempt\u003c/a> from this law. (But they can \u003ca href=\"https://www.blueshieldca.com/en/broker/resources/mandates\">opt to offer\u003c/a> these services, and employees of such organizations can \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccrmivf.com/blog/california-sb729-fertility-coverage/\">discuss options\u003c/a> with their human resources team.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to expanding to small individual health plans, Mejivar is also hoping to see the expansion reach Covered California: the state’s marketplace for plans offered under the Affordable Care Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052572\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052572\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/042924_Covered-CA_AH_06.jpg\" alt='A woman wearing a black and white striped shirt walks past a building with a sign that says \"Health Insurance Covered California.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/042924_Covered-CA_AH_06.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/042924_Covered-CA_AH_06-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/042924_Covered-CA_AH_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Covered California Enrollment Center in Chula Vista on April 29, 2024. \u003ccite>(Adriana Heldiz / CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We passed my bill, the governor signed it, and it’s now up to the federal government to approve it,” she said. “But we just got a letter that said that [federal officials are] putting a pause on all approvals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t a rejection. They’re just putting a pause,” she added. “We’re hopeful that they’re going to be coming back in approving what’s called the essential health benefits so that we can get more millions of people under other plans covered for IVF and fertility services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "id-be-left-alone-medicaid-cuts-put-disabled-patients-in-home-care-at-risk",
"title": "‘I’d Be Left Alone’: Medicaid Cuts Put Disabled Patients’ In-Home Care at Risk",
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"content": "\u003cp>Emma Denice Milligan can be a prankster. Her warm eyes, big smile and wheelchair can be misleading, said her caregiver, Wanda Kincy. But Emma once crashed a wedding and helped herself to the food. Another time, she put herself on a plane from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> to Chicago to meet her high school sweetheart without telling her caregivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kincy points two fingers at her own eyes and then at Milligan’s. “I know you,” she said with a grin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kincy arrives at the Oakland home Milligan shares with her aunt and uncle at 8 a.m., five days a week, staying until at least 10 p.m. and overnight on Thursdays and Fridays. She helps Milligan, 57, get dressed, bathed and ready for her adult day program. Kincy books Milligan’s paratransit rides, times medication reminders and keeps track of the small details that make her independence possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The care Kincy provides is covered through California’s Medicaid program, also known as Medi-Cal. Federal cuts have many advocates worried about the future of such care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under federal law, most home- and community-based services are optional benefits, meaning states can choose whether to include services like personal care in their Medicaid plans and how broadly to offer them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, Medicaid covers in-home supportive services to Californians who are elderly, blind or disabled and would otherwise be at risk of nursing home placement. The federal government reimburses California for about half of the cost of IHSS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070295\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In her Oakland home on Dec. 12, 2025, Emma Denice Milligan smiles at her caregiver, Wanda Kincy, as Kincy recounts how Milligan has coped with the death of her mother, Carolyn Milligan, a human rights activist who worked on housing rights in Chicago and served Black communities in Oakland, in 2023. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Hyeyoon Cho)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In-home services enable Milligan’s family to hire Kincy to assist with daily personal care and household tasks so Milligan can remain safely in her family home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I lose Wanda, then I would probably have to go to a facility,” she said. “People at the facility don’t care. I would be calling them for help, and they wouldn’t come. I’d be left alone and be wet all night, because I can’t go to the bathroom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milligan has received IHSS on and off while living in both California and Chicago. In 2011, she moved to Oakland and has relied on the program continuously since. But there is a growing concern about how long the services can last.[aside postID=news_12068383 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/04/001_KQED_Oakland_HighlandHospital_041152020-1020x680.jpg']In July, Congress approved roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade, beginning in 2026. Because the federal government pays roughly 54% of California’s total home- and community-based services costs, the impending cuts immediately raised alarm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/06/myth-vs-fact-the-one-big-beautiful-bill/\">White House\u003c/a> has said the budget package would not affect Medicaid coverage for people with disabilities. Advocates warn the changes will nonetheless fall heavily on home- and community-based services, which aren’t protected like nursing home services. They say optional services are often the first to be reduced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hagar Dickman, a senior attorney at Justice in Aging, said the risk to in-home services is not theoretical. During last year’s state budget negotiations, she said, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration initially looked to IHSS as one of the first areas to cut when facing a projected shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the May budget revision, home- and community-based services were immediately on the table,” Dickman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget proposed \u003ca href=\"https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/first-look-understanding-the-governors-2025-26-may-revision/#h-revised-budget-fails-to-invest-in-older-adults-and-californians-with-disabilities\">over $1 billion\u003c/a> in mostly ongoing cuts to in-home supportive services, including limits on provider pay and hours and the elimination of benefits for certain groups. Although this was not adopted in the final budget, a plan for freezing new Medi-Cal enrollments from undocumented adults, including IHSS eligibility, was adopted and is set to begin in 2026, while existing enrollees retain coverage. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emma Denice Milligan jokes with Wanda Kincy in Ability Now, an Oakland-based adult day center for people with disabilities, on Nov. 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Hyeyoon Cho)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dickman said this episode underscored how quickly optional services can be targeted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When states are under pressure, they go after HCBS [home- and community-based services] first because they’re optional under federal law,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congress has agreed to restructure \u003ca href=\"https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/how-federal-funding-cuts-threaten-the-health-of-californians/\">Medicaid\u003c/a> by reducing the federal government’s share of reimbursements, restricting how states raise Medicaid revenue and imposing new eligibility checks, work requirements and exclusions for certain immigrant groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent analysis by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/HowCutsMediCalHomeCommunityBasedServicesImpactCA.pdf\">California Health Care Foundation \u003c/a>suggests the consequences could be costly. If the state reduces HCBS by 10% in response to federal cuts, California could face roughly $1 billion in added Medicaid expenses as more residents are moved into institutional settings.[aside postID=news_12068555 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/GettyImages-1197447255-1020x680.jpg']“The federal Medicaid cuts are an absolute disaster for HCBS,” said Sabrina Epstein, a policy analyst at Disability Rights California. She said the cuts will push many people off Medicaid, leaving them without access to the only program that funds round-the-clock in-home support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People will be forced into nursing homes or left to rely on unpaid family care,” Epstein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the Great Recession, the federal government gave states more money for Medicaid. Researchers at UCSF and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund \u003ca href=\"https://geigergibson.publichealth.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs4421/files/2025-04/Kaye%20HCBS%20Cuts%202010-2012%20%282%29%20%281%29.pdf\">examined what happened\u003c/a> when Congress ended enhanced federal Medicaid funding to states between 2010 and 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every state responded by cutting home- and community-based services in some way — reducing benefits, the number of people covered, or both. Waiting lists for home care grew across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California will not be able to absorb the loss if federal Medicaid cuts take effect in 2026, said Mike Pereira, executive director of Ala Costa Centers in Berkeley, which offers adult day services to people with developmental disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re all bracing,” he said. “We’re watching the sand run out of the hourglass.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Round-the-clock care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Milligan’s bedroom is crowded but intentional. A metal lift helps get her out of bed. A tray table holds adaptive cups and utensils. Framed photographs line the walls: Emma smiling at family gatherings, dressed up for celebrations, captured at different points in her life. One large portrait shows her late mother smiling for the camera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milligan’s uncle, Austin Long-Scott, is in his 80s and has Parkinson’s disease, which has increasingly limited what he can physically do. His wife, Ethel, is also in her 80s and not able to do as much as she used to do for Milligan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We used to stay with her 24/7,” Austin Long-Scott said. “We can’t do that anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070294\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070294\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photos of Emma Denice Milligan with friends and pastors sit in the corner of her room in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Hyeyoon Cho)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In October, Milligan had a setback, spending weeks in the hospital as doctors struggled to manage severe chest and stomach pain. Kincy often stayed with her, helping communicate with nurses and doctors, monitoring pain levels and watching for changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without IHSS, Long-Scott said, their options would be grim. Paying out of pocket to retain Kincy would be financially overwhelming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without a caregiver, Milligan would not be able to speak at churches and community organizations about disability justice or connect domestic violence survivors with resources, advocacy that she’s been committed to for more than a decade.[aside postID=news_12069772 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011426_SF-VA-CUTS-_GH_013-KQED.jpg']Kincy reads the statements Milligan writes and facilitates questions from the audience. Their coordination allows Milligan to remain active in her community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The two of them just bonded,” Long-Scott said. “It was almost instant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the afternoons, Milligan attends Ability Now Bay Area, a center for people with disabilities. There, she is developing a business idea on adaptive clothing, which grew out of her daily care needs. She wants to design garments secured with snaps, magnets or velcro — clothing that can be put on and taken off with minimal movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fridays leave small joys for Milligan: browsing with Kincy at Macy’s Backstage in Pleasanton or getting dumplings in Alameda. Recently, at an outlet store in Berkeley, Kincy used her charms to talk a cashier into reducing the price of a new jacket for Milligan by 15%. They were thrilled about the bargain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milligan appreciates Kincy and the programs that enable her to remain vibrant in her community. “People I meet at Ability Now and the community around me understand me. They can relate,” she said. “Wanda and I always crack up when we’re there. They bring a lot of joy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://archive.is/o/DQQxE/https:/hub.journalism.berkeley.edu/thestakes/\">\u003cem>“The Stakes,”\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After Congress approved roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade, California advocates are worried about the future of home-based care covered by Medi-Cal.\r\n",
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"title": "‘I’d Be Left Alone’: Medicaid Cuts Put Disabled Patients’ In-Home Care at Risk | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Emma Denice Milligan can be a prankster. Her warm eyes, big smile and wheelchair can be misleading, said her caregiver, Wanda Kincy. But Emma once crashed a wedding and helped herself to the food. Another time, she put herself on a plane from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> to Chicago to meet her high school sweetheart without telling her caregivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kincy points two fingers at her own eyes and then at Milligan’s. “I know you,” she said with a grin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kincy arrives at the Oakland home Milligan shares with her aunt and uncle at 8 a.m., five days a week, staying until at least 10 p.m. and overnight on Thursdays and Fridays. She helps Milligan, 57, get dressed, bathed and ready for her adult day program. Kincy books Milligan’s paratransit rides, times medication reminders and keeps track of the small details that make her independence possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The care Kincy provides is covered through California’s Medicaid program, also known as Medi-Cal. Federal cuts have many advocates worried about the future of such care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under federal law, most home- and community-based services are optional benefits, meaning states can choose whether to include services like personal care in their Medicaid plans and how broadly to offer them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, Medicaid covers in-home supportive services to Californians who are elderly, blind or disabled and would otherwise be at risk of nursing home placement. The federal government reimburses California for about half of the cost of IHSS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070295\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In her Oakland home on Dec. 12, 2025, Emma Denice Milligan smiles at her caregiver, Wanda Kincy, as Kincy recounts how Milligan has coped with the death of her mother, Carolyn Milligan, a human rights activist who worked on housing rights in Chicago and served Black communities in Oakland, in 2023. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Hyeyoon Cho)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In-home services enable Milligan’s family to hire Kincy to assist with daily personal care and household tasks so Milligan can remain safely in her family home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I lose Wanda, then I would probably have to go to a facility,” she said. “People at the facility don’t care. I would be calling them for help, and they wouldn’t come. I’d be left alone and be wet all night, because I can’t go to the bathroom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milligan has received IHSS on and off while living in both California and Chicago. In 2011, she moved to Oakland and has relied on the program continuously since. But there is a growing concern about how long the services can last.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In July, Congress approved roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade, beginning in 2026. Because the federal government pays roughly 54% of California’s total home- and community-based services costs, the impending cuts immediately raised alarm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/06/myth-vs-fact-the-one-big-beautiful-bill/\">White House\u003c/a> has said the budget package would not affect Medicaid coverage for people with disabilities. Advocates warn the changes will nonetheless fall heavily on home- and community-based services, which aren’t protected like nursing home services. They say optional services are often the first to be reduced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hagar Dickman, a senior attorney at Justice in Aging, said the risk to in-home services is not theoretical. During last year’s state budget negotiations, she said, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration initially looked to IHSS as one of the first areas to cut when facing a projected shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the May budget revision, home- and community-based services were immediately on the table,” Dickman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget proposed \u003ca href=\"https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/first-look-understanding-the-governors-2025-26-may-revision/#h-revised-budget-fails-to-invest-in-older-adults-and-californians-with-disabilities\">over $1 billion\u003c/a> in mostly ongoing cuts to in-home supportive services, including limits on provider pay and hours and the elimination of benefits for certain groups. Although this was not adopted in the final budget, a plan for freezing new Medi-Cal enrollments from undocumented adults, including IHSS eligibility, was adopted and is set to begin in 2026, while existing enrollees retain coverage. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emma Denice Milligan jokes with Wanda Kincy in Ability Now, an Oakland-based adult day center for people with disabilities, on Nov. 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Hyeyoon Cho)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dickman said this episode underscored how quickly optional services can be targeted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When states are under pressure, they go after HCBS [home- and community-based services] first because they’re optional under federal law,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congress has agreed to restructure \u003ca href=\"https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/how-federal-funding-cuts-threaten-the-health-of-californians/\">Medicaid\u003c/a> by reducing the federal government’s share of reimbursements, restricting how states raise Medicaid revenue and imposing new eligibility checks, work requirements and exclusions for certain immigrant groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent analysis by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/HowCutsMediCalHomeCommunityBasedServicesImpactCA.pdf\">California Health Care Foundation \u003c/a>suggests the consequences could be costly. If the state reduces HCBS by 10% in response to federal cuts, California could face roughly $1 billion in added Medicaid expenses as more residents are moved into institutional settings.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The federal Medicaid cuts are an absolute disaster for HCBS,” said Sabrina Epstein, a policy analyst at Disability Rights California. She said the cuts will push many people off Medicaid, leaving them without access to the only program that funds round-the-clock in-home support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People will be forced into nursing homes or left to rely on unpaid family care,” Epstein said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the Great Recession, the federal government gave states more money for Medicaid. Researchers at UCSF and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund \u003ca href=\"https://geigergibson.publichealth.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs4421/files/2025-04/Kaye%20HCBS%20Cuts%202010-2012%20%282%29%20%281%29.pdf\">examined what happened\u003c/a> when Congress ended enhanced federal Medicaid funding to states between 2010 and 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every state responded by cutting home- and community-based services in some way — reducing benefits, the number of people covered, or both. Waiting lists for home care grew across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California will not be able to absorb the loss if federal Medicaid cuts take effect in 2026, said Mike Pereira, executive director of Ala Costa Centers in Berkeley, which offers adult day services to people with developmental disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re all bracing,” he said. “We’re watching the sand run out of the hourglass.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Round-the-clock care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Milligan’s bedroom is crowded but intentional. A metal lift helps get her out of bed. A tray table holds adaptive cups and utensils. Framed photographs line the walls: Emma smiling at family gatherings, dressed up for celebrations, captured at different points in her life. One large portrait shows her late mother smiling for the camera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milligan’s uncle, Austin Long-Scott, is in his 80s and has Parkinson’s disease, which has increasingly limited what he can physically do. His wife, Ethel, is also in her 80s and not able to do as much as she used to do for Milligan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We used to stay with her 24/7,” Austin Long-Scott said. “We can’t do that anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070294\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070294\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/InHomeCare1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photos of Emma Denice Milligan with friends and pastors sit in the corner of her room in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Hyeyoon Cho)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In October, Milligan had a setback, spending weeks in the hospital as doctors struggled to manage severe chest and stomach pain. Kincy often stayed with her, helping communicate with nurses and doctors, monitoring pain levels and watching for changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without IHSS, Long-Scott said, their options would be grim. Paying out of pocket to retain Kincy would be financially overwhelming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without a caregiver, Milligan would not be able to speak at churches and community organizations about disability justice or connect domestic violence survivors with resources, advocacy that she’s been committed to for more than a decade.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Kincy reads the statements Milligan writes and facilitates questions from the audience. Their coordination allows Milligan to remain active in her community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The two of them just bonded,” Long-Scott said. “It was almost instant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the afternoons, Milligan attends Ability Now Bay Area, a center for people with disabilities. There, she is developing a business idea on adaptive clothing, which grew out of her daily care needs. She wants to design garments secured with snaps, magnets or velcro — clothing that can be put on and taken off with minimal movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fridays leave small joys for Milligan: browsing with Kincy at Macy’s Backstage in Pleasanton or getting dumplings in Alameda. Recently, at an outlet store in Berkeley, Kincy used her charms to talk a cashier into reducing the price of a new jacket for Milligan by 15%. They were thrilled about the bargain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Milligan appreciates Kincy and the programs that enable her to remain vibrant in her community. “People I meet at Ability Now and the community around me understand me. They can relate,” she said. “Wanda and I always crack up when we’re there. They bring a lot of joy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://archive.is/o/DQQxE/https:/hub.journalism.berkeley.edu/thestakes/\">\u003cem>“The Stakes,”\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> political leaders are rallying behind a Sonoma County doctor at the center of an interstate abortion dispute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Louisiana officials have charged physician Dr. Rémy Coeytaux, a physician in Healdsburg, with providing abortion medication to a woman in the Gulf Coast state, where the procedure is banned. Leaders there asked California to send him back to face charges — a request Gov. Gavin Newsom refused, citing California laws designed to shield abortion providers from out-of-state prosecution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case tests how far abortion bans can reach beyond state borders — and the strength of California’s telemedicine abortion shield law, passed in September 2023. It’s part of a broader clash that’s deepened since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, leaving states to chart opposing paths on abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Louisiana should be ashamed for attempting to drag this country backward by criminalizing health care and threatening doctors for doing their jobs,” East Bay Assemblymember Mia Bonta said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coeytaux has not been charged in California in connection with the Louisiana allegations. He declined an interview request. In a statement provided by his attorney, Nancy Northup — president and CEO of abortion rights group Center for Reproductive Rights — wrote: “These allegations are just that: allegations. As such, they are unproven and should not be reported as fact.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983101\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1760px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11983101 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49.jpg\" alt=\"abortion pill\" width=\"1760\" height=\"1220\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49-800x555.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49-1020x707.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49-1536x1065.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A combination pack of mifepristone (L) and misoprostol tablets, two medicines used together for abortions. \u003ccite>(Elisa Wells Plan C/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Northup argued the case reflects a broader conflict between states that protect abortion access and those that ban it. Louisiana is “going after doctors for allegedly harming women” while enforcing an abortion ban that “puts women’s lives at risk every day,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors stress that abortion pills are widely used and safe, including when provided via telehealth. Many patients seek medication by mail because abortion is banned where they live.[aside postID=news_12069825 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/GettyImages-2244069197_qed.jpg']Legal experts say the case could have sweeping implications. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, states have taken sharply divergent approaches to abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has passed a series of laws aimed at protecting providers and patients from out-of-state civil and criminal actions tied to abortion care. Louisiana, meanwhile, has one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Louisiana is a state that denies women the right to control their own bodies,” said Assemblymember Chris Rogers, who represents Sonoma County. “We will not accept their attempt to control when and how our medical professionals choose to render care as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers said the state went further by publicly posting the doctor’s personal information, a move he described as punitive and potentially dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether states can enforce their abortion laws beyond their borders is likely to face further court challenges. For now, California officials say they will not assist other states in prosecuting doctors for care that is legal here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The case tests how far abortion bans can reach beyond state borders — and the strength of California’s telemedicine abortion shield law, passed in 2023.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Louisiana should be ashamed for attempting to drag this country backward by criminalizing health care and threatening doctors for doing their jobs,” East Bay Assemblymember Mia Bonta said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coeytaux has not been charged in California in connection with the Louisiana allegations. He declined an interview request. In a statement provided by his attorney, Nancy Northup — president and CEO of abortion rights group Center for Reproductive Rights — wrote: “These allegations are just that: allegations. As such, they are unproven and should not be reported as fact.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11983101\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1760px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11983101 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49.jpg\" alt=\"abortion pill\" width=\"1760\" height=\"1220\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49-800x555.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49-1020x707.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/abortion-pill-661e839c21f49-1536x1065.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A combination pack of mifepristone (L) and misoprostol tablets, two medicines used together for abortions. \u003ccite>(Elisa Wells Plan C/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Northup argued the case reflects a broader conflict between states that protect abortion access and those that ban it. Louisiana is “going after doctors for allegedly harming women” while enforcing an abortion ban that “puts women’s lives at risk every day,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors stress that abortion pills are widely used and safe, including when provided via telehealth. Many patients seek medication by mail because abortion is banned where they live.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Legal experts say the case could have sweeping implications. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, states have taken sharply divergent approaches to abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has passed a series of laws aimed at protecting providers and patients from out-of-state civil and criminal actions tied to abortion care. Louisiana, meanwhile, has one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Louisiana is a state that denies women the right to control their own bodies,” said Assemblymember Chris Rogers, who represents Sonoma County. “We will not accept their attempt to control when and how our medical professionals choose to render care as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rogers said the state went further by publicly posting the doctor’s personal information, a move he described as punitive and potentially dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether states can enforce their abortion laws beyond their borders is likely to face further court challenges. For now, California officials say they will not assist other states in prosecuting doctors for care that is legal here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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},
"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"order": 5
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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