Category: Health

By Arturo Castañares – Publisher / La Prensa / June 26, 2025

A New York judge last month ordered an appointed remediation manager to oversee the notorious jail on Rikers Island in New York after 40 inmates have died since 2022, yet more inmates have died in San Diego County jails without any substantial reform taking place.

46 inmates have died in San Diego County jails since 2022, including 19 in 2022, 13 in 2023, 8 last year, and 6 so far this year.

Those are more deaths per year than Rikers, a jail known as one of the worst -if not the worst- in the country, with stabbings, slashing, fights, assaults on staff, and high numbers of inmate deaths.

In comparison, Rikers has had 40 deaths since 2022, with 19 that year, 9 in 2023, 7 in 2024, and 5 so far this year.

And, before anyone complains about comparing apples to oranges, the jail population of Rikers is larger than the combined population of all seven of San Diego’s County jails, so the percentage of deaths per thousand is even higher for San Diego jails.

“ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT” WILL HURT US ALL, Parts 2 – 4

By Joni Halpern

PART 2: WHOM SHOULD WE GO AFTER?

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) derives the biggest budget cuts from two massive public health programs — Medicaid and Medicare. It also makes changes that will reduce enrollment in health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Today, more than seven million seniors and 10 million people with disabilities rely on Medicaid. Data show that about 15 million more older adults and people with disabilities and chronic conditions are insured through Medicaid though they do not qualify for it based on age or disability. Almost 70 million people are enrolled in Medicare.3 Almost eight million people will lose Medicaid eligibility because of OBBBA’s changes to the program, 3.1 million will lose other health coverage from OBBBA’s changes affecting ACA Marketplaces, almost one million more will lose coverage from OBBBA’s incorporation of Trump’s proposed ACA rule, and about 4.2 million additional people will lose coverage due to OBBBA’s expiration of ACA premium tax credits.4

Three Big Targets For OBBBA Strategists

Medicaid is a jointly funded state and federal program that helps cover healthcare costs for people with limited income who meet other eligibility requirements. (Medi-Cal is California’s version of Medicaid.). Medicaid is the largest public health insurance program for low-income Americans and the primary payer for long-term services and supports. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that OBBBA will cut federal Medicaid spending by almost $800 billion over 10 years and Medicaid enrollment by 10.3 million.

by Hector Trujillo / Times of San Diego / June 24, 2025

Point Loma Nazarene student Dakota Briley is in a coma and fighting for his life after being hit by a car while he was on the side of a road on June 14 in Hawaii.

Dakota Briley, the 20-year-old son of surfing icon Shawn Briley, is a passionate surfer and member of the Point Loma Nazarene surf team.

He was reportedly unloading surfboards on the North Shore of Oahu near Chun’s Beach when the collision occurred. He is now in an intensive care unit in Honolulu.

“He’s still going through multiple surgeries after being brought to the hospital in critical condition,” said his sister Erin Lau. “Dakota has had several surgeries to stabilize his lower body and repair his lungs.”

By Joni Halpern

First of 4 Parts 

PART 1: IF PIGS COULD FLY

The sales pitch for H.R. 1, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and now under consideration by
the Senate, promises, among other things, that health care will be strengthened across the nation if the bill becomes law. That would be true, if pigs could fly.

What is true is that all of us will feel OBBBA’s pain, either directly or indirectly.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-4 th Dist., Louisiana) want to pass the bill and have it on President Trump’s desk by July 4, 2025. Even if OBBBA does not pass by then, the reconciliation process will end Sept. 30. That’s why it is important for Americans to understand what will happen to our health care under the bill.

OBBBA is expected to kill health insurance coverage for 16 million low-income people, including older adults, caregivers, people with disabilities, children and lawfully present immigrants and families. Of those 16 million, over 90% are U.S. citizens and lawfully present immigrants. 1

OBBBA accomplishes this massive reduction in various ways, but some of the biggest cuts come from restricting Medicare eligibility, rescinding premium assistance
under the Affordable Care Act, and rolling back provisions that make Medicare affordable to low-income enrollees. It makes many other changes designed to reduce
access to these programs, but OBBBA eats away at so many aspects of health care coverage that it is impossible to explain them all in this article.

By The Prebys Foundation / June 22, 2025

What happens in Washington doesn’t stay there.  It reaches all the way into San Diego’s labs, hospitals, and classrooms.

Proposed federal cuts to medical research threaten the life-changing work happening right here at home. From childhood cancer breakthroughs to ensuring diverse voices shape the future of medicine, local researchers are at risk of losing the support they need to keep pushing science forward.

To explore these impacts, the Prebys Foundation and the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network are hosting a public forum on “This Affects All of Us: The Real Impact of Cutting Medical Research Dollars” on Thursday, June 26, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Boulevard.

The Conrad Prebys Foundation / May 29, 2025

As federal funding for medical and life sciences research faces deep and destabilizing cuts, Prebys Foundation is stepping in with a rapid response package totaling $7 million to defend San Diego’s biomedical research sector?—?one of the world’s leading innovation hubs.

Federal grants have historically provided nearly half of all medical research funding in the United States. This support has enabled transformative advances in drug discovery, fueled job growth, and secured America’s position as a global leader in the life sciences.

In San Diego, the impact has been profound, home to internationally renowned research institutes, universities, and biotech startups that together make up a biomedical ecosystem unlike any other in the country.

Executive orders and steep reductions in federal research investment are threatening critical local initiatives, halting active projects, and forcing early- and mid-career scientists to look abroad or leave the field altogether. Without swift and targeted action, the region risks an exodus of talent and a slowdown in the medical breakthroughs that improve lives and drive the economy.

By Miriam Raftery / East County Magazine / May 20, 2025

Years after the Cottonwood Sand Mine was first proposed along the Sweetwater River on the site of the Cottonwood Golf course in Rancho San Diego, the San Diego County Planning Commission will hold a hearing on the proposed sand mine. The latest draft environmental impact report can be viewed here .

The hearing, originally set for April, will now be held Friday, June 13 at 9a.m. at the San Diego County Operations Center hearing room, 5520 Overland Ave., San Diego.

The Valle de Oro Community Panning Group in March voted 10-1 to oppose the controversial project, with one abstention, as ECM reported. (Rag repost here.)

By Geoff Page

I am writing this today to express my extreme frustration with the lack of care or effort on the part of the Ocean Beach lifeguards when notified of a dangerous condition on the beach. The right rear skid of Tower 3 is bent into an upright position, sticking out of the sand like a knife blade where lots of people might encounter it.

Saturday morning, May 24, I sent an email and a picture of the condition to the lifeguard website. Because I was concerned the problem would not get attention quickly enough I called the weekend number. I knew the beach would be very crowded with families and children. I was dispatched through to the OB lifeguards.

Deficits and a coming demolition threaten to shutter the Rosecrans facility that offers mental health services.

By Blake Nelson / San Diego Union-Tribune / May 26, 2025

The city of San Diego has nowhere near enough shelter for everybody asking. Yet an ongoing dispute between city and county officials has reduced the number of available beds even more.

The Rosecrans homeless shelter, a large tent in the Midway district that helps residents with mental health issues, has stopped accepting new people, leaving 14 spots open as of Wednesday, according to Alpha Project CEO Bob McElroy. The San Diego Housing Commission has also halted intakes at 8 other programs in anticipation of Rosecrans’ possible closure at the end of June, and two staffers at the tent recently quit to take other jobs.

At times, the reasoning by staff at San Diego’s Development Services Department gets so twisted, it’s difficult to recognize what language is being spoken.

Many Point Lomans know about the proposed project for 1004 Rosecrans, formerly occupied by the San Diego County Credit Union, at the intersection of Rosecrans and Talbot.

It is currently under review by the San Diego Development Services Department for a proposed four-story, 56-unit apartment development with 1,700 square feet of first-floor commercial space. There also would be basement parking with up to 45 spaces — for commercial tenants only.

It’s been on the radar by many in the Peninsula, particularly the new group, Protect Point Loma — and by the just-formed San Diego Community Coalition — because the project violates so many rules, norms and laws (just take the 30-foot height limit for example). Purchased by North Star Homes, it has been the focus of scrutiny by many. And community members have voiced opposition to the project’s height, scope and potential effects on traffic and parking in the area.

As many know, the site was a gas station before the credit union was there, raising caution about the soil. Records show that six underground gasoline storage tanks and one underground storage tank for used oil were removed from the property in 1992.

Residents of San Diego County have been subjected to two recent devastating news reports about our area.

A doctor expert says San Diego County’s jails are the worst than he’s ever seen them and are ‘far behind other jail and prison systems in California.’ The County has faced dozens of lawsuits that have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in recent years.

And children taken from their parents for their own safety were abused by county social workers. The county is currently confronting hundreds of lawsuits filed by now-grown victims who say they were sexual assaulted at Polinsky Children’s Center and other facilities.

San Diego County might have the best weather around, but perhaps it helps hide an ugly, dark underbelly.

U-T writers Jeff McDonald and Kelly Davis recently published the following on our jail conditions:

‘No meaningful treatment’: Doctor says San Diego County jails are the worst he’s ever seen —
An expert for the plaintiffs suing over jail conditions says San Diego County’s lockups are ‘far behind other jail and prison systems in California.’

By Marilyn, Ph.D. / Special to the OB Rag

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.  We have heard about the downsides to high density including increased traffic and the lack of parking. But an important factor that has been minimized is the impact of high density on our mental health.

When you see drastic changes that alter the fabric of our communities, it can feel overwhelming and disorienting. There are many reasons Protect Point Loma (www.ProtectPointLoma.com) was formed to protest the building of 1004 Rosecrans. For one, it has not been fully vetted by the professional experts as it relates to the impact on congestion, pollution or safety.

Other new projects in the area like the one on Lytton are larger scale and replace smaller buildings, which can change the neighborhood vibe from friendly to hostile. There does not seem to be anyone looking at the big picture as they approve multiple ADU’s in single family home backyards, huge apartment complexes and the high rises slotted to go in along Pacific Highway.