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The San Francisco Examiner published an Opinion piece by NUHW President Emeritus Sal Rosselli noting how Labor Day honors workers but also highlights the suffering caused by inadequate respect and support for mental health professionals. Despite efforts to destigmatize mental health care, insurance companies like Kaiser Permanente still treat it as inferior, leading to fewer providers accepting insurance and patients paying out of pocket. Today, Rosselli notes, many mental health professionals, including those at Kaiser, face disparities in pay and treatment, impacting patient outcomes.
NUHW’s gubernatorial debate to be held during our annual Leadership Conference in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 28 was covered by the Santa Monica Daily Press. Seven Democratic candidates vying to become California’s next governor will face off that day and members attending in person and watching online statewide will vote on our union’s political endorsement for the gubernatorial race afterwards.
The Guardian quoted NUHW President Emeritus Sal Rosselli in a story about ICE agents inside hospitals. “We’ve heard from members recently about ICE agents or ICE contractors being inside hospitals, which never occurred prior to this year,” Rosselli said.
NUHW’s 196-day strike against Kaiser Permanente earlier this year was included in an article by the Voice of OC about Labor Day being the time to recognize the contributions of workers in the broader economy and bolstering quality of life across the United States. The work stoppage and the agreement reached resulted in wage gains, patient protections and a pension plan for the NUHW members.
Half of college students rate their mental health as fair, poor, or terrible, according to a recent survey from The Steve Fund, a nonprofit that focused on the mental health of young people of color. The survey also found about 40% of students were “very or extremely stressed about maintaining their mental health” while in college. The stressors, reported Higher Ed Dive, vary from discrimination on campus, encounters with campus security or a lack of belonging, as well as the isolation they experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic caused by remote learning and not learning to interact with their peers.
KTVN reported that Kaiser Permanente is entering the Nevada market for the first time by acquiring a portion of Renown Health’s insurance arm, Hometown Health. Pending regulatory approval, Kaiser Permanente Nevada will open enrollment for health plan coverage to employers and northern Nevadans beginning in 2026.
The California Legislature has passed AB 260 that would allow doctors, pharmacists and others authorized to write prescriptions to anonymously mail abortion drugs by leaving their name off the prescription label. NPR reported the measure would also remove the name of the patient receiving the medication and the pharmacy that mails it. Abortion rights advocates say the measure adds to protections already on the books under the state’s existing shield law, one of a handful nationwide that protect doctors who mail abortion pills out of state by shielding them from extradition and other legal actions from states with abortion bans. The Providence healthcare system is going all in with AI, launching its “Office of Transformation” this year and expanding the use of ambient documentation technology, which records conversations with patients and offers summaries of those visits, Chief Healthcare Executive reported.
