Kaiser mental health clinicians and patients protest long wait times

On Sunday afternoon, over 100 therapists, patients, and their supporters from across Northern California gathered in downtown Oakland to stage a vigil in front of Kaiser Permanente’s corporate office—one they said they’d run indefinitely until the corporation’s leadership takes big steps to make their clinicians’ jobs more sustainable and improve access to mental health care.…

Read More

Kaiser Permanente gets into new negotiations with workers’ unions

National Bargaining Training - Oakland Marriott City Center - Oakland, California - April 18, 2019 Image Courtesy of Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (CKPU)

Representatives from health giant Kaiser Permanente and unions representing its workers returned to the bargaining table late last week to resume contract talks with over 80,000 union members across the nation. Some 63,800 of those members are from California, and they are asking their employer for a renewal of their national agreement, which expired last…

Read More

Tens of millions of dollars pour into Prop 8 which seeks to limit dialysis center profits

Image of no prop 8 on a door

Billion-dollar dialysis companies and a labor union are spending tens of millions of dollars to sway Proposition 8 votes their way on Election Day. Health experts say the proposition is unlikely to improve care for dialysis patients and may put care out of reach for patients in low-income areas.

But they also say risky practices in the industry put patients’ lives at risk.

Read More

Alameda County residents talk Affordable Care Act with Rep. Barbara Lee

Audience members at a town hall meeting on the Affordable Care Act hosted by Representative Barbara Lee on February 18, 2017. Photo by Julia Vassey.

Over a thousand people gathered Saturday at the International Community School in Oakland for a town hall meeting to discuss Alameda County’s efforts to defend the Affordable Care Act. The event was organized by the office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who represents California’s 13th district, which includes Oakland. The school gym holding the town hall…

Read More

Health tech companies leaving Mission Bay for downtown Oakland, citing lower rent

View of downtown Oakland.

Biotech companies, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and physicians’ group Brown & Toland to downtown Oakland, are moving to downtown Oakland. The city, already home to health giants like Kaiser Permanente and household products maker Clorox Co., offers a more attractive price points with easy access to transit, according to biotech companies making the move to Oakland.

Read More