The pharmaceutical industry's top trade group responded to growing anger over rising drug costs in 2017 by upping its federal lobbying spending by 30 percent.

Almost no one got everything they wanted out of the Monday deal to reopen the government — except perhaps medical device companies, who managed to fend off an industry-wide excise tax before the first payments were due.

Congress brought an end to a three-day government shutdown on Monday as Senate Democrats buckled under pressure to adopt a short-term spending bill to fund government operations without first addressing the fate of young undocumented immigrants.

With Congress ending the requirement that all Americans have health insurance, California leaders are preparing to counter that move by securing health care for as many residents as possible in a fortified state insurance exchange.

On November 8, 2016, California voters passed Proposition 64, or the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which immediately made it legal for adults 21 years of age and older to possess and cultivate specific amounts of marijuana for recreational use. (Through a variety of legislative actions, this law and the existing California law pertaining to medicinal marijuana were combined, and the combination is now known as the Medical and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act.) As of January 1, 2018, California adults can now buy marijuana from dispensaries licensed by the state of California.  While several states have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes, only eight have legalized recreational marijuana, and only very recently.  In this brave new world, many employers...

The political battle lines over single-payer healthcare in California are growing starker, with an alliance of doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners and other health providers ramping up their opposition to the proposal.