April Dembosky
April Dembosky is the health reporter for The California Report and KQED News. She covers health policy and public health, and has reported extensively on the economics of health care, the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act in California, mental health and end-of-life issues. Her work is regularly rebroadcast on NPR and has been recognized with awards from the Society for Professional Journalists (for sports reporting), and the Association of Health Care Journalists (for a story about pediatric hospice). Her hour-long radio documentary about home funeralswon the Best New Artist award from the Third Coast International Audio Festival in 2009. April occasionally moonlights on the arts beat, covering music and dance. Her story about the first symphony orchestra at Burning Man won the award for Best Use of Sound from the Public Radio News Directors Inc. Before joining KQED in 2013, April covered technology and Silicon Valley for The Financial Times, and freelanced for Marketplace and The New York Times. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Smith College.
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California is spending $111 million on advertising its ACA exchange — and 30 percent of its media buy on Latinos. But the messages are basic and educational in light of the ACA being under attack all year. Will a message of just "We're here, we're open" resonate with Latinos?
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Since the Trump administration slashed outreach funds and shortened the enrollment period to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans, local groups struggle to get the word out to Latinos and others. -
On extremely short notice, two hospitals had to evacuate all their patients as wildfires spread rapidly through Santa Rosa, Calif., last Sunday and Monday. One nurse on duty tells her story. -
Wildfires that spread quickly in Northern California meant that hospitals had to evacuate on the fly. One woman in the middle of childbirth tells her story. -
With contractions four and five minutes apart, Nicole Veum started to see and smell smoke at a Santa Rosa, Calif., hospital. -
This is the first step in a long game to develop clearer prescription drug pricing laws around the country, health policy experts say. -
A bill passed by the California Legislature requires drugmakers to give 60 days' notice before raising a drug's price by 16 percent or more over two years, and to justify the price increase. -
GOP efforts to repeal the ACA are still in flux, and there's more talk now of trying to work out bipartisan fixes for Obamacare. But most suggested remedies won't fix the problems in remote regions. -
A coalition of health clinics in northeast California is asking local officials to defend the Affordable Care Act. And some are, despite the area's conservative politics. -
After a teenager attempted suicide, her parents searched in vain for therapists who would take their insurance and were accepting new patients. The family paid for therapy with credit cards instead.
