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Tina Ridler has been living with long COVID since 2020. The condition has sent her to the hospital many times, including a trip to the emergency department to treat a life-threatening blood clot. Until now, Ridler has never been afraid to seek medical care. Ridler, 60, is delaying health appointments at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for fear of crossing paths with agents from Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), who are conducting raids and arrests near the hospital. Although Ridler is a US citizen who was born in this country, she said she worries about being stopped in her car, hassled by ICE agents, or caught up in the crossfire. (Szabo, 1/16)

There’s a spot on El Camino Real on the San Francisco Peninsula where Dr. Deborah Kado likes to get brunch after working out on the weekends, and lately she’s spotted a trend: protesters, not a lot of them, but all looking over age 65, marching down the street with signs and flags. “It’s not a super diverse group in any way, shape or form,” said Kado, a Stanford geriatrician and co-director of the Stanford Longevity Center. “But what it says to me is that, regardless of age, this person has agency. They’re saying, ‘Look at me, I have something to say.’” (Allday, 1/19)

Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened many times to withhold state homelessness funds from cities and counties that aren’t doing enough to get people off the streets. This year, those threats seem more real than ever. Newsom’s administration and the Legislature are adding new strings to that money, which they hope will help address one of the state’s most obvious policy failures: Despite California’s large recent investments in homelessness, encampments are still rampant on city streets. But cities and counties already are chafing under the tightening requirements, which they worry will make it harder to access crucial state funds without directly improving conditions on the street. (Kendall and Christopher, 1/16)

State officials last week voted to tap private health insurance plans to make up for an expected loss in funding and rate-setting control as Maryland transitions to a new federal framework for Medicare payments to state hospitals. The changes approved Wednesday by the Health Services Cost Review Commission will not take effect for at least a year, but will likely mean higher premiums for people on private health insurance plans when they do kick in. (Brown, 1/19)

Tampa Bay's oncology "arms race" took a major step with the recent grand opening of Moffitt Cancer Center's outpatient center in Pasco County, adding to a flurry of recent expansions and new technologies aimed at elevating cancer care in the region. The 120,000-square-foot outpatient facility — the first completed project on Moffitt's 775-acre Speros biotech campus — will begin treating patients Monday. Services will include cancer screenings, imaging, infusion and specialty clinics. (Mayer, 1/19)

A Portland, Oregon, boy is struggling to recover from infant botulism after drinking contaminated ByHeart baby formula donated through a program that aims to help poor and homeless families. Ashaan Carter, now 10 months old, was hospitalized twice and remains on a feeding tube after contracting the dangerous infection that has sickened more than 50 babies across the U.S. (Aleccia, 1/19)

A recent sample from Dupo’s public water system exceeded state and federal limits for so-called “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday. (Cortes, 1/19)