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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NewsMonthly premiums for health insurance plans in the Covered California marketplace will increase by an average of 4 percent for 2016. The price for some plans will drop. -
NewsThe superior court judge says questions raised in the case should be decided by legislatures or voters, not the court. The terminally ill plaintiffs say they'll appeal his decision. -
NewsAfter filmmaker Christopher Lee died, his death certificate listed him as "female." His friends helped to change the way California law handles the death certificates of transgender people. -
NewsThe results are coming in for the first medical school candidates who took a revamped exam that includes a wider range of subjects, including psychology and sociology. -
NewsCalifornia lawmakers have decided to tighten the criteria for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children. But some parents resent officials telling them how to care for their children. -
Pharmacists in California will soon be able to prescribe birth control. While some doctors' groups are skeptical, lawmakers say pharmacists can fill a need for primary care providers, especially in rural areas.
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Under a new law being implemented in California, women will be able to walk into a pharmacy, get a prescription for contraceptive pills, the ring, or the patch, and get it filled — all in one visit. -
The agency that administers Obamacare in California moved to make expensive medicines more affordable in 2016. In most plans, patients will pay no more than $150 or $250 a month. -
In veiled conversations, some doctors may explain to dying patients how to hasten death. But overwhelmed families are left with profound questions and the feeling that no one can answer them. -
Friction between close business partners is the reason many startups fail. But increasingly in Silicon Valley, co-founders of companies are turning to therapists before things go south.
