A report on rural California health care in 2025 blamed political differences and politicizing of medical services for some of Shasta County’s health care troubles.

Shasta and Lassen counties face some of the “most pressing health care challenges” statewide, according to the California Health Care Foundation, a Sacramento- and Oakland-based nonprofit that evaluates health care equity, affordability and access in low-income communities.

“Residents experience high death rates from chronic disease, suicide, and drug overdoses” the foundation’s annual report said, while “a severe (medical) workforce shortage limits access to care.”

The report said divergent political views are stymieing health care progress throughout the region. That’s because most of the area’s population lives in Shasta County, “where political polarization has created additional barriers to county health services and recruiting health professionals.”

However, county health officials said they’re taking the lead in cooperative efforts that seek to build more health care infrastructure and bring more doctors to the area.

The region that takes in Shasta and Lassen counties was one of seven investigated by the foundation.

Politicizing public health contributed to Shasta’s health care crisis, report said

Shasta’s political divergence affected people’s access to health services in 2025, the report said. It caused dysfunction in public health operations, discouraged potential health professional recruitment and slowed a health infrastructure project.

Political differences in leadership and policy at Shasta County Health and Human Services started just after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic or five years prior to the report’s findings.

Elected officials clashed with former county health administrators over implementing the state’s shelter-in-place order, masking and gathering restrictions in 2020 and 2021. They also clashed over vaccination guidelines for educators, medical workers and the general public in a community divided over vaccine hesitancy.

That upheaval and continued friction between politicians and health workers caused further gaps in Shasta’s health care workforce as medical workers opted to retire, were fired or took jobs elsewhere. The continued “politicization of public health creates additional barriers in a region already struggling with workforce shortages and limited resources,” the report said.

HHSA countered it has been working to address the health care services shortage.

“In June 2025, Shasta County’s Health Officer (Dr. James Mu) declared a public health crisis due to a significant physician shortage in Shasta County,” HHSA Director Christy Coleman said in a statement about the report emailed to the Record Searchlight.

“In response, one of the County Strategic Plan goals identified one key goal: increase access to effective health care and behavioral health services, including participation in community efforts to support the addition of a regional medical school in Shasta County,” Coleman said.

HHSA “is leading the committee responsible for advancing this goal,” and is collaborating with “community partners to identify and implement strategies that will expand access to health care and behavioral health services for residents throughout the county.”

The California Health Care Foundation’s report also blamed political polarization for stymieing new behavioral health infrastructure; specifically the True North Behavioral Health Campus build project.

While three of the five Shasta County supervisors opposed building the facility in October 2025 — Supervisor Kevin Crye initially called the proposed mental health treatment facility “evil” and a “boondoggle” — they threw more support behind the project in the weeks that followed after they learned planners were applying for state grant money to cover much of the cost. However, the True North project wasn’t on the California Department of Health Care Services’ list of 2026 grant recipients in March.

Note to readers: If you appreciate the work we do here at the Redding Record Searchlight, please consider subscribing yourself or giving the gift of a subscription to someone you know.

Shasta and Lassen counties’ services couldn’t meet health care demands

The report also blamed federal and state budget cuts for hurting the combined 60% of Shasta-Lassen residents covered by Medi-Cal or Medicare. The result was the area’s already-limited mental and other health care organizations couldn’t keep up with demand in 2025, according to the report.

Deaths due to drug-related overdoses were roughly 70% higher than the state’s overall rate in 2025, the report said; there were 49 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to the state’s overall average of 29.1 deaths.

Shasta County’s overall death rate is almost 60% higher than statewide, while Lassen County’s is 31% higher. “Contributing factors include high rates of death related to chronic disease, suicide, firearms and alcohol and drug use,” the report said.

The California Health Care Foundation chose to study and report on Shasta and Lassen counties “after looking at care utilization and referral patterns and talking with experts around the state,” the nonprofit’s spokesperson Madison Torres said.

Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica on Record Searchlight Facebook groups Get Out! Nor Cal , Today in Shasta County and Shaping Redding’s Future. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County health care crisis linked to politics, report finds