March 2016 - Links to Additional Articles, Videos, and Information from Around the Nation

March 2016 - Links to additional articles, videos, and information from around the nation

Loneliness can be a lethal health risk
Scientists say social isolation can cause bodily damage that’s just as bad as diabetes or obesity.
By Amy Ellis Nutt •Read more»

Ragan continues efforts to stop Medicaid privatization
globegazette.com

Medicaid communications constitutionally protected?

Editorial: To Obama: Save our Medicaid program

Iowa Senate to pass Medicaid privatization repeal

Opponents ask if Medicaid network is ready | The Gazette
Republican: I'll vote to end Iowa’s privatized Medicaid

Iowa Medicaid transition dominates Dubuque crackerbarrel

Branstad: Culver trying to 'torpedo' Medicaid privatization

Uncertainty marks Iowa Medicaid forum
qctimes.com

Iowa Senate votes to end Medicaid privatization | The Gazette

Three Republicans join Iowa Senate Democrats in vote to terminate Medicaid privatization

Keep politics out of Medicaid debate | The Gazette

WellCare drops its Iowa Medicaid fight
dmreg.com

Editorial: DHS holds private talks on matters of public interest

Dmreg.com

CMS Letter to Branstad Administration

Scribd.com

Feds OK Medicaid privatization, with another delay

Dmreg.com

Culver to lead Medicaid protest rally at Iowa Capitol

Dmreg.com

Initial losses, then profits projected for Medicaid managers
Dmreg.com

Medicaid oversight: 'Where’s the teeth?'
DMreg.com

Managed care: An Iowa family's journey | The Gazette

Zaun: State Medicaid transition date set
dmreg.com

The Des Moines Register: Halt Devastating Medicaid Plan
Concerns of participants, providers, and all stakeholders engaged in the Medicaid system make it clear that Iowa’s rush to privatize Medicaid does not fulfill the [League of Women Voters of Iowa's] priority for quality healthcare. (Deborah Ann Turner, 2/23)

Des Moines Register: Senators Try To Halt Medicaid Privatization Plan
State senators pushed ahead Monday with their plan to reverse privatization of the state’s massive Medicaid program, even though Iowa House Republicans have vowed to block them. A key Senate committee voted to terminate contracts awarded by Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration last year to three national managed-care companies, which are slated to start running the Medicaid program March 1. The Senate Human Resources Committee voted 9-3 on Monday afternoon in favor of Senate Study Bill 3081. Sen. David Johnson was the only Republican to join Democrats in voting for the bill. (Leys and Petroski, 2/8

Des Moines Register: Iowa Senate To Pass Medicaid Privatization Repeal
Iowa Senate Democrats say they will approve a bill next week to repeal Gov. Terry Branstad's plan to privatize Iowa's Medicaid program. However, House Republicans are signaling that the measure will be dead on arrival when they receive it. ... The state-federal Medicaid health insurance program serves about 560,000 low-income and disabled Iowans at a cost of about $4.2 billion annually. Branstad, a Republican, has pushed for outside management of Medicaid to control costs and improve patient outcomes. But the scheduled Jan. 1 implementation of the change was delayed by federal officials until at least March 1 because of numerous problems that have arisen. (Petroski, 2/4)

Iowa Public Radio: Democrats: Repeal Medicaid Privatization
Democrats say privatizing Medicaid will disrupt long-standing relations between patients and providers and compromise patient care. Their bill would cancel the contracts with three for-profit, out of state companies chosen to manage the program. Democrats report numerous complaints from Medicaid patients and their families. Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer is also hearing from constituents. “I’m hearing people with questions and the reason we’re having so many questions is because we’re spending our time protecting the status quo instead of moving forward,” Upmeyer says. “Any change is a challenge for all of us.” (Russell, 2/4)

The Associated Press: Iowa Democrats Propose Bill To End Medicaid Privatization
Republican House Speaker Linda Upmeyer said the bill would have no chance of passing in her chamber and that she is disappointed that opponents continue to fight Branstad's privatization plan. "I'm certainly not interested in passing any bill that faces a certain veto, so that's probably not something we'll do," she said. Upmeyer said the current Medicaid system continually uses up more state funding and has problems because it doesn't focus on wellness, chronic disease management and making people better. (Pitt, 3/4)

The Washington Post: Iowan Asks Ted Cruz What Will Happen If He Repeals Obamacare
His voice quavering with emotion, Mike Valde told Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) about his brother-in-law: He was a barber who couldn’t afford health care until the Affordable Care Act, and after getting coverage he went to the doctor for the first time in years, and was diagnosed with multiple tumors. He died soon after. “Mark never had health care until Obamacare,” Valde told Cruz in a middle school cafeteria here. “What are you going to replace it with?” (Zezima, 1/30)

Des Moines Register: Culver, Democrats Defend Antiquated Medicaid System
The caucus chaos may have died down, but there is a new political circus in town. This week, Senate Democrats are teaming up with former Gov. Chet Culver. Culver is embarking on a series of anti-Medicaid modernization town halls, while Iowa Senate Democrats appear poised to pass legislation to terminate the modernization of the Iowa Medicaid system. (Jimmy Centers, 2/9)

The Daily Chronicle: Student's Death Shows Need For Mental Health Services
Quintonio LeGrier was an amiable young man, one of his high school math teacher’s favorite students. He was an inspiration, a determined person who motivated others to be better. At least, that was how friends and relatives described the 19-year-old Northern Illinois University sophomore at his funeral Jan. 9. But fellow students’ accounts and police records hint that the avid chess enthusiast and playground basketball player, who spent most of his childhood in foster care, might have been among the growing population of people who suffer from mental illness. (Gillespie, 1/31)

The Huffington Post: An Iowa Voter Forced Ted Cruz To Confront The Human Toll Of Repealing Obamacare
Republicans have spent nearly six years promising to repeal Obamacare and, for most of that time, they have refused to acknowledge what that would mean for the millions who would lose their health insurance. On Saturday afternoon in Iowa, for at least a few minutes, one Republican couldn't get away with it. (Jonathan Cohn, 1/30)

Minnesota Public Radio: A Kid, A Stolen Cellphone, And Invisible Faces Of Mental Illness
It’s a monumentally sad story published in today’s Pioneer Press. He’s Dejuan Quashon Montgomery, and he’s probably heading back to prison soon because he stole a 9-year-old girl’s cellphone while she was standing on a street corner earlier this month talking to her father. You might see it as a crime story. I see it as a health story. The cops, in releasing a photo after the incident, called the thief “despicable.” (Bob Collins, 1/29)

Best practices: Screen for depression on admission

Since 2014, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has routinely screened all admitted patients for depression, making it one of the first U.S. hospitals to do so. About 1% of the patients screened are found to be at risk for suicide, which hospital leaders say would have been hard to detect in the past. Read More

The New York Times: An Eating Disorder In People With Diabetes
People with Type 1 diabetes, who don’t produce their own insulin, require continuous treatments with the hormone in order to get glucose from the bloodstream into the cells. When they skip or restrict their insulin, either by failing to take shots or manipulating an insulin pump, it causes sugars — and calories — to spill into the urine, causing rapid weight loss. But the consequences can be fatal. (Rabin, 2/1)

The New York Times: New Plan To Treat Schizophrenia Is Worth Added Cost, Study Says
A new approach to treating early schizophrenia, which includes family counseling, results in improvements in quality of life that make it worth the added expense, researchers reported on Monday. The study, published by the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin, is the first rigorous cost analysis of a federally backed treatment program that more than a dozen states have begun trying. In contrast to traditional outpatient care, which generally provides only services covered by insurance, like drugs and some psychotherapy, the new program offers other forms of support, such as help with jobs and school, as well as family counseling. (Carey, 2/1)

Iowa Public Radio: Meridian And WellCare Continue Fighting For A Piece Of Medicaid
Healthcare companies WellCare and Meridian are continuing their fights to manage a piece of Iowa’s $4.2 billion Medicaid system. WellCare was one of four companies selected to privatize Medicaid. But its contract was terminated after Administrative Law Judge Christie Scase determined it had violated rules of the bid process. (Boden, 2/1)

Des Moines Register: Are Medicaid Communications Constitutionally Protected?
A company stripped of its role in managing Iowa’s $4.2 billion Medicaid for improper communications with Gov. Terry Branstad’s staff argued Monday that those talks are constitutionally protected. Iowa in December terminated WellCare's lucrative contract to work as one of the companies behind a controversial plan to privatize Iowa’s Medicaid management. “We’re not just throwing up a constitutional argument to see if it will get us more attention,” WellCare attorney Robert Highsmith Jr. said during a court hearing Monday. "These are fundamental foundational principles of First Amendment law.” (Clayworth, 2/1)

The Gillette (Wyo.) News Record: Mental Illness Proves Tough, Costly To Fight
As she pulled into the Force Road suburb, Trish Simonson felt her mother's intuition kick in. Something was wrong. The lights were off, but her son, Kaden, hated the dark. Her mind raced. Was it a robbery? What if someone had hurt Kaden? She rushed inside and flipped on the light. The dogs were huddled strangely on the floor. She called out, but Kaden didn't answer. What if ... ? She made her way toward the back of the home, to Kaden's room. The lights didn't work, and it was dark — but not enough to obscure the view. Kaden was dead. He had shot himself. He was just 15. "In half a second he was gone," she said. (Jarmusz, 2/2)

The Des Moines Register: Let's Stop The Opioid Overdose Epidemic
Last fall, I listened as a mother named Cary Dixon told her family’s story at a forum I convened in West Virginia. It was heartbreaking. Cary’s adult son has struggled with a substance use disorder for years, and she described the pain that families like hers have gone through. “We dread the next phone call,” she said. “We don’t take vacations for fear of the next crisis. We come back from vacations because there’s a crisis.” (President Barack Obama, 2/2)

Congress Eschews Conventional Wisdom on Criminal Justice Reform
Morning Consult—Feb. 1 | National
Obama Bans Solitary Confinement for Juveniles in Federal Prisons
The Washington Post—Jan. 26 | National
U.S. Senator Cornyn: Bexar’s Mental Health Innovations a National Model
San Antonio Express-News—Jan. 25 | Texas
State Prisons Turn to Telemedicine to Improve Health and Save Money
Stateline—Jan. 21 | National
Northeast Johnson County Cities Looking to Bring on Mental Health Expert to Assist in Police Calls
Prairie Village Post—Jan. 20 | Kansas
Where We Have Been and Where We Need To Go: A Correctional Health Care Expert’s View
Corrections.com—Jan. 18 | National

House Judiciary Committee Approves Bill to Improve Care for Mentally Ill Offenders
U.S. House of Representatives—Jan. 12 | National
In Drug Epidemic, Resistance to Medication Costs Lives
Stateline—Jan. 11 | National
New Governors Get Smarter on Medicaid
The New York Times—Jan. 11 | National
Franklin County Looks at Mental Illness in Jail
WITF—Jan. 10 | Ohio
New York Takes Steps to Make the Use of Solitary Confinement More Humane
The Washington Post—Jan. 8 | New York
Senators Blunt, Stabenow Will Introduce Bill to Expand Funding for Community Mental Health Services
Office of U.S. Senator Roy Blunt—Jan. 6 | National

What Obama's Executive Action Means for Mental Health Funding
ABC News *NAMI Ron Honberg
Experts discuss mental health provisions in the executive order on gun control
Sinclair Broadcast Group (150 stations) *NAMI Ron Honberg (video and text)
Under Gun Rules, F.B.I. Will Receive Health Data
New York Times *NAMI Andrew Sperling
Improving the Federal Response to Challenges in Mental Health Care in America
U.S. Senate HELP Committee hearing (video) *NAMI witness
Scientists open the Œblack box¹ of schizophrenia with dramatic genetic discovery
Washington Post
Task Force: Doctors Should Screen All Adults For Depression
USA Today

Neighbor worries that neighbor has mental illness
Ask Amy (syndicated column; 100+ papers)
Improving The State Of Mental Health Care In 2016
Forbes
Top Legislative Issues to Watch in 2016
Governing
Mental health legislative update: 2015 achievements acknowledged, 2016 ambitions outlined
MinnPost
16 Ways To Improve Your Mental Health In 2016
Huffington Post
The Chicago shootings and why so many police calls involving the mentally ill end in death
Washington Post
U.S. police get little training to handle crises with mentally ill
Reuters
Mental health and gun violence meet at a bumpy crossroad
Modern Healthcare
Increasing access to mental health services‹a sensible strategy for reducing gun violence
The Lancet
Report: Military Suicide on the Rise
Task & Purpose

Economic View

The Big Problem With High Health Care Deductibles

By MARGOT SANGER-KATZ

Research shows higher deductibles reduce spending, but it does not show that they lead workers to compare prices or make wise choices on where to cut.

Many Rural Hospitals May Close

Des Moines Register: Wellcare's Acts Don't Deserve Constituitional Protection
You have to hand it to the folks at Wellcare: They’ve got brass. The company was recently stripped of its role as one of four managed care companies poised to take over the administration of Iowa’s $4.2 billion Medicaid program. The state ultimately terminated Wellcare's contract to handle the work partly because of improper communications company representatives had with Gov. Terry Branstad’s staff in the midst of a “blackout period.” During that time, bids from Wellcare and its competitors were being reviewed and communications with state agencies were restricted. (2/7)

Tackling the social determinants of health

Urban public health departments are launching new initiatives to address the social determinants of ill health, which are now seen as a contributing factor to the social unrest of recent years. Experts say such efforts represent an evolution of the core mission of public health departments. Read More

My dad killed himself when I was 13. He hid his depression. I won’t hide mine.
"I’m not ashamed of his life or his mental illness or his suicide. The burden of silence ends with me."
By Amy Marlow •Read more»

The Chicago Sun-Times: Aldermen Want 'Mental Health Safety Net' In Wake Of Police Shootings
Chicago will face more police shootings that trigger multi-million dollar settlements unless steps are taken to strengthen mental health services devastated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2012 decision to close six of the city’s 12 mental health clinics, aldermen argued Wednesday. One week after Emanuel stepped up crisis intervention training for Chicago Police officers and 911 call takers to dramatically improve the city’s response to emergencies involving people suffering from mental illness, eight aldermen argued that the mayor’s response was nowhere near enough. (Spielman, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: House Passes Bill Focused On Mental Health Of Female Veterans
Under a House bill passed Tuesday, the Department of Veterans Affairs would have to look closely at whether its mental health and suicide prevention programs meet the needs of the growing number of female veterans. A study released over the summer found that women who have served in the military commit suicide at nearly six times the rate of those in the civilian population. (Wire, 2/10)

Senators debate details of mental health bills and again clash on gun control

Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed Wednesday that the country's behavioral health system and criminal justice system need overhauling, but weren't in lockstep on the legislative vehicle to do so. Read More

WNPR: Former Connecticut Lawmaker's Son Lost in Mental Health System's "Revolving Door"

The Mighty: What to Do When You’re Worried a Loved One Might Be Suicidal