Latest news with #Pathways
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Proposed Republican cuts could undo opioid epidemic progress in Appalachia
For healthcare specialists around western Appalachia, the recent dramatic fall in opioid overdose deaths has been nothing short of spectacular. Last year saw a record decline of 30% in Kentucky to 1,410 people. In neighboring West Virginia, state health authorities estimate that there are at least 318 more people alive today due in large part to the availability and widespread use of naloxone or Narcan, a nasal spray that when administered in time, can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Recent years have seen a spate of treatment and recovery programs help initiate a dramatic fall in the number of people dying from illicit drug overdoses. In Tennessee alone, authorities have attributed it to saving 'at least 103,000 lives' between late 2017 and mid-2024. 'It's working damn good. I knew six months ago that [the number of overdose deaths decreased] from the street,' says Chris Tucker, who works with the healthcare provider Pathways in north-eastern Kentucky. 'It's a good upswing from what it was two years ago. You see success stories every day. If people are putting a foot forward, that's a success.' But now, the White House and Republican politicians are proposing cuts to programs and departments that could undo that hard-fought progress. On 2 May, the Trump administration announced proposed cuts of $33.3bn to the health and human services department budget that would eliminate, among other programs, $56m used to train first responders and law enforcement officers how to administer Narcan. In March, the White House cut more than $11bn in federal grants for addiction, mental health and infectious disease projects and programs. The same month, it announced plans to subsume the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) into the newly created Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). SAMHSA lost more than 100 staff in March and is set for further cuts. House Republicans have been looking to cut funding for Medicaid, a program that provides communities with millions of dollars in opioid treatment and recovery funding, a move that Trump has recently warned against. Many of the proposed funding cuts are a part of the administration's 2026 fiscal year budget proposal, which starts on 1 July. 'We still saw nearly 90,000 people die from overdoses last year. We owe it to them to do better and to save lives. The answer cannot be to cut these programs,' says Hanna Sharif-Kazemi of the Drug Policy Alliance. Few other places in the US will see the effects of funding cuts felt more than in Appalachian communities. And few Appalachian communities have been hit as hard as Huntington, West Virginia, part of a region situated along the banks of the Ohio river that major drug manufacturers swamped with highly addictive painkillers such as Oxycontin in decades past. Huntington's Cabell county has the highest opioid overdose death rate in what for years has been the worst-hit state in the country. Nearby in Kentucky's Boyd county, its 31 drug-related deaths in 2019 were more than three times the national level, and the second highest of any county in the Commonwealth. Kyle Gibson, 37, grew up in neighboring Boyd county, Kentucky, in the late 1990s. 'The thing I am concerned about is access to treatment, because there's a big pool of funding that puts peer supports in places where they otherwise wouldn't be – hospitals, ERs, syringe exchanges all over the place,' says Gibson, the regional director at Path Behavioral Healthcare in Huntington, an organization providing mental and behavioral health treatment across five states. 'They are meeting people at their most vulnerable point in their lives, trying to give them direction. If that was cut, that would be detrimental.' Now in recovery, Gibson's journey into addiction was similar to many others in this area. He found the painkiller OxyContin in his grandmother's house when he was in high school, which led him on the road to methamphetamines, Suboxone and other substance addictions. 'That was at a time when [doctors] were really pushing [highly addictive opioid painkillers]. Doctor shopping was a thing. For 11 years, it got real bad,' he says. 'I went to treatment just so my mom could sleep at night.' When authorities clamped down on pill mills and pharmaceuticals more than a decade ago, in their place came heroin, then synthetic opioids fentanyl and more recently, carfentanyl. Health experts say the pandemic contributed to a rise in loneliness in many small, rural communities, which in turn fueled a further wave of opioid overdose deaths. Kentucky saw a 49% increase in overdose deaths from 2019 to 2020. Two years later, it still ranked among states with the highest per capita opioid overdose fatalities. So for those who've worked hard to develop recovery and treatment efforts across Kentucky, the recent budget cuts are a major blow. 'Reducing this funding not only undermines life-saving work, it contradicts the goal of achieving greater government efficiency. Pulling support now would not only stall momentum but set us back years in the great investments we have made,' says Tara Hyde of People Advocating Recovery, a Louisville-based non-profit. Experts say the benefits of reducing the number of people dying from overdoses include having more people in local workforces, reducing the load on already-struggling hospital emergency rooms and staff, and parents being alive, healthy and able to raise their children. 'This progress has created momentum helping to reduce stigma, because more people are showcasing the reality of recovery and speaking out to show that they are thriving in the workforce, going to school, or learning a trade,' says Hyde. In Huntington, a city that's lost close to half its residents since the 1950s, population decline has now slowed to a trickle, while household income levels are on the rise. Still this region, which encompasses a corner of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, locally known as 'KYOVA' and dissected by the slow-moving Ohio river, the recent successes don't mean that communities have entirely left addiction, and its associated ills – poverty, crime and mental health – behind. Outside the Harmony House shelter on Huntington's 4th Avenue, around a dozen people with their belongings – sleeping bags, clothes and bottles of water gathered up in shopping carts – bake in the early summer heat. 'We're used to adapting and overcoming,' says Gibson, whose offices are a couple of blocks away, 'one way or the other.'
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Government adviser slams Mark Carney for promoting ‘decarbonized' oil pipelines
OTTAWA — The co-chair of the federal government's climate action advisory group is slamming Prime Minister Mark Carney for using fossil fuel 'marketing speak' at Monday's summit with provincial leaders, when he endorsed the idea of building new pipelines for 'decarbonized' oil. Simon Donner, a climate scientist at the University of British Columbia who co-chairs the Liberal government's Net Zero Advisory Body, alleged the term is misleading because it falsely suggests there is a way to burn fossil fuels without creating greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. 'There is no such thing as decarbonized oil and gas. Oil contains carbon. It is high school chemistry. And they emit carbon dioxide when they're used,' Donner told the Star. Prime Minister Mark Carney says there are discussions about building new pipelines to ship what he called decarbonized barrels of oil. But he says the range of the discussion is about more than just pipelines, involving the Western-Arctic corridor to move a broader number of products. (June 3, 2025 / The Canadian Press) 'The government is going to embarrass itself by using such industry and marketing speak.' Leaving a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill Tuesday, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson and Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin ignored questions about what the government means by 'decarbonized' oil. Carney made the statement at Monday's meeting with the premiers in Saskatoon, where his plan to fast-track development projects 'of national interest' took centre stage. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith — a staunch promoter of the fossil fuel sector who has long opposed federal climate policies like carbon pricing and regulations to limit emissions — said she was encouraged by the new government's approach. That included what she called a 'compromise' to allow new fossil fuel infrastructure to be built outside the current federal review process, which critics have blamed for blocking projects. Smith also said there was a 'grand bargain,' where the federal government would make it easier for the private sector to build new fossil fuel pipelines, while supporting plans under the 'Pathways Alliance' of oilsands companies to build a huge carbon capture project. During question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Hodgson referred to Smith's comments, describing the 'grand bargain' as a plan to 'build our energy superpower in an … environmentally responsible way, in consultation' with Indigenous Peoples. 'We support new pipelines if there is a national consensus,' Hodgson added. With billions of dollars in federal tax credits on the table, the Pathways carbon capture project is meant to reduce emissions from the extraction of fossil fuels, a process that is responsible for the largest share of any economic sector, as measured in Canada's most recent national tally of greenhouse gas pollution. In an emailed statement, Pathways president Kendall Dilling said the group is 'encouraged' by recent signs, including at this week's first ministers' meeting. 'We need every industry, including the oilsands, thriving and making vital contributions to the economy,' Dilling said. Janetta McKenzie, director of oil and gas at the Pembina Institute, a climate and environmental policy think tank, said Tuesday that it's important for Canada to press to reduce emissions from the production of oil, as greenhouse gas pollution from oil and gas extraction has increased by 70 per cent from 2005 to 2023, according to the national emissions tally. But with questions about when the Pathways project could come online, McKenzie said policies like carbon pricing and regulations to limit emissions are needed if high levels of production can continue without blowing Canada's effort to hit its emissions targets over the next decade. 'If we do want decarbonized barrels to be moving through this pipeline, there's something missing,' McKenzie said. The discussion highlights a political tightrope for the federal government on climate and energy policies, with pressure from environmentalists and those concerned about climate change to help the global crisis by reducing emissions, and demands from others to promote Canada's lucrative oil and gas sector. The industry generated $187 billion of economic activity in 2022, when it accounted for 30 per cent of Canada's total exports and employed almost 172,000 people, according to Natural Resources Canada . The government has said it remains committed to fighting climate change, but early signals of support for potential fossil fuel projects have prompted environmentalists to urge Carney to ' pick a lane ' between increased oil production and serious commitment to reducing emissions. Carney suggested last month that his government could change previous policies like the plan to create a regulatory cap to limit and start reducing emissions from the oil and gas sector to at least 19 per cent below 2019 levels between 2030 and 2032. Carney removed the national requirement for provinces and territories to have a consumer carbon price, while promising to strengthen industrial carbon pricing and other measures to ensure Canada hits its emissions targets. Canada is responsible for 1.41 per cent of global emissions in 2023, according to European Union figures . It has pledged to slash national emissions to 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, and at least 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035. Emissions were 8.5 per cent below 2005 levels in 2023, according to the most recent government tally.
Vancouver Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Alberta and Ottawa tout a grand bargain on 'decarbonized' oil but some are skeptical
OTTAWA — 'Grand bargain' was the phrase of the day on Parliament Hill after Prime Minister Mark Carney and his provincial counterparts found common ground on oil and gas development. 'If (the Conservatives) were listening to yesterday, there is a grand bargain,' Energy Minister Tim Hodgson boasted to the Opposition benches. 'There is a bargain that the premier of Alberta has signed onto.' Alberta Premier Danielle Smith left Monday's first ministers' meeting with a new deal exchanging oil sands access to coastal waters for massive investments in decarbonization technologies, but experts warn this could be a costly pipe dream. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'I'm worried we're seeing (the first ministers) fall into a trap of wanting to have their cake and eat it too,' said Tim McMillan, a partner at Garrison Strategy and the former head of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. Smith said Monday evening that she was encouraged by the inclusion of language endorsing the movement of 'decarbonized Canadian oil and gas by pipelines' in the meeting communiqué . 'Let's call it the grand bargain,' Smith told reporters in Saskatoon, referring to the idea of twinning new pipeline proposals with large-scale decarbonization projects. Carney said Monday that he'd consider fast-tracking a new oil pipeline to the West Coast if it shipped 'decarbonized barrels' to new markets. 'There's real potential there (and), if further developed, the federal government will look to advance it,' said Carney. But McMillan says the devil could be in the details. 'I don't know exactly what they're talking about with decarbonization, but… it may be linked to carbon capture, which does not increase our exports (or) investability,' said McMillan. 'If (carbon capture) becomes a long-term requirement for new projects, it will likely have a negative effect on future investments in Canada's upstream oil and gas sector.' The Calgary-based Pathways Alliance , a group of six major oil sands producers, has put forward a $16.5-billion decarbonization network that would reroute carbon emissions from nearly two dozen facilities to an underground hub near Cold Lake, Alta. The project has been at a standstill for years over government funding . Smith said Monday that the financial windfall of a new West Coast bitumen pipeline serving markets in Asia could help make the economics of the Pathways project work. 'If we had a million barrel a day pipeline going to the northwest (British Columbia) coast, that would generate about $20 billion a year in revenues… that seems like a pretty good value proposition if both of those projects can proceed at once,' said Smith. Carney and Hodgson have both paid lip service to the Pathways project in recent weeks, but the venture still faces an uphill battle. A recent independent analysis found the project was likely to lose money due to the limited recyclability of captured carbon. 'Even under optimal conditions, the Pathways project may struggle to break even, and real-world operations are rarely optimal,' read the study, prepared by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. 'The Canadian federal government and the province of Alberta may be pressured to make up the likely shortfall,' it continued. 'An unprofitable carbon capture project will struggle to bring lasting positive economic benefits to host communities and become dependent on external financial subsidies to maintain operations.' McMillan also noted that Canada's two biggest competitors in the heavy oil industry, Mexico and Venezuela, are unlikely to follow suit with large-scale carbon capture projects of their own, giving each an edge over Canada on a per-barrel basis. Pathways' President Kendall Dilling said Tuesday he was excited by the developments over the past 24 hours. 'Pathways Alliance is encouraged by the work our federal and provincial governments have been advancing, most recently at the First Ministers' meeting,' wrote Dilling in an email to the National Post. 'We're ready to work together for Canada's economic and energy future and provide input on how Canada can remove barriers and develop policies to grow Canada's oil sands and build infrastructure that brings our oil to diverse markets. At the same time securing the future of Canada's oil sands by making it competitive in global markets.' National Post rmohamed@ Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what's really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Gulf Today
4 days ago
- Health
- Gulf Today
Congress wants Medicaid recipients to work
Michelle Baruchman, Tribune News Service Georgia could soon become the poster child for administering Medicaid with work requirements — for better or worse. As Congressional Republicans seek to pass a budget bill enacting President Donald Trump's agenda, they're looking to require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work in order to receive their health care coverage. Georgia is presently the only state in the nation with work requirements for its Medicaid population. Here, Medicaid provides government-funded health care for some low-income people, with about 30 categories of eligibility including certain pregnant women, older widows and primary caregivers. Instead of embracing traditional Medicaid expansion, Gov. Brian Kemp sought to grow the number of insured Georgians through a conservative framework; his program provides Medicaid to people earning up to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level — about $15,000 for a single person — if they work at least 80 hours per month or meet academic or other requirements. But rather than leading to more Medicaid recipients working, Georgia's experience has led to people who could be eligible for the program unable to receive Medicaid, mostly because of bureaucratic red tape. While experts say Kemp's program, called Georgia Pathways to Coverage, has different aims, it could still provide lessons in both politics and policy. Pathways is designed to use health care as an incentive to get able-bodied individuals into the workforce on a limited basis. Eventually, the thinking goes, those part-time workers would transfer into full-time employees and become eligible for company-sponsored private health care plans, moving them off the government's rolls. According to Kemp's Office, at least 1,025 Pathways members have been referred to 'better, private health care coverage' through Georgia Access, the state's health care exchange, because their income increased. 'With this success it's no surprise that others are starting to emulate our innovative approach to health care coverage,' said Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Kemp. Chris Denson, the director of policy and research at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said Pathways is a way to increase health care coverage that is in line with the governor's vision without expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. States that expand Medicaid for people earning up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level, about $21,000 for an individual, have received additional federal funding to pay for it. About 40 states have expanded; Georgia has not. In Congress, lawmakers are looking for cuts that reduce the federal deficit, which is currently more than $1 trillion. Implementing work requirements nationwide among the existing able-bodied Medicaid population has been a Republican goal among those who believe there is waste and abuse in Medicaid. 'Medicaid has grown beyond its original intention to cover the aged, the blind, the disabled population, children, single mothers, and has grown to cover able-bodied individuals. That has long been an issue within conservative health circles,' Denson said. As part of discussions last year around easing regulations to establish new hospitals in Georgia, state Sen. Matt Brass, a Republican from Newnan, had voted for a form of Medicaid expansion. His thinking has shifted since then, and he supports work requirements and the Pathways programme. If you're going to use public money to pay for something, outside of those who are deaf, blind and disabled, you need to have some skin in the game,' he said. 'As long as you're working and a contributing member of society, then absolutely, I'm good with providing health care to help you do that.' Democrats understand that requiring Medicaid recipients to work for their benefits sounds like a good idea. A poll from the health research group KFF found that 62% of adults support work requirements. 'That actually makes sense to a lot of people. That sounds reasonable,' said state Rep. Michelle Au, a Democrat from Johns Creek. The problem, she said, is not with the work, it's with the administrative burden of reporting. 'There are people who actually are working and meet those hour eligibilities that still are not eligible for access through Pathways because of how onerous and difficult the reporting requirement is,' she said. 'It's building in a barrier to patients getting care.' KFF found that support for work requirements drops to 32% 'when those who initially support the proposal hear that most people on Medicaid are already working and many would risk losing coverage because of the burden of proving eligibility through paperwork.' Kemp's team initially expected fewer than 100,000 people to be enrolled in the program. As of earlier this year, there were about 6,500. Heather Payne is one of the patients struggling to get care. After she began having strokes a few years ago, she was no longer able to work her nursing job and has been waiting to get her disability application to be approved. She can't get Medicaid while her disability application is active, and she can't get Medicare without a disability status. Payne, 53, who lives in Dalton, recently decided to go back to school. Attending a public or private university of technical college is considered a qualifying activity for Pathways. But in addition to working clinical rotations, she's only taking nine credit hours right now, short of the 11.5 credit hours needed to be eligible for Pathways. 'I would have to take a full-time program at my school and work my clinical rotations to get the clinical experience I needed, to qualify to get Pathways,' she said. Other Georgians have said the portal to report work is a 'nightmare,' administrative support is lacking, and applicants are not given clear reasons why they are denied benefits.
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Health
- Miami Herald
Congress wants Medicaid recipients to work. Georgia provides a model
Georgia could soon become the poster child for administering Medicaid with work requirements - for better or worse. As Congressional Republicans seek to pass a budget bill enacting President Donald Trump's agenda, they're looking to require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work in order to receive their health care coverage. Georgia is presently the only state in the nation with work requirements for its Medicaid population. Here, Medicaid provides government-funded health care for some low-income people, with about 30 categories of eligibility including certain pregnant women, older widows and primary caregivers. Instead of embracing traditional Medicaid expansion, Gov. Brian Kemp sought to grow the number of insured Georgians through a conservative framework; his program provides Medicaid to people earning up to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level - about $15,000 for a single person - if they work at least 80 hours per month or meet academic or other requirements. But rather than leading to more Medicaid recipients working, Georgia's experience hasled to people who could be eligible for the program unable to receive Medicaid, mostly because of bureaucratic red tape. While experts say Kemp's program, called Georgia Pathways to Coverage, has different aims, it could still provide lessons in both politics and policy. Health care as a carrot Pathways is designed to usehealth care as an incentive to get able-bodied individuals into the workforce on a limited basis. Eventually, the thinking goes, those part-time workers would transfer into full-time employees and become eligible for company-sponsored private health care plans, moving them off the government's rolls. According to Kemp's Office, at least 1,025 Pathways members have been referred to "better, private health care coverage" through Georgia Access, the state's health care exchange, because their income increased. "With this success it's no surprise that others are starting to emulate our innovative approach to health care coverage," said Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Kemp. Chris Denson, the director of policy and research at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said Pathways is a way to increase health care coverage that is in line with the governor's vision withoutexpanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. States that expand Medicaid for people earning up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level, about $21,000 for an individual, havereceived additional federal funding to pay for it. About 40 states have expanded; Georgia has not. In Congress, lawmakers are looking for cuts that reduce the federal deficit, which is currently more than $1 trillion. Implementing work requirements nationwide among the existing able-bodied Medicaid population has been a Republican goal among those who believe there is waste and abusein Medicaid. "Medicaid has grown beyond its original intention to cover the aged, the blind, the disabled population, children, single mothers, and has grown to cover able-bodied individuals. That has long been an issue within conservative health circles," Denson said. As part of discussions last year around easing regulations to establish new hospitals in Georgia, state Sen. Matt Brass, a Republican from Newnan, had voted for a form of Medicaid expansion. His thinking has shifted since then, and he supports work requirements and the Pathways program. "If you're going to use public money to pay for something, outside of those who are deaf, blind and disabled, you need to have some skin in the game," hesaid. "As long as you're working and a contributing member of society, then absolutely, I'm good with providing health care to help you do that." Challenges with enforcement Democrats understand that requiring Medicaid recipients to work for their benefits sounds like a good idea. A poll from the health research group KFF found that 62% of adults support work requirements. "That actually makes sense to a lot of people. That sounds reasonable," said state Rep. Michelle Au, a Democrat from Johns Creek. The problem, she said, is not with the work, it's with the administrative burden of reporting. "There are people who actually are working and meet those hour eligibilities that still are not eligible for access through Pathways because of how onerous and difficult the reporting requirement is," she said. "It's building in a barrier to patients getting care." KFF found that support for work requirements drops to 32% "when those who initially support the proposal hear that most people on Medicaid are already working and many would risk losing coverage because of the burden of proving eligibility through paperwork." Kemp's team initially expected fewer than 100,000 people to be enrolled in the program. As of earlier this year, there were about 6,500. Heather Payne is one of the patients struggling to get care. After she began having strokes a few years ago, she was no longer able to work her nursing job and has been waiting to get her disability application to be approved. She can't get Medicaid while her disability application is active, and she can't get Medicare without a disability status. Payne, 53, who lives in Dalton, recently decided to go back to school. Attending a public or private university of technical college is considered a qualifying activity for Pathways. But in addition to working clinical rotations, she's only taking nine credit hours right now, short of the 11.5 credit hours needed to be eligible for Pathways. "I would have to take a full-time program at my school and work my clinical rotations to get the clinical experience I needed, to qualify to get Pathways," she said. Other Georgians have said the portal to report work is a "nightmare," administrative support is lacking, and applicants are not given clear reasons why they are denied benefits. When Arkansas implemented work requirements for Medicaid during the first Trump administration, one study found that 18,000 people lost coverage mostly because of the reporting requirements. The state then moved to a model where it purchased private health insurance plans for low-income people, but Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders asked the federal government in January to return to implementing work requirements. When Pathways launched, Georgians were required to again prove their eligibility under the work rules every month. A Georgia commission of health policy experts recommended in a December report that Pathways align with other human services programs that conduct annual verification to "improve participant user experience." In the Pathways renewal request that Kemp's office submitted in March, the state requested to remove the monthly reporting requirement and replace it with annual reporting at their time of renewal. However, the "big, beautiful bill" the House approved would require reporting at least every six months. Laura Colbert, the executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, said frequent checks are difficult and expensive. There is more churn within the system because people are often falling in and out of care. Path forward Proponents of work requirements say they offer flexibility while looking for employment "If you can't find a job, there's no reason why you can't volunteer your time to help others," Brass said. But, "if you're between jobs, you want them to be applying, and interviewing and doing all these things," Au said. "How are you supposed to find another job" if you're busy volunteering? "Medicaid is not an employment program," she said. "The programmatic goal of Medicaid as a federal program is to provide health insurance coverage." Republicans want to pass a budget bill through Congress by July 4. _____ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
