Latest news with #Republican-sponsored
Miami Herald
03-07-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Study: Medicaid, Medicare don't adequately cover addiction treatment
July 1 (UPI) -- Opioid addicts covered by Medicare and Medicaid are less likely to receive the mental health and substance use treatment that they need, a new study says. Addicts with public insurance receive more than twice as many sessions if their therapy is also covered by other sources, such as court-mandated treatment, researchers report in the journal Addiction Science & Clinical Practice. "What's most striking is how insurance type fundamentally shapes patient treatment," said principal investigator Jamey Lister, an associate professor at the Rutgers University School of Social Work in New Jersey. "We discovered that patients with public insurance alone were less likely to utilize treatment services compared to those with multiple funding sources," Lister said. This news comes as Medicare and Medicaid face potential cuts from Republican-sponsored legislation making its way through Congress, researchers noted. About 10% of American adults suffer from both substance use and mental health disorders that require integrated treatment for both. For the new study, researchers analyzed records of 705 patients registered at a community health center in New Jersey between 2015 and 2021. During that period, the state's Medicaid coverage expanded under the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare). The patients all had been diagnosed with opioid use disorder, and 72% had another substance use disorder such as cannabis, cocaine or alcohol. About 39% also had a co-occurring mental health condition such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression or schizophrenia. Results show that people were more likely to get all the help they needed if they had additional coverage on top of Medicaid or Medicare. "It's the exact opposite of how we should be helping people," Lister said. "We should aspire to provide health care services that are driven by patient need, not by financing. But as we found, if you're only using public insurance, you're likely falling through the cracks." Cutting Medicaid and Medicare would make these problems worse, and cost the health care system even more in the long run, Lister argues. Lister pointed to a 2021 study published by the American Medical Association, which found that improving access to opioid addiction treatment can save between $25,000 to $105,000 in lifetime costs per person. In addition, overdoses, addiction and deaths account for $35 billion in health care costs annually, as well as nearly $15 billion in criminal justice costs, according to a Pew report highlighted by Lister. More information The National Institute of Mental Health has more on co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
UPI
01-07-2025
- Health
- UPI
Study: Medicaid, Medicare don't adequately cover addiction treatment
Addicts with public insurance receive more than twice as many sessions if their therapy is also covered by other sources, such as court-mandated treatment, researchers report in the journal Addiction Science & Clinical Practice. Adobe stock/HealthDay July 1 (UPI) -- Opioid addicts covered by Medicare and Medicaid are less likely to receive the mental health and substance use treatment that they need, a new study says. Addicts with public insurance receive more than twice as many sessions if their therapy is also covered by other sources, such as court-mandated treatment, researchers report in the journal Addiction Science & Clinical Practice. "What's most striking is how insurance type fundamentally shapes patient treatment," said principal investigator Jamey Lister, an associate professor at the Rutgers University School of Social Work in New Jersey. "We discovered that patients with public insurance alone were less likely to utilize treatment services compared to those with multiple funding sources," Lister said. This news comes as Medicare and Medicaid face potential cuts from Republican-sponsored legislation making its way through Congress, researchers noted. About 10% of American adults suffer from both substance use and mental health disorders that require integrated treatment for both. For the new study, researchers analyzed records of 705 patients registered at a community health center in New Jersey between 2015 and 2021. During that period, the state's Medicaid coverage expanded under the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare). The patients all had been diagnosed with opioid use disorder, and 72% had another substance use disorder such as cannabis, cocaine or alcohol. About 39% also had a co-occurring mental health condition such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression or schizophrenia. Results show that people were more likely to get all the help they needed if they had additional coverage on top of Medicaid or Medicare. "It's the exact opposite of how we should be helping people," Lister said. "We should aspire to provide health care services that are driven by patient need, not by financing. But as we found, if you're only using public insurance, you're likely falling through the cracks." Cutting Medicaid and Medicare would make these problems worse, and cost the health care system even more in the long run, Lister argues. Lister pointed to a 2021 study published by the American Medical Association, which found that improving access to opioid addiction treatment can save between $25,000 to $105,000 in lifetime costs per person. In addition, overdoses, addiction and deaths account for $35 billion in health care costs annually, as well as nearly $15 billion in criminal justice costs, according to a Pew report highlighted by Lister. More information The National Institute of Mental Health has more on co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Newsweek
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Full List of Democrats Voting to Condemn Los Angeles Anti-Trump Riots
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The House of Representatives approved on Friday a Republican-sponsored resolution "condemning the violent June 2025 riots in Los Angeles, California" against the administration of President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement, efforts by a vote of 215-195. Seven Democrats, including two from California, voted with their Republican colleagues to approve the resolution: Jim Costa (California) Henry Cuellar (Texas) Don Davis (North Carolina) Laura Gillen (New York) Jared Golden (Maine) Adam Gray (California) Tom Suozzi (New York) This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
More states pass laws restricting transgender people's bathroom use
A transgender activist clasps her hands while Kentucky state senators vote in 2023 on a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors. So far in 2025, at least eight states have passed or expanded laws restricting which bathrooms transgender people are allowed to use. () Nineteen states now have a law or policy banning transgender people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity. About 1 in 4 transgender people live in states with some form of bathroom restrictions, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit research group that tracks LGBTQ+-related legislation. So far this year, at least eight states have passed new transgender bathroom laws or expanded existing ones. In March, Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed a pair of Republican-sponsored bills restricting the use of bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings. The House bill requires public school students and anyone in a government building to use the bathroom or locker room corresponding with their sex assigned at birth, regardless of their gender identity, appearance or the gender on their legal documents. The Senate's bill, which requires public school students to use facilities that align with their sex at birth, was introduced after a local school board called on lawmakers to restrict bathroom use. SC senators approve K-12 mandate that 'a boy will use the boys' bathroom' Wyoming Republican Rep. Martha Lawley, who sponsored the House bill along with another one restricting transgender girls' participation in sports, called them 'commonsense measures.' 'As the first state to grant women the right to vote, we showed the nation that Wyoming leads when it comes to equal opportunity,' Lawley wrote in an op-ed she published online ahead of the legislative session. 'Now, we can lead again, ensuring our daughters and granddaughters can pursue their dreams with the same sense of fairness and security.' Earlier in the session, a local Wyoming basketball coach who is a transgender woman spoke against the bill because she said it would require her to share a restroom with teenage boys, WyoFile reported. Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota and West Virginia have also passed or expanded similar bathroom laws this year. South Carolina renewed its K-12 bathroom law this year as part of the state budget. The mandate — initially inserted into the budget last year during the Senate's floor debate — applies to multi-stalled school restrooms and places where students undress, to include locker rooms and gym showers. Such directives attached to South Carolina's state spending package — called provisos — are officially one-year laws. But they roll over from one year to the next indefinitely, unless legislators vote to take them out. There was no debate at all this year on the bathroom rule, which carries over into the fiscal year that starts Tuesday. A lawsuit challenging it was filed in federal court last November on behalf of a transgender middle school student in Berkeley County. Attorneys for the national nonprofit Public Justice have asked for the law to be suspended pending the case's outcome, but nothing has been decided. In Arizona, the legislature passed a bill in May that would have restricted school bathrooms and changing rooms, but Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed it, along with two other GOP-backed bills targeting transgender people. Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@ SC Daily Gazette Editor Seanna Adcox contributed to this report. Like the SC Daily Gazette, Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Governors of Western states give mixed reactions to proposed federal land sell-off
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Republican-sponsored proposal before Congress to mandate the sale of federal public lands received a mixed reception Monday from the governors of Western states. A budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee would mandate the sale of more than 2 million acres of federal lands to state or other entities. It was included recently in a draft provision of the GOP's sweeping tax cut package. At a summit Monday of Western state governors, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the approach is problematic in New Mexico because of the close relationship residents have with those public lands. 'I'm open' to the idea, said Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democratic governor and former congresswoman. 'Except here.' 'Our public lands, we have a very strong relationship with the openness, and they belong to all of us,' said Lujan Grisham, who was announcing written recommendations Monday on affordable housing strategies from the Western Governors' Association. 'And selling that to the private sector without a process, without putting New Mexicans first, is, for at least for me as a governor, going to be problematic.' Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum is among the leaders from several federal agencies scheduled to attend the meeting of the association on Monday and Tuesday. Conservation groups vowed to stage public protests over plans to cede public land to development. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon voiced qualified support for plans to tap federal land for development. 'On a piece-by-piece basis where states have the opportunity to craft policies that make sense ... we can actually allow for some responsible growth in areas with communities that are landlocked at this point,' he told a news conference outside the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in downtown Santa Fe. 'There may be value there.' Lee has said federal land sales under his proposal would target 'isolated parcels' that could be used for housing or infrastructure, and would not include national parks, national monuments or wilderness. Land in 11 Western states from Alaska to New Mexico would be eligible for sale. Montana was carved out of the proposal after its lawmakers objected. In some states, such as Utah and Nevada, the government controls the vast majority of lands, protecting them from potential exploitation but hindering growth.
