Week of Feb. 6–10, 2023

Week of Feb. 6–10, 2023

General Articles

• The number of suicides increased in 2021 to the highest levels seen in four years, according to new federal data. The report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looked at how many people died by suicide between 2018 and 2021 as well as breaking down the chart by race and ethnicity. Results showed that 48,183 Americans died by suicide in 2021 with a rate of 14.1 suicides per 100,000 people. Read more here.
• At the population level, cancer screening helps in preventing death from the screened-for cancer, but screening may not lower overall mortality. A 2009 study found that prostate cancer patients were substantially more likely to die from suicide and heart attack than the general population. The mental anguish and stress of a diagnosis may increase death risk by triggering other deadly events and diseases. These risks relate to routine screening across populations—not to targeted cancer tests in those already showing signs or symptoms of cancer. Read more here.
• Sue and Michael were nervous because Michael had suffered adverse reactions to some psychiatric medications in the past. But this time, they had one source of reassurance as they headed to the hospital: a psychiatric advance directive. That’s a legal tool allowing someone with mental illness to instruct medical providers about what kind of treatment and medications they prefer—and which ones they do not—in the event of a mental health crisis. Read more here.
• In the absence of adequate psychiatric services in the community, Texans with mental illnesses like Rory often end up homeless, interacting with law enforcement and languishing in emergency rooms or jails. Now, the state’s network of county jails is the largest mental health system in Texas, according to the Texas Association of Counties. “The holes in the community are big and gaping when you look at access to mental health,” said Lt. Scott Soland with the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office. Read more here. 
  

Youth Mental Health

• The rate of young people taking their own lives with firearms in the U.S. has increased faster than for any other age group, and the youth suicide rate is at its highest point in more than 20 years, according to a new gun violence prevention report by Everytown For Gun Safety and first obtained by ABC News. Experts have not pinned down exactly what is causing more young people to turn to suicide with guns, the report notes. But increased anxiety and depression, likely exacerbated by the pandemic, along with the impacts of social media and cyberbullying are among the theorized drivers. Read more here.
• That week, Haley was one of 115 children and teenagers who came to a Massachusetts hospital ER in a mental health crisis, waiting days or even weeks for an opening in an adolescent psychiatric unit. The problem, known as “boarding,” has been on the rise across the country for more than a decade. And some hospitals reported record high numbers during the pandemic. Read more here. 
  

Impact of the Pandemic

• The Biden administration on Thursday formally notified states the COVID-19 public health emergency that provided generous federal payments to subsidize care and insurance coverage for millions will end May 11. About 15 million Americans who gained Medicaid health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic are at risk of losing coverage later this year as generous federal subsidies end.  Among the other changes: Private insurers will no longer be required to pay for home COVID tests, and vaccines and treatments will be free until early summer Read more here. 

The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues

• President Joe Biden’s calls in his State of the Union speech for strong criminal penalties in response to soaring deaths linked to the potent opioid fentanyl are being rebuked by harm reduction advocates who say that approach could make the problem worse, even as some in Congress jeered the comments and blamed the Democrat’s border policies for deepening the crisis. The reactions laid bare how preventing drug deaths touches on deep political, practical and philosophical differences even in addressing an unrelenting U.S. overdose crisis connected to more than 100,000 deaths a year. Read more here.
• In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Biden highlighted a recent policy change aimed at increasing access to a medication for opioid use disorder. ”Together, we passed a law making it easier for doctors to prescribe effective treatments for opioid addiction,” he said. He was referring to a provision wrapped into the omnibus funding bill, which Biden signed into law in December. It eliminated a requirement that medical providers obtain special waivers to prescribe buprenorphine, a painkiller that also reduces opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Read more here.
• Just last month, Montgomery County, NC Commissioner John Shaw said, the county experienced four opioid overdose deaths over the span of seven days. While state data show that there are almost 11 opioid deaths per day in North Carolina, four deaths in a week in the central Piedmont county of only 26,000 people was particularly poignant. Shaw’s best friend was one of the people who died. Another was the father of someone Shaw grew up with. “Our crisis is great,” Shaw said, noting the potency and increasing prevalence of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the drug supply. Read more here.
• Officials in New Hampshire’s largest city are forming teams to take a closer look at nine suspected overdose deaths this month, seven of them over a couple of days. A group of 20 service providers representing federal, state and local agencies held an emergency meeting Tuesday in Manchester to discuss what happened, WMUR-TV reported. Officials are waiting for toxicology reports for more answers. “What we did today is go through the seven individual cases trying to find a common denominator,” said Anna Thomas, Manchester public health director. Read more here.
• These are scenes from a new CNN Films’ documentary, “American Pain,” which details the George brothers’ rise and fall as opioid kingpins. The film by Emmy Award-winning director Darren Foster uses FBI wiretap recordings and undercover videos – along with the brothers’ exclusive jailhouse interviews – to paint a picture of a ruthless pain-pill empire that turned the Georges into millionaires and enabled addicts from all over the country. Read more here.
• More than 700 people died from drug overdoses last year in Maine, setting the third straight record, officials said. A report by the attorney general’s office Thursday notes there were 716 suspected or confirmed drug overdose deaths in 2022, compared to 636 deaths the year before and 504 deaths in 2020. The growing number of deaths underscores a continuing opioid epidemic that persists despite greater access to the overdose-reversing drug naloxone and efforts to expand access to treatment. Read more here.
• Fentanyl is becoming a bigger danger for our kids, and teen overdoses are rising. There's now growing concern it may happen in schools, but are New York City Public Schools prepared? Top federal law enforcement officials on the frontlines of the fentanyl fight say opioid overdoses among the youth are going up at alarming rates, and so are the seizures. Read more here.
• When a student at a Sacramento high school collapsed in an apparent overdose last fall, staff were able to render immediate first aid, administering a newly stocked dose of the opioid reversal drug naloxone. “Such incidents, though relatively rare, are behind a new push in California to not just stock school campuses with naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, but also allow students to carry and administer the drug. Read more here.
• Perhaps you saw Hulu’s limited series “Dopesick,” starring Michael Keaton. It’s based in part on material by journalist Beth Macy, who has written extensively about the opioid crisis in Appalachia. But the opioid crisis is not the stuff of TV series and is certainly not contained to Appalachia. The opioid crisis is nationwide. The opioid fentanyl was developed in the 1960s and approved for use in 1968. Created to manage cancer pain via a transdermal patch, fentanyl is also used in anesthesia. Read more here.
• Though it may be hard for many to fathom, even pregnant people and new parents can have active substance use disorders. They need support, not criminalization. The addiction and overdose crisis, which now claims more than 100,000 lives a year, shows little sign of abating, and emerging data highlight its startling impact on pregnant people: Overdose is now a leading cause of death during or shortly after pregnancy. Read more here. 

Social Determinants

• A “hunger cliff” is looming for millions of Americans, with 32 states set to slash food-stamp benefits beginning in March. The cuts will impact more than 30 million people who are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in those states, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Among the states where recipients are facing cuts are California and Texas, which have the greatest number of people on SNAP, at 5.1 million and 3.6 million recipients, respectively.  Read more here. 

Federal and State Policy Issues

• President Joe Biden stood at the lectern in front of Congress to deliver his second State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night — a speech in front of the nation that saw him plead for bipartisan cooperation amid both cheers and jeers from his legislative branch colleagues. For much of the night, President Biden was on the offensive. One of the night's more contentious moments came when Biden was discussing the debt ceiling and the White House's disagreements with Republicans on government borrowing and spending. Read more here.
• GOP lawmakers have yet to unify around a specific plan this year to cut spending and reduce the debt in exchange for lifting the borrowing limit. With just four months until the Treasury Department could run out of ways to stave off a default, time is running down for Republicans to find common ground among each other, let alone Democrats. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has voiced support for limits on new discretionary funding, after he agreed to work toward a balanced budget in 10 years as part of the concessions he made with GOP rebels to secure the Speakership gavel last month. Read more here. 
• President Biden has spent the week contrasting Republicans and Democrats' positions on health care and entitlements, leaning into a political fight the party would love to have all the way through the 2024 elections. The big picture: How House Republicans handle the coming debt ceiling negotiations and spending-related decisions could have far-reaching implications, potentially handing Democrats what they view as a potent line of attack. Read more here.
• Medicare's historic plan to slow prescription drug spending is taking shape. Thursday federal health officials released proposed guidance that outlines the first of a pair of major drug price reforms contained in the Inflation Reduction Act. Those reforms are projected to save Medicare roughly $170 billion over the next decade. President Joe Biden touted the effort underway earlier this week in his State of the Union address. “We're taking on powerful interests to bring your health care costs down so you can sleep better at night,” he said. Read more here. 
• For nearly 200,000 Ohioans, the end of the federal government's public health emergency for COVID-19 will likely mean the end of their Medicaid benefits. It's called an unwinding, and it basically means that a requirement for states to keep people continuously enrolled during the pandemic (even if their income changed) will come to an end on March 31. Ohio's Department of Medicaid has already started reviewing its files on the nearly 3.5 million people who currently receive benefits, and renewal packages will start going out next month. Read more here.
• Republican lawmakers in more than half the states are continuing a party-line push to restrict doctors and other medical providers from offering some gender-affirming health care to minors, even with parents’ consent. In late January, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, signed legislation making the Beehive State the first this year to ban some medical interventions for patients under 18, including hormone therapy and gender-affirmation surgery. Arkansas and Tennessee passed bans on gender-affirming care for minors in 2021; Alabama and Florida also blocked such care last year. Read more here.