Week of July 24–28, 2023

General Articles

• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) on Tuesday introduced a bill seeking to lift barriers to mental health care among Latinos. Why it matters: The pandemic exacerbated mental health needs in the U.S., especially among Latinos, whose rates of depression, anxiety and suicide have grown since 2020. There's also a shortage of providers who are Latino or who can speak Spanish or Indigenous languages from Latin America. Read more here.

Research

• More than 31 million older adults in the United States are enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) Plans. These plans are offered by private companies that Medicare approves. Medicare then pays these private entities to cover a user’s Medicare benefits. A new report has shed light on a potential disadvantage of these private Medicare alternatives—those enrolled might not be receiving certain mental health support given a scarcity of psychiatrists covered under in-network services. Read more here.
• A study of more than 1.4 million Danish adults found those diagnosed with depression were more than twice as likely to get dementia later in life, a link that suggests depression may increase dementia risk, researchers said. The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology reported the risk of dementia more than doubled for men and women diagnosed with depression, even if diagnosed as young or middle-aged adults. Read more here.
• Postpartum depression treatment Zuranolone, given as a daily pill over the course of two weeks, is in clinical development and has been granted “priority review” by the US Food and Drug Administration as it considers the pill for approval, according to the makers of the drug, Sage Therapeutics and Biogen. The FDA is expected to make a decision and take action on approval by August 5. Results from the phase three trial were published Wednesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Read more here.

The Opioid Crisis

• A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to address the staggering number of opioid overdoses nationwide, as two-thirds of drug overdose deaths last year were caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Thursday, Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced legislation to expand access to fentanyl test strips. The bill, first obtained by NBC News, would clarify the federal drug paraphernalia statute to exclude the test strips, potentially lifesaving tools that remain criminalized in many states. Read more here.

988 Hotline

• San Francisco Suicide Prevention (SFSP) has seen about a 30% increase in call volume since a new helpline went live last year, the organization told Axios. Why it matters: The development of the three-digit hotline, 988, was designed to make it easier for people to seek mental health help. That 30% increase in San Francisco call volume is consistent with the increases seen in other Bay Area crisis centers that answer 988 calls, an indication that the new hotline is working as intended, Van Hedwall, SFSP's director of programs, said via email. Read more here.

Mental Health Equity

• Policy thought leaders remind us that health equity is not a zero sum game. Affirming this reminder are data documenting an estimated $278 billion in total excess cost burden from premature death in Black, Indigenous, and other minoritized groups between 2016 and 2020. Such estimates are coincident with evidence highlighting the association between mental health inequities and worker productivity. In other words, the pervasive socioeconomic consequences of America’s mental health crisis are shared and represent a significant threat to our collective capacity for growth, innovation, and global competitiveness. Read more here.

Gun Safety

• The McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest Mood of the Nation Poll, conducted from May 12-18, 2023, finds that 86 percent of American adults support U.S. Congress mandating background checks for all firearm sales and transfers. Nearly three-quarters support Congress requiring gun owners to take a test, obtain a license and register their firearms, similar to the process of owning an automobile. Read more here.

 Climate Change

• Extreme heat impacts everything it touches — the body, infrastructure, plant life — and even things it doesn’t. It’s hard to ignore the physical sensations of discomfort and sweat on a hot day, but high temperatures can have a negative effect on mental health, too. Given the record-breaking heat bearing down on the US, Europe, China, and Iran, millions of people may be feeling a change in their mood. Read more here.

Health Insurance

• President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday announced new rules meant to push insurance companies to increase their coverage of mental health treatments. The new regulations, which still need to go through a public comment period, would require insurers to study whether their customers have equal access to medical and mental health benefits and to take remedial action, if necessary. Read more here.
• The Biden administration today proposed strengthening requirements so that health insurers cover behavioral health at the same level as physical health. Why it matters: Advocates have long argued that health plans are not adequately covering mental health services, despite a 2008 law intended to ensure parity. The issue has become a priority for policymakers as the aftereffects of the pandemic become clear. Read more here.

Medicaid Redetermination

• A dozen states have had to pause terminating certain residents from Medicaid and to restore coverage – at least temporarily – for tens of thousands of people, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. A Covid-19 pandemic-era ban on states ending residents’ Medicaid coverage expired on April 1. Since then, more than 3 million enrollees have been disenrolled, according to state and federal data compiled by KFF. Read more here.
• Congressional Democrats are prodding the Biden administration to do more to prevent Medicaid coverage losses due to the end of the pandemic's continuous coverage provisions. Why it matters: Over 3 million people have been dropped from Medicaid rolls so far, according to KFF, and experts have been alarmed that more than half have lost coverage for "procedural" reasons — meaning a lack of proper paperwork. Read more here.
• For seven years, Maricela Delcid has guided Texans through the Medicaid application minefield, working past language barriers and documentation issues out of a community center in Houston. But her clients have never been more confused or frustrated than now, since the state began booting people from the program after a years-long period of continuous coverage. Read more here.

Bans on Gender-Affirming Care and LGBTQ Issues

• The scientifically discredited practice of so-called conversion therapy, which aims to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations, is now banned for minors in Michigan under legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Michigan becomes the 22nd state to outlaw conversion therapy, which state lawmakers defined as any practice or treatment by a mental health professional that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. That does not include counseling that provides assistance to people undergoing a gender transition. Read more here.
• State bans on gender-affirming care for youths have left more than a quarter of kids under 18 in need of such services at least a four-hour drive away from the nearest clinic that provides them, according to a new JAMA study. Driving the news: 70 clinics were inactive as of May in the 20 states that imposed restrictions on gender-affirming care, per the report published Tuesday. That's more than a quarter of the 271 clinics to publicly advertise gender-affirming care for youths, including puberty blockers and hormone therapies. Read more here.
• Families of transgender children on Tuesday sued to block a new Missouri law banning gender-affirming health care for minors from taking effect as scheduled on Aug. 28. The law will prohibit Missouri health care providers from providing puberty blockers, hormones and gender-affirming surgeries to minors. Minors prescribed puberty blockers or hormones before Aug. 28 would be able to continue to receive those treatments. Missouri’s Planned Parenthood clinics had been ramping up available appointments and holding pop-up clinics to start patients on treatments ahead of the law taking effect. Read more here.

Federal and State Policy

• Lawmakers leave town at the end of this week with a lengthy to-do list, several health programs expiring Sept. 30 and very few work days left. The Senate is expected to return from its August recess on Sept. 5, while the House is not slated back until Sept. 12. That leaves only 11 legislative days with both chambers in session before the end of the fiscal year — a tight turnaround for a number of fairly complicated legislative priorities. Read more here.
• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration on Wednesday announced the state will expand Medicaid on Oct. 1 — even though lawmakers have yet to approve the funding to do so. The unusual move, agreed to by the Biden administration, puts additional pressure on the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to either pass a budget or fund Medicaid expansion separately — something the Democratic governor and his health and human services secretary, Kody Kinsley, have been calling for since lawmakers failed to reach a spending deal earlier this month. Read more here.