Friday, February 8, 2013

Drug Users Turn Death Dealers as Methadone From Bain Hits Street

Bloomberg Business Week
After Jennifer Vanlieu turned to methadone treatment to beat an addiction to heroin and pain pills, she morphed from drug user to convicted drug dealer. Vanlieu said she got a carryout methadone dose at a clinic operated by CRC Health Corp. in Richmond, Indiana, in March, 2010, and then gave about 15 milligrams to her friend Carissa Plemons. Plemons died hours later, after ingesting a lethal mix of methadone and other drugs, according to police reports.

New Reform Analogy at National Policy Conference

California Healthline
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius offered a new analogy for health care reform this week, setting the tone and sparking feedback -- positive and negative -- at the National Health Policy Conference hosted by AcademyHealth. "I think of this as synchronized swimming. There's a lot of focus on bathing caps, but there are a lot of things happening under the surface," Sebelius said. The shift to electronic health records, preparation for expanding Medicaid and payment reform are examples of changes under way below the surface, Sebelius said.

Health Reform Benchmarks Linked to FQHCs

California Healthline
Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) already have shown some of the results pursued by the Affordable Care Act, according to a study released this week by the California Primary Care Association. The CPCA commissioned researchers to compare high-cost factors, such as hospital stays and emergency department use, as well as total cost of care, between FQHCs and non-FQHCs in California.

AARP Opposes Bill That Would Allow Insurers To Charge Older People More

Kaiser Health News
The powerful seniors lobby says it cannot support proposals that would let premiums go higher for older beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the administration announces that a health program for low- and moderate-income people, which is optional for states, will not be able to start until 2015.

HHS Delays Basic Health Plan Option Until 2015

Kaiser Health News
The Obama administration has delayed by one year the rollout of a health program aimed at low to moderate-income people who won’t qualify for the expanded Medicaid program under the federal health law. Under the so-called Basic Health Program, some states had planned to offer government insurance to people who don’t qualify for Medicaid, but who would be hard pressed — even with federal subsidies — to afford the premiums and cost-sharing of plans offered in the new insurance marketplaces. Those earning up to twice the federal poverty level, or about $47,000 for a family of four, would have been eligible.

Hidden Cost of Health Care

NBC Bay Area
The California state legislature is currently considering new ways to implement President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul. While the new law is meant to ensure healthcare for more people, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit found it likely won’t drive down health care costs. On top of that, The Unit discovered major flaws and fluctuations in the way costs in California are reported to consumers.

Student marries early to gain Obamacare benefit

California Health Report
When Kenya Wheeler enrolled in UC Berkeley’s Student Health Insurance Plan at the beginning of his graduate studies, he skimmed over the section outlining the $400,000 lifetime limit on how much the plan would pay for his care. At the time, the 37-year-old, rode his bike to campus every day and paid attention to what he ate, had always been fairly healthy. The lifetime cap became relevant to him in the worst way in his final semester of graduate school. He was diagnosed with lymphoma. His treatment included the surgical removal of a tumor in his brain, outpatient and inpatient chemotherapy treatments and a prohibitively expensive daily chemo pill he took at home.

Two-Tax Rise Tests Wealthy in California

New York Times
It is getting awfully expensive to be a millionaire in California. With the new year, big earners are confronting a 51.9 percent federal-state income tax hit on earnings over $1 million, the result of a confluence of new tax-the-rich levies imposed by California and Congress in the closing days of 2012. That is officially the highest in the nation. And at 13.3 percent, the top-tier California income tax is, in addition to being higher than any other state, the steepest it has been since World War II.

The State Worker: Basic numbers go missing in state bureaucracy

Sacramento Bee
You would think that a multibillion-dollar enterprise could do the basic stuff, like track how many employees answer to the boss or where its money goes. Then again, we're talking about state government. As The Bee's Kevin Yamamura reported this week, departments for years have played fiscal "hide the ball" when reporting their finances for budget purposes, hoping to dodge tough spending questions or cuts.

Facing record taxes, rich Californians consider moving to cheaper pastures

Contra Costa Times
Are rich Californians ready to trade their sun-soaked beaches for cow pastures or move their corporations from bustling, cosmopolitan cities to wide-open spaces -- all in the name of saving money? That's what lots of politicians and businesspeople in states with no income tax -- including Texas, Nevada, Florida and Washington -- are hoping now that California's wealthiest are paying more than any other state in the nation in income taxes.

Trust in state government is weakest closest to Capitol

Los Angeles Times
When it comes to trusting California state government, it seems like distance may make the heart grow fonder, according to a new survey. Los Angeles-area residents have the most faith in their state government, with 65% saying they trust the governor, lawmakers and other officials to make the right decisions. However, just 42% of Sacramento-area residents have similar faith.

Study: Marijuana Users Have Doubled Stroke Risk

NBC Bay Area
A new study out of New Zealand is a real harsher: cannabis users double their risk of stroke, according to Dr. P. Alan Barber of Auckland. People aged 18 to 55 who had a stroke "were 2.3 times as likely to test positive for marijuana in their urine than those who didn't have a stroke," according to Everyday Health.

Drug Rehab Program Linked to Scientology

Health News Florida
One of the largest treatment programs in the world, Narconon, claims to have incredibly high success rates. But it also uses techniques that mental health professionals call “quackery” and caused, according to one family, the death of their daughter, 10 News in Tampa reports. That high success rate is what spurred Kaysie Werninck’s family to pay $28,000 to send her to a Southern Oklahoma for treatment.  After she became violently ill and died, her family sued Narconon and eventually accepted a settlement from the treatment program, according to 10 News.

Younger Drinking Age Linked to Binge Drinking

Everyday Health
People who grew up in states where the drinking age was under 21 are more likely to be binge drinkers in adulthood, according to a new study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis tracked more than 39,000 people who started drinking in the 1970s, when 36 states had legal drinking ages of either 18 or 19 — below the current federally-imposed of 21. The researchers found that while people who grew up in those states didn’t consume more alcohol than people in other states, they were more likely to binge drink when they did.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Some state justices signal support for marijuana-dispensary bans

Los Angeles Times
Several members of the California Supreme Court appeared inclined Tuesday to uphold medical marijuana bans by cities and counties. "The Legislature knows how to say ‘Thou Shall Not Ban Dispensaries,' " Justice Ming W. Chin said during oral arguments Tuesday. “They didn’t say that.” The state high court is considering whether a Riverside city ban on dispensaries is barred by state laws that authorize cannabis for medical purposes. About 200 cities and counties have such bans and more are expected if the court rules for the local governments.

Big Alcohol Tearing Down California's Alcohol Regulations

Sacramento Bee (Press Release)
Alcohol Justice released a new report today illustrating the effectiveness of Big Alcohol lobbying on California state government at the end of the 2011-2012 legislative session. "Our legislature continues to pander to the well-healed interests of Big Alcohol at the public's expense," stated Bruce Lee Livingston, Executive Director/CEO of Alcohol Justice. "What they conveniently failed to see in 2012 is that incremental alcohol deregulation increases alcohol-related harm and cost in the state." Alcohol Justice has estimated that $9 billion of the state's $38.4 billion in annual alcohol-related harm is paid for by taxpayers.

California Medical Marijuana Ban: State Supreme Court Weighs Future Of Cannabis Clubs

Huffington Post
These are trying times for California's medical marijuana dispensaries. Not only has a zealous U.S. Attorney launched a significant crackdown, but pot clubs across the state are increasingly being targeted by blanket bans from local municipalities looking to keep their cities and towns drug free--or, at least, force patients and their caretakers to grow their marijuana themselves. The legal fight against such bans, taken up in The City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center case, went before the California Supreme Court today when oral arguments began at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Marijuana, bath salts seized in So. Cal

Fresno Bee
Federal authorities say they seized $2 million worth of marijuana and narcotic bath salts in separate Southern California incidents. U-T San Diego says Border Patrol agents spotted a panga boat around midnight Monday off Laguna Beach. They seized 26 bundles of marijuana that had been unloaded from the boat and arrested nine men. The pot has an estimated street value of $1.8 million.

Alcohol Consumption Hits Record Low Among College Freshmen

Bottom Line (UCSB)
Since its inception, University of California, Santa Barbara has gained the reputation of being a wild party school where, within the one square mile of Isla Vista, students polish off copious amounts of alcohol while crammed into ocean-front houses with the rest of the student body population. It is no wonder the school has inherited the idiom “U Can Study Buzzed.” In 2010, both Playboy Magazine and the Huffington Post named UCSB the number eight party school in the nation, and the Princeton Review named it the number one party school in California. However, for the first time ever, a major annual survey provided statistics that indicate a growing trend among college freshmen toward more focus on future job prospects and less emphasis on drinking.

Prime hospital chain acknowledges it faces two federal investigations

California Watch
The Prime Healthcare Services hospital chain has acknowledged it is the target of two federal investigations: a U.S. Justice Department probe of its Medicare billings and an inquiry into alleged violations of patient confidentiality laws. The San Bernardino County-based company disclosed the investigations in a Jan. 2 filing with the state health department in Rhode Island, where Prime hopes to buy its 22nd hospital.

Obamacare Will Bring Changes -- and Walgreens Wants 'To Fill the Void'

California Healthline
Two-hundred-and-fifty-nine organizations have been named Medicare accountable care organizations. Most were formed by hospitals. Some were launched by physician groups. And three were created by a pharmacy chain. Walgreens' move into shared savings is many things: unusual, eye-catching, a sign of the times.

Obama Wants To Avert Cuts to Medicare, Other Programs in Sequester

California Healthline
On Tuesday, President Obama demanded that Congress move quickly to avert the across-the-board spending cuts -- including a 2% reduction to Medicare reimbursements -- in the sequester, The Hill's "On The Money" reports. The mandated spending cuts under sequestration involve about $1 trillion in across-the-board reductions. In January, President Obama signed legislation -- negotiated by Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) -- that delayed the cuts by two months to March 1.
Full Article >

Obamacare co-ops being created behind closed doors

Washington Examiner
Secrecy shrouds President Obama's $2 billion program to launch 24 new co-ops designed to compete with private insurance companies under the chief executive's landmark health care reform. An obscure agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded loans of all but $100 million of the funds appropriated under President Obama's health care overhaul for the new organizations, known as Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans.

Money managers, California Department of Finance, play annual accounting games

Sacramento Bee
State parks employees told investigators last year it was common to hide money in their budget because they were afraid the state Department of Finance would otherwise cut their funding. In 2009, when an internal auditor questioned the hidden nature of a Department of Forestry and Fire Protection account, a department lawyer warned that tipping off Finance officials would result in fire budget cuts elsewhere. The department kept quiet.

CBO Updates Spending Projections for ACA, Medicare, Medicaid

California Healthline
On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday lowered its Medicare spending projections for the next decade by $137 billion, noting that federal spending on the program has been "significantly lower" than predicted for the past three years, The Hill's "Healthwatch" reports.

Transcendental Meditation May Help Stressed Vets

Bloomberg Business Week
Every 65 minutes, a U.S. military veteran committed suicide in 2010. That’s according to a comprehensive study released last Friday by the Department of Veteran Affairs, which tracked veteran suicides from 1999 to 2010 (PDF). Then there are the suicides of active-duty service members: Last year they outpaced combat deaths, hitting a record high of 349. These alarming statistics—as well as such tragedies as last week’s murder of Chris Kyle, a highly decorated Navy SEAL sniper, by an ex-Marine—may be one reason why the U.S. military is exploring alternative means of preventing and treating post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD. Among the alternatives is meditation.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Drug trafficker gets 14 years in prison

Sacramento Bee
The Southern California leader of a heroin trafficking ring has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. Prosecutors in Riverside say 32-year-old Salvador Gonzalez-Chavez of Fontana was convicted earlier of conspiring to distribute and possess heroin. He was sentenced on Monday. Gonzalez-Chavez was the leader of a drug trafficking organization involving at least 19 co-conspirators.

Underage DUIs Plague Santa Cruz County

Patch.com
At least five drunken, underage motorists were ticketed last weekend on suspicion of driving under the influence in Santa Cruz County, a spike that has the California Highway Patrol worried. "The CHP takes underage alcohol abuse seriously," CHP officer Sarah Jackson said in a prepared statement. The most-serious incident occurred Saturday night in Watsonville, when a 20-year-old man driving the mother of his children and their kids, ages 1 and 2, crashed into a house on Lakeview Road. A woman in the home was seriously injured when she was trapped under the car.
Full Article >

HHS Proposal Aims To Reduce Unnecessary Health Care Spending

California Healthline
On Monday, the Obama administration proposed eliminating certain unnecessary and burdensome Medicare regulations, which it said would save hospitals and health care providers an estimated $676 million annually, or $3.4 billion over five years, Reuters reports. About the Proposed Reforms: HHS officials said the proposed reforms would facilitate greater efficiency in the workplace without jeopardizing beneficiaries' safety, according to The Hill's "RegWatch." For example, they would allow hospital workers and technicians to perform "tasks they are trained to do, without requiring the supervision or approval of a physician or other practitioner," the proposal states.

Look at W-2 to see what health insurance really costs

Modesto Bee
Look closely at your new W-2 form this tax season. Notice Box 12 and a two-letter code, DD. If you work for an employer with 250 or more workers, information in that box for the first time is required by the Affordable Care Act. It tells how much you and your employer spent on your health insurance premiums. "It's going to be an eye-opener for a lot of people," said Jerry Nebbia, a health benefits expert in Mercer's Kansas City, Mo., office.

California passes up millions for prison healthcare, report says

Los Angeles Times
California's court-run prison healthcare program is missing out on tens of millions of dollars a year in federal funds because of disagreement with counties, a new legislative report states. The Legislative Analysts Office found increasing numbers of prison inmates who, because of their low income status, are eligible for the state's Medicaid program. That program, delivered through counties, draws matching federal reimbursements. The LAO notes that federal policy has allowed states to collect federal Medicaid reimbursement for eligible state prison inmates since 1997.

GOP lawmakers want probe of Cal Fire over off-budget account

Los Angeles Times
State Republican legislators want federal prosecutors to investigate the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for putting $3.6 million from legal settlements into an off-budget account. "This subterfuge money has been spent on a wide array of questionable expenditures that has nothing to do with reimbursing the state for firefighting costs," the legislators wrote in a Friday letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, asking him to request an investigation by the U.S. attorney.

Dan Walters: California's tax surge could be dangerous

Sacramento Bee
Capitol politicians have a sorry record in handling revenue windfalls, both real and imaginary. In 2000, the state saw a one-time, $12 billion spike in revenue, thanks largely to a selling frenzy by holders of stock and stock options as a high-tech bubble burst. Everyone knew that it was a one-time windfall, but then-Gov. Gray Davis and legislators of both parties committed two-thirds of it to permanent spending and tax cuts, leading to huge budget deficits that fueled the recall of Davis.

Sniper killing aftermath: 5 things to know about PTSD

CNN
When police caught up with alleged killer Eddie Ray Routh last weekend, the 25-year-old ex-Marine was crying, shirtless, shoeless and smelling of alcohol. "I'm hurting," he told them. Not long before, at a Texas shooting range, police say, Routh had gunned down Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL who called himself America's deadliest military sniper. As he sits in a Texas jail cell, details about Routh's psychological make-up have surfaced, including claims that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that affects a number of current and former members of the U.S. military.

How Will The U.S. Army Address the Mental Health Crisis In Soldiers and Veterans?

Forbes
Last week the VA office released a report finding that 22 U.S. veterans committed suicide each day in 2010, which works out to just under one suicide per hour, a disturbing number by any account. And last month, the number of suicides of active duty soldiers again rose above the number who died in war, numbering 349, which is almost one per day. Some have pointed out that this reversal is partly because troops have pulled out of Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan is nearing its end. But the suicide rate among veterans is still disturbingly high, and it points to the ubiquity of mental health problems that come of war – and the fact that they do not abate with time alone.

Wider Use of Antidote Could Lower Overdose Deaths by Nearly 50%

Time
Distributing naloxone and training people to use it can cut the death rates from overdose nearly in half, according to a new study. Around 15,000 people die each year by overdosing on opioid pain relievers such as Oxycontin, a rate that has more than tripled since 1990. The government has tried numerous strategies to reduce the death toll, including imposing stricter regulations on prescribing the medications, prosecuting owners of “pill mills” who dispense the drugs without proper medical evaluations, and tracking databases to monitor prescribing and discourage “doctor shopping” among addicts.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Pomona youth, adults raise alcohol awareness with Project Sticker Shock

Contra Costa Times
Jose Martinez and Lorenzo Arnold teamed up to place stickers on six packs of beer in refrigerators at the Pomona Wine Cellar. As Arnold, a Los Angeles County deputy probation officer, pulled out the beer bottles, Martinez, a Village Academy High School senior, was ready with a sticker that the officer would affix to the carton. The efforts by Martinez and Arnold were part of Project Sticker Shock. The Partnership for a Positive Pomona campaign is designed to let adults know it's illegal to provide alcoholic beverages to young people under the age of 21.

California must expand Medi-Cal

San Francisco Chronicle
The Legislature is in a special session on health care to consider legislation that's designed to help California prepare for full implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act. Most Americans will have to buy health insurance in January 2014, or pay a penalty for not doing so. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, and one of the most important things that the Legislature is working on is the question of how to help the lowest income Californians get coverage. Assembly Speaker John PĂ©rez, D-Los Angeles, has introduced AB1X1, which would greatly expand Medi-Cal, the state's health insurance program for the poor.

California under the microscope on health reform

Sacramento Bee (Editorial)
The November election ensured that the most ambitious health care reform since the creation of Medicare in 1965 will take full effect come January 2014. California, like other states, is gearing up to ensure that affordable insurance is available when the individual mandate kicks in next January, requiring Americans to maintain health insurance coverage so they don't pass their costs to others. We already are far ahead of most states in setting up a marketplace – an "exchange" called "Covered California" – where people will be able to buy health insurance if their employer doesn't provide coverage.

Insurance exchange a key, developing piece of health care reform

North Bay Business Journal
As full-scale implementation of health care reform nears ever closer, looming heavy on the minds of employers, insurers and health care providers, questions continue to swirl around numerous key aspects,  with California’s online health benefits exchanges high among the issues. Particularly, exactly how the state’s exchange — known as Covered California — will benefit employers is still being developed and realized by those who stand to benefit.

California's golden moment

San Francisco Chronicle
So far, 2013 has been a very good year for California. First, Gov. Jerry Brown announced a 2013-14 budget that came with a big surprise - an $851 million surplus, the first in nearly a decade. The budget reflects an incredible fiscal turnaround for California from when Brown took office two years ago, when the budget deficit was $25 billion.

As Healthy Families Deficit Rises, Tax Pressure Rises With It

California Healthline
The Healthy Families program has run out of money, according to state health officials. The deficit currently stands at almost $100 million and will keep rising every month, according to Janette Casillas, executive director of the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which oversees Healthy Families. Gov. Jerry Brown's administration is pursuing two ideas for refilling the coffers: reinstitution of a recently expired tax on managed care organizations and an appropriation bill if the MCO tax isn't revived.

Mental Illness Soars In Prisons, Jails While Inmates Suffer

Huffington Post
Armando Cruz tied a noose around his neck and hanged himself from the ceiling of his prison cell. He left a note that ended in two chilling words. “Remember me.” His mother Yolanda, who was shown the note after her son's death, wants to make sure no one forgets. “They took away my only son,” she says, her voice breaking. Cruz killed himself on Sept. 20, 2011, during his incarceration at California State Prison in Sacramento, after a long history of mental illness. His story, first reported by the blog Solitary Watch, is an example of how the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to handle people with mental health issues.

'Candy weed' marks new era in drug threat to teens, adults

Deseret News
Matt Fairbanks, special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Utah, calls it a game of "chemical cat and mouse." As fast as law government agencies are banning synthetic substances such as spice and bath salts, criminals are changing a molecule or two to come up with a new substance just as dangerous that doesn't meet the criteria of the law that banned the last synthetic drug.