Monday, December 06, 2004

The Disparate Consensus on Health Care for All
New York Times story - "In Washington, the phrase 'universal coverage' is rarely mentioned as the way to provide health insurance for the 45 million uninsured Americans. It evokes memories of the Clinton administration's sobering failure to forge a national health care plan. Yet among health care experts there is a surprising consensus that the United States must inevitably adopt some kind of universal coverage..." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Medical Costs Likely to Slow, but Not Soon
New York Times story - "Double digit annual increases in the cost of health care cannot go on much longer, industry specialists say, but American consumers will have to wait at least a couple of more years before the increases start to slow. Many health plan members, meanwhile, will again face higher costs in the form of rising deductibles, co-payments and monthly premiums. The insurance companies will continue to thrive, even though they have begun to compete more on prices to gain market share in some localities, Wall Street securities analysts say. To maintain profit margins, they are reducing overhead costs with the help of improved technology..." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Depression Strikes Hard at Ill Seniors
Health Day Reporter story reprinted at Yahoo - "Depression might be more harmful than the other chronic diseases that can strike elderly people, a new study claims. Even though heart and lung disease can take their toll on seniors, it is the accompanying depression that can most affect their quality of life, University of Texas researchers found. Fortunately, seniors can improve their quality of life with diagnosis and treatment despite having debilitating physical conditions, according to the report in the November/December issue of the Annals of Family Medicine."  
  

Documentary film focuses on transition from hospital to community
Item in CMHA/Ontario's Mental Health Notes - "Inside Outside: Building a Meaningful Life after the Hospital, a new documentary film by ex-patient filmmakers Pat Deegan and Terry Strecker, shows that recovery is possible, even for people who are seen as severely disabled. People with significant personal histories of psychiatric hospitalization are interviewed about their experience of developing meaningful lives for themselves in the community. They discuss their fear of leaving hospital and talk about the different therapeutic, self-help, practical (housing, employment, transportation) and spiritual supports they used to rebuild their lives..."  
  

Diabetics with mental disorders at increased risk for diabetic complications
Indiana University press release reprinted at EurekAlert - "Diabetics with mental disorders do not have as good blood sugar control as diabetics without mental illness and are more likely to suffer one or more diabetes complication including loss of kidney function, loss of sensation in the feet, and visual problems (including blindness) than diabetics without mental illness, according to a study published in the December issue of Medical Care."  
  

Experts complete review on safety of antidepressants (UK)
Story at 4NI - "The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued new advice to patients and doctors about the group of antidepressants known as SSRI's, today. The updated advice follows the biggest and most thorough review of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants, by an independent group of medical experts. The review, which examined hundreds of clinical trials, was set up to look at the safety of SSRIs, with a particular emphasis on possible suicidal behaviour and withdrawal reactions..." See also, at the MHRA web site, a letter sent to health professionals and a questions and answers document, and a Wyeth press release, disagreeing with the proposed label changes for Effexor and Effexor XL.  
  

Juvenile judges: Mental health services lacking (Kansas)
Lawrence Journal-World story - "Hundreds of children in the state's foster care system could return home sooner if their parents had quicker access to necessary mental health evaluations, a panel of juvenile court judges said Thursday.advertisement 'I have plenty of willing, cooperative parents being told they'll have to wait 60 to 90 days before they can see someone to get a basic evaluation,' said Sedgwick County Judge Jim Burgess. Until the evaluations are complete, Burgess said, the courts cannot begin the processes for returning children to their parents. Burgess' comments were part of a daylong roundtable discussion sponsored by a legislative committee on children's issues. About 20 judges, prosecutors and guardian ad litem attorneys took part in the discussion..."  
  

Grant tackles minority mental health issues (California)
San Francisco State University press release - "SFSU was recently awarded a five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health of more than $1.2 million to help minority students become competitive applicants to doctoral programs in mental health. The grant renews funding for NIMH's nationwide Career Opportunities in Research (COR) program, which allows four to six SFSU undergraduate students per year to enter a two-year mentoring program on campus..."  
  

Pass mental health parity bill now (Ohio)
Cincinnati Enquirer editorial - "For 10 years, Ohio Rep. Lynn Olman, R-Maumee, has been trying to get the General Assembly to require insurers to cover mental conditions at levels similar to other ailments. We have long supported this as a matter of fairness and enlightenment, a point with which the 34 states that have such laws obviously agree. Now that Olman is about to leave the Legislature, he's tantalizingly close to success on his mental health parity bill. It has passed the House, and Olman believes he has enough votes in the Senate - except for the one that really counts."  
  

Mental Health Stopgaps (Virginia)
Washington Post Editorial - "Frazzled mental health officials in Northern Virginia tell plenty of harrowing tales, among them nail-biting accounts of trying to find a hospital bed for an acutely sick patient. Hours of phone-dialing and long-distance pleading are often required, during which a patient may sit handcuffed in a police cruiser. Things are likely to get worse. Four Northern Virginia psychiatric wards are closing down, eliminating 100 beds and leaving the region of 2.3 million people with just 330 hospital beds dedicated to the mentally ill. That's frighteningly inadequate, and it may portend a crisis composed of individual, unheralded tragedies." [Viewing Washington Post stories requires registration, which is free.]