On Tuesday, January 28, two subcommittees of the House Committee on Education and Labor, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and the Subcommittee on Pensions and Workforce Protections conducted a hearing entitled Expecting More: Addressing America’s Maternal and Infant Health Crisis. Testimony was given by three witnesses: Stacey Stewart, CEO of March of Dimes, Nikia
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Prevention found that in 2017 there were 1,400 deaths sue to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the United States. SIDS is the leading cause of postneonatal mortality, with an overall rate of 0.39/1000 births. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) supported study, Concurrent prenatal drinking and smoking increases
The Commonwealth Fund published a new report that analyzes health care data in the United States and offers a cross-national comparison. The report looks at how the United States compares to wealthy countries, including Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom, and found that the U.S. holds the highest suicide rates and lowest life expectancy, despite
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a new brief, Challenges in Providing Substance Use Disorder Treatment to Child Welfare Clients in Rural Communities, that focuses on the barriers rural communities face in providing substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, particularly to
In the past week, several publications have reported that the Administration is readying a proposal to allow states to take a block grant of Medicaid funding. Publications, including the Wall Street Journal and Politico, are describing efforts by CMS Administrator Seema Verma to develop the policy. The proposal would be issued through a letter to
A new study, Association of Medicaid Expansion With Opioid Overdose Mortality in the United States, finds that jurisdictions that expanded access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) had a six percent reduction in opioid deaths. The study published in JAMA Network Open, more specifically counties in expansion states, had an 11 percent lower
On Wednesday, December 18, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans struck down part of the Affordable Care Act provision, ruling that the requirement that people have health insurance was unconstitutional on a 2-1 decision and sent the case back to the lower court in Texas for further analysis. Several state attorneys
On Thursday, December 12, the House of Representatives adopted HR 3, Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. It passed by a vote of 230 to 192. The legislation would create new methods to control prescription drug prices. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had been guiding the package for several months with an eye toward a possible
Late on Friday Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) released their bill, “Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act.” It includes provisions identical to the Family First Transition Act—the bill that would provide $500 million to states to help implement the Family First Act. The bill also extends home visiting programs for two years.
On Tuesday, November 19, the National Prevention Science Coalition with support from the Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus conducted a Capitol Hill briefing on the opioid crisis in terms of dependency and addiction. The briefing focused on how the significant difference between the two conditions and how policymakers misunderstandings are affecting pain management. A
