USA Today (4/9, Kennedy) reports, “People younger than 65 are twice as likely to skip medications than older Americans, according to a study released today by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new CDC study found that about 13% of the Americans younger than 65 did not take their medications as prescribed to save money, while 6% of the older group skipped medications.” Approximately “6% of both groups tried alternative therapies to avoid prescription drug costs.”

Bloomberg News (4/9, Edney) reports that “Americans spent $45 billion out-of-pocket on retail prescription drugs in 2011, the CDC said. The Affordable Care Act is expected to expand access in 2014 when medication coverage is considered an essential benefit of any health plan offered in new insurance marketplaces called exchanges.”

The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (4/9, Livio) reports that the study “found the most popular cost-cutting strategy – employed by one out of every five patients at any age – was to ask doctors to prescribe a cheaper drug, according to responses from 33,000 people who participated in the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey in 2011.”

Related Links:

— “Study: Younger patients more likely to skip medications, “Kelly Kennedy, USA Today, April 9, 2013.

The Denver Post (4/8, Robles) reports than in an effort to integrate health services for patients, an increasing number of primary care physicians (PCPs) in metropolitan Denver, CO are providing on-site mental health counseling services. Patients are able to undergo instant consultations while at the doctor’s office. The piece points out how some physical and mental health conditions may overlap. By way of example, some patients who have had a heart attack will end up with a serious depression, or some people may have difficulty learning to cope with diabetes or asthma. Other people who are substance abusers may also have a comorbid physical problem.

Related Links:

— “Primary care doctors welcome mental health professionals, “Yesenia Robles, The Denver Post, April 8, 2013.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/7, Spencer) reported that a class-action lawsuit filed against UnitedHealth Group will test the Federal law that says insurance companies cannot treat “mental health claims differently from medical and surgical claims.” The lawsuit was brought by the parents of a child with bipolar disorder, “two other individuals and the New York State Psychiatric Association,” and “could set a major precedent for mental health coverage in the era of healthcare reform.” The case is notable because it does not rely solely on state law for an individual claim but instead “relies heavily on the federal parity law, as well as the federal Affordable Care Act.” UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, “declined to discuss the suit, which was filed in New York on March 11.”

Related Links:

— “Suit against UnitedHealth tests mental health coverage rules, “Jim Spencer, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 7, 2013.

The Washington Post (4/7, Gugliotta) reports that community health organizations are concerned that a VA hiring blitz of 1,600 mental healthcare professionals by July 1 may end up simply moving those people from jobs where they serve broader populations than veterans. The concern centers on a “pool of qualified candidates” in the US that “is too small.” The Post includes perspectives on how the VA can partner with local communities to deliver care to veterans while serving a larger group as well. The VA said last month that it had 1,089 of the 1,600 professionals already hired.

Related Links:

— “VA hiring blitz concerns community health program backers, “Guy Gugliotta, The Washington Post, April 7, 2013.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/8, Olson) reports that “new Mayo Clinic research this month has yielded important insights on ‘avoidance’ behaviors, showing they predict which children are more likely to suffer severe anxiety later on.” For the study, “Mayo researchers asked parents how their children responded to challenges.” One “year later, they found higher anxiety in kids whose parents said they tended to avoid things that scared them.”

Related Links:

— “Mayo Clinic: For kids, avoiding risks can be risky, “Jeremy Olson, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 8, 2013.

HealthDay (4/6, Gardner) reported, “According to a recent study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, the link between prison time and mental illness is a two-way street.” Even though “many incarcerated people exhibit such problems as impulse control disorders – which normally first appear in childhood or adolescence – before they enter the correctional system, incarceration itself seems to cause major depression.” This finding “may help explain why so many inmates have trouble re-entering society when they are released, said the authors of the study,” which examined data on some 5,700 people.

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness a Frequent Cell Mate for Those Behind Bars, “Amanda Gardner, HealthDay, April 5, 2013.

HealthDay (4/6, Preidt) reported, “Many American adults who work and volunteer with young people believe that children and teens have limited or no access to mental health care,” according to a survey “conducted by the University of Michigan-based National Voices Project, which was created to assess disparities in children’s health, education and economic opportunities at the community level, through the input of paid adults or volunteers who work on behalf of children.” Notably, “more than half of the respondents said there was ‘lots of availability’ for teens to have hospital care (55 percent) and primary care (56 percent), but only 30 percent said the same was true for mental health care.” Responses were similar regarding availability of mental healthcare for kids.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Care Lacking for Kids, Advocates Say, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 5, 2013.

In continuing coverage, the CBS Evening News (4/4, story 6, 2:35, Pelley) reported that a study (4/4) published April 4 in “the New England Journal of Medicine says nearly 15% of Americans over the age of 70 have dementia, and the yearly cost caring for them can run $70,000.”

The CBS News (4/5, LaPook) website focuses entirely on the impact Alzheimer’s and dementia care has on families.

CNN Money (4/5, Isidore) reports that the study “puts the cost of treating Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia at $109 billion, making it more expensive to society than either cancer or heart disease.” In addition, the study “estimates that costs will more than double in the next 27 years, reaching $259 billion by 2040. The same study puts the estimated cost of treating heart disease at $102 billion, and cancer treatment at $77 billion.”

Psychiatric News (4/5) reports, “Brent Forester, MD, chair of the APA Council on Geriatric Psychiatry, told Psychiatric News that the RAND study ‘points out the staggering economic toll that Alzheimer’s disease takes on individuals with dementia, their families ,and the national economy. If we do not find effective prevention methods or treatments that meaningfully slow disease progression, the costs of dementia care will cripple our health care system.'” Forester added, “Collaborations between academia, industry, and the federal government are required to accelerate our focus on developing effective therapies for prevention and early intervention for at risk individuals.”

Related Links:

— “The high costs of caring for someone with dementia, “Jonathan LaPook, CBS Evening News, April 4, 2013.

Reuters (4/4, Doyle) reported that according to a study published online March 28 in the journal Addiction, middle-school and adolescent children of parents taking part in military deployments have an increased likelihood of binge drinking or abusing prescription medications. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after examining data on 1,700 children who had deployed parents and 57,000 youngsters whose parents were not militarily deployed. The study is just a snapshot of behavior in 2010. It did not follow the kids after their parents returned from deployment, nor did it examine the youngsters’ behavior prior to parental deployment.

Related Links:

— “Drinking, drugs more common for kids of deployed, “Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, April 3, 2013.

USA Today (4/4, Hellmich) reports that handling “stress poorly…may put you at greater risk for anxiety disorders and other mental health issues 10 years later,” according to a study published online in the journal Psychological Science. Researchers from the University of California-Irvine “analyzed data on 711 men and women, ages 25 to 74, who were interviewed two times 10 years apart.” Investigators found that “people who responded to stress with more anxiety and sadness than the average person were much more likely to have self-reported anxiety/mood disorders and psychological distress 10 years later.”

Related Links:

— “Get a grip on your stress now to avoid problems later, “Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, April 3, 2013.