The Chicago Tribune (3/12, Mann) reports, “Adults with mental illnesses are more likely to smoke cigarettes and less likely to quit than people without mental illnesses, said a recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The report found that “thirty-six percent of the mentally ill smoke, compared with 21 percent of those without mental illnesses.” The report data were derived from responses to “the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2009-11 survey of 138,000 people 18 and older.”

Thomson Reuters News & Insight (3/12, Humer) reports that UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest health insurer in the US, has been sued by the New York State Psychiatric Association (NYSPA), which is part of the American Psychiatric Association, and some UnitedHealth policyholders. The suit alleges that UnitedHealth has not provided mental health treatments called for under the Affordable Care Act, the Federal Parity Act, ERISA, and the laws of New York State. The suit, which is seeking class action status for NYSPA members as well as other customers with health insurance, seeks to force UnitedHealth to comply with applicable laws. The lawsuit is in Re: New York State Psychiatric Assn. Inc., Michael A. Kamins, Jonathan Denbo and Brad Smith vs. UnitedHealth Group, Southern District of New York, No. 13-cv-01599.

Bloomberg News (3/12, Smythe) reports, “The company denied or limited access to psychotherapy and other mental-health treatments for patients suffering from conditions including psychosis, chronic depression, and anxiety disorders, according to the 102-page complaint, which seeks to represent all customers of the company facing similar situations.” Bloomberg News adds, “So-called parity laws of the US, New York and California prohibit insurers from imposing more restrictive limits on care for mental health than for other health-care conditions, according to the complaint.” In addition, UnitedHealth “violated the federal Affordable Care Act by failing to continue to pay for mental-health treatment until final internal appeals were resolved, according to the complaint.”

Related Links:

— “NY State Pyschiatric Assn files suit against UnitedHealth, “Caroline Humer, Thomson Reuters, March 11, 2013.

The Atlantic (3/11, Graham) reported that “implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 has been hobbled by a lack of clear guidance from the government, and final rules governing the statute have yet to be published.” In addition, according to the article, “insurers are not clarifying the process they use to evaluate the medical necessity of mental health services, and how this compares to processes used in relation to medical services, said Sam Muszynski, director of the office of healthcare systems and financing for the American Psychiatric Association. ‘When providers ask for this kind of information, they just don’t get it,’ he said.”

Related Links:

— “Since 2008, Insurers Have Been Required by Law to Cover Mental Health—Why Many Still Don’t, “Judith Graham, The Atlantic, March 11, 2013.

In print and in its “Well” blog, the New York Times (3/11, D4, Bakalar) reports that “a new study finds that anger, coupled with psychotic delusions, may be the most significant factor in violence committed by people with mental illness.”

Medwire (3/12, Piper) reports, “Anger due to delusions appears to be a key factor explaining violent behavior in patients with acute psychosis,” according to the results of the 458-patient East London First Episode Psychosis Study published online March 6 in JAMA Psychiatry. “The population-attributable risk percentage of anger related to delusions was 30.8% for minor violence and 55.9% for serious violence, after taking into account gender, ethnicity, age, comorbid antisocial personality disorder, drug use, mania symptoms, and trait anger,” the study found.

Related Links:

— “Delusions, Anger and Violence, “Nicholas Bakalar, The New York Times, March 11, 2013.

The Time (2/25) “Healthland” blog reports that, according to a study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, a greater number of sex partners may be associated with an increased risk for drug addiction. Investigators “followed virtually all of the 1037 children born between 1972 and 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand, and asked about their sexual partners as well as alcohol and other drug use.” Female participants “who had more than two to three sex partners when they were 18 years to 20 years old were nearly 10 times more likely than those who had none or one sexual partner to develop a drug problem, primarily involving alcohol or marijuana, at age 21.” The researchers found that, “at age 32, the risk was nearly 18 times greater for women who had more than two to three partners when they were aged 26 to 31 compared to those with one or no partners during that time.” While the risk was elevated among men with higher numbers of sex partners, it was not increased to the same extent.

Related Links:

— “More Sex Partners Linked to Higher Risk of Drug Addiction, Alcoholism, “Maia Szalavitz, TIME, February 25, 2013.