The Hill (12/5, Cochran) reported that a federal appeals court on Thursday halted an effort by the Administration “to block grants to hire more school mental health workers. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s appeal of a district court decision to restore grants given by the Biden administration to hire more counselors and social workers, particularly in low-income and rural schools.” The appeals court ruled the Administration “has not shown a strong likelihood of success and noted the district court is likely to reach a final decision soon.”

Related Links:

— “Court blocks Trump administration effort to halt school mental health worker grants,”Lexi Lonas Cochran, The Hill, December 5, 2025

Modern Healthcare (12/5, Early, Subscription Publication) reported that states are “taking matters into their own hands as health insurance exchange customers confront huge rate hikes and shrinking federal aid.” So far, proposed initiatives “include state-funded premium ‘wraparound’ subsidies, reinsurance programs, new benefit designs and intensified consumer outreach. These states are striving to reduce the coverage losses and risk pool deterioration expected because of skyrocketing premiums. The open enrollment period began Nov. 1 and ends Jan. 15 in most states.”

Related Links:

— “States get creative as exchange subsidies expiration looms,”Bridget Early, Modern Healthcare, December 5, 2025

Psychiatric News (12/5) reported a study suggests that “compared with people who don’t play video games, individuals who engage in recreational gaming showed enhanced attention-related performance in cognitive tests, while those at risk of gaming disorders had reduced working memory.” Researchers observed that “compared with non-gamers, those at risk of gaming disorders performed worse on two tasks (Digit Span and Counting Span) designed to assess working memory capacity.” Furthermore, participants “in the gaming disorder risk group also had a higher number of incorrect responses compared with the recreational gamer group in the 1-back task, which assesses the ability to adapt to new information – suggesting more impulsive response tendencies.” However, gamers “showed enhanced response readiness and attentional control compared with non-gamers, as evidenced by their higher accuracy in the Go/No-Go task, which assesses inhibitory control.” The study was published in Computers in Human Behavior.

Related Links:

— “Gaming Disorders Linked to Cognitive Impairment—but Recreational Gaming May Offer Benefit, Psychiatric News, December 5, 2025

Forbes (12/4, Japsen) reports that a new KFF survey found that “one in four” Affordable Care Act “enrollees will ‘very likely go without’ coverage next year if tax credits aren’t extended and premiums doubled for those who buy individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act.” KFF said in its 21-page analysis of the survey results, “When asked what they would do if the amount they pay for health insurance each month doubled, one in three enrollees (32%) say they are very likely to shop for a lower-premium plan (with higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs) and one in four (25%) say they would be very likely to go uninsured.” If the survey results are accurate, “the nation’s uninsured would rise by more than 5 million.”

Related Links:

— “1 In 4 Obamacare Enrollees May Drop Coverage If Tax Credits Go Away, Poll Says,”Bruce Japsen, Forbes, December 4, 2025

Psychiatric News (12/4) reports a study found that “children born extremely premature demonstrate increasing levels of autistic social traits (ASTs) from ages 10 to 17 – with no differences between sexes.” The research team “evaluated AST scores for 527 extremely premature youth (52% female) at ages 10 and 17 using the parent-reported Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). SRS scores increased an average of 19 raw points between the two assessments, pushing standardized SRS scores from the ‘normal’ range at age 10 to ‘mild concern’ at age 17.” They noted that “nearly 70% of youth exhibited significant increases in ASTs between 10 and 17, while just 8% saw decreasing ASTs. At age 17, youth who experienced greater increases in ASTs reported worse self-esteem and overall health.” The study was published in the Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Youth Born Extremely Premature Show Increasing Signs of Autistic Social Traits Over Time, Psychiatric News, December 4, 2025