NBC News (5/18, Pettypiece) reports, “Republicans and Democrats appear to be at a stalemate over a GOP proposal to tie eligibility for Medicaid…to a certain number of hours worked each month.” According to “the Republican plan…Medicaid recipients would have to document 80 hours a month of work…or log hours doing community service or participating in a work training program.” Medicaid “recipients would lose their coverage if they don’t meet the hourly or monthly income requirements for three consecutive months during the year.” The piece mentions that “six major medical groups, including…the American Psychiatric Association, issued a statement opposing Medicaid work requirements, arguing it would increase medical debt for patients and add barriers to care while driving up costs for states and not improving employment rates.”

Related Links:

— “The debt ceiling debate could put health insurance in jeopardy for millions ” Shannon Pettypiece, NBC News, May 18, 2023

HealthDay (5/18, Murez) reports, “Teens who use electronic cigarettes are significantly more likely than non-vapers to binge-drink and use cannabis, new research finds.” Surveys of teens between the ages of 13 and 18 indicate “that vapers were 20 times more likely to use marijuana than teens who used no nicotine products.” Moreover, “those who vaped in the previous month were six times more likely to have had multiple binge-drinking episodes in the previous two weeks.” These connections “were even stronger for kids who smoked traditional cigarettes and vaped.” The findings were published in Substance Use and Misuse.

Related Links:

— “Vaping Could Up Teens’ Odds for Marijuana Use, Binge Drinking “Cara Murez, HealthDay , May 18, 2023

The Washington Post (5/17, Ovalle) reports, “Drug overdose deaths in the United States plateaued in 2022 but still topped 105,000,” according to “provisional data released” May 17 by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The data reveal that “105,452 people succumbed to overdoses in 2022, a number poised to increase as more deaths are reported by state agencies.” This “death count mirrors 2021, when drugs such as illicit fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamines killed more than 107,000 people – a stunning record high in U.S. history.”

According to the AP (5/17, Stobbe), experts remain unsure, however, whether the plateau in 2022 “means the deadliest drug overdose epidemic in U.S. history is finally reaching a peak, or whether it’ll look like previous plateaus that were followed by new surges in deaths.” Last year, “most overdose deaths continued to be linked to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (5/17) reports, “Inflation is causing a significant amount of stress for most Americans, especially women and people who are socioeconomically more vulnerable,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from the Household Pulse Survey collected from September 2022 to February 2023 by the U.S. Census Bureau.” Some 370,000 people took part in that survey. The findings were published online May 15 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Most Americans Feeling Stressed About Inflation, Survey Shows, Psychiatric News, May 17, 2023

Kaiser Health News (5/17, Rosenthal) reports, “In the past few years, 10,000 to 20,000 apps have stampeded into the mental health space, offering to ‘disrupt’ traditional therapy,” and now, “with the frenzy around AI innovations like ChatGPT, the claim that chatbots can provide mental healthcare is on the horizon.” Still, “in the mental health space, evidence of effectiveness is lacking.” In fact, “few of the many apps on the market have independent outcomes research showing they help; most haven’t been scrutinized at all by the FDA.” Even though they are “marketed to treat conditions such as anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and depression, or to predict suicidal tendencies, many warn users (in small print) that they are ‘not intended to be medical, behavioral health or other healthcare service’ or ‘not an FDA cleared product.’”

Related Links:

— “An AI Chatbot May Be Your Next Therapist. Will It Actually Help Your Mental Health? “Elisabeth Rosenthal, Kaiser Health News, May 17, 2023