CMS Rolls Out New Requirements For ACA Insurance Providers
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a final rule Monday impacting insurers that participate in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Among the changes are requiring mental health care providers on plans, fee decreases, and allowing state exchanges to open a special enrollment period for people who lose Medicaid or CHIP benefits.
Modern Healthcare:
ACA Insurers Must Include Mental Health Providers In Plans: CMS
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will require insurers on the Affordable Care Act exchanges to include substance abuse and mental health providers in their plans, among other things. The final rule, announced Monday, softens CMS' proposed limits to the number of plan options exchange insurers can offer, and abandons agency proposals to standardize how carriers promote their drug formularies and differentiate between similar plans in a given market. It also decreases the fees insurers must pay to market their products on federal and state-based exchanges. (Tepper and Turner, 4/17)
In other news about mental health care —
AP:
Why Are Teen Girls In Crisis? It's Not Just Social Media
Anxiety over academics. Post-lockdown malaise. Social media angst. Study after study says American youth are in crisis, facing unprecedented mental health challenges that are burdening teen girls in particular. Among the most glaring data: A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed almost 60% of U.S. girls reported persistent sadness and hopelessness. Rates are up in boys, too, but about half as many are affected. Adults offer theories about what is going on, but what do teens themselves say? Is social media the root of their woes? Are their male peers somehow immune, or part of the problem? (Tanner and Wang, 4/17)
USA Today:
How Does Social Media Affect Mental Health? It's Complicated
Whether or not social media affects mental health, and to what degree, has long been up for debate. While some contend that social media connects the world, others argue that it feeds a culture of FOMO (fear of missing out) and an endless desire for affirmations. Experts have raised concerns about how social media use activates the reward circuits in the brain, which can cause addiction. These platforms have even been associated with anxiety and depression. Children and adolescents, especially those with a history of trauma, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of social media. (Nothaft, 4/18)
AP:
Taraji P. Henson Partners With HBCUs On Mental Wellness
Alabama State University is partnering on a new project to make free mental health resources more widely available to students at historically Black colleges and universities. The “She Care Wellness Pods” will give students access to therapy sessions, workshops, yoga and quiet spaces. Actress Taraji P. Henson’s Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation is partnering with the Kate Spade Foundation to place the pods on HBCU campuses. Alabama State is the first to participate in the program. (4/17)
NorthJersey.com:
Can 'Magic' Mushrooms Treat Mental Health Issues? Yes, But Experts Say Use With Caution
When Snehal Bhatt left New Jersey for New Mexico in 2009, he was reluctant to tell people about his research goals. Now a faculty member at Rutgers' Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of New Mexico, Bhatt went west to participate in a clinical trial involving psilocybin, the psychedelic compound produced by so-called "magic" mushrooms. "Ten years ago, this type of research was stigmatized," he said. "In the last five years, that has changed." (Zimmer, 4/17)
CNN:
As Gun Violence Reaches Record Levels In The US, An Underlying Trauma May Be Building Up
As more communities reel from deadly mass shootings – including Dadeville, Alabama, where four people were killed and 28 injured at a Sweet 16 birthday party over the weekend – there’s evidence that the trauma of gun violence in the United States is taking a collective toll on the nation’s mental health. Research published this year suggests that the negative effects that mass shootings can have on mental health may extend beyond the survivors and community directly affected to a much broader population. (McPhillips, 4/17)
Politico:
Washington Used To Abhor Talking About Mental Health. No More
For six weeks, while Sen. John Fetterman received treatment for clinical depression at Walter Reed Medical Center, handwritten cards poured into his Washington office. His staff fielded phone calls from constituents passing along well wishes. Others called simply to thank him for being upfront about his condition. When one of Fetterman’s senior aides checked into a hotel in Pittsburgh recently, a middle-aged woman saw their Senate ID and asked for whom they worked. When the aide told her, the woman responded: “He’s so brave.” (Ward, 4/17)
