| Addiction Treatment Costs Shift Sharply to Taxpayers, Report Finds
A study funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that 77.4 percent of treatment in 2003 was paid for by Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal, state and local sources, up from 50.4 percent in 1986. Meanwhile, the private sector's share of the treatment cost burden slipped from 49.6 percent in 1986 to 22.6 percent in 2003. Private insurers, who paid 29.6 percent of treatment costs in 1986, were only paying 10.1 percent by 2003. Total dollars paid by private insurers for addiction treatment fell from $2.8 billion to $2.1 billion during the same time period. Fewer patients were paying for treatment out of their own pocket, as well: in 1986, 13.8 percent of treatment was self-paid, but that fell to 8 percent in 2003. The findings are in line with a 2004 study by Medstat that showed a decline in addiction benefits utilization among privately insured workers as well as falling treatment expenditures by insurers between 1992 and 2001, said Ronald J.
Father charged after baby is injured in fall
SALEM - An 11-month-old baby was injured Monday afternoon when his father, high on drugs, decided to go after a skateboarder who had accidentally knocked a cigarette from his hand, police said.
When Michael Clemons, 26, went chasing after the skateboarder, he tripped over the stroller, knocking the baby to the sidewalk, police said. The boy suffered a cut over his eye.
Clemons left the injured baby lying on the sidewalk, police said, as he chased after the skateboarder. A driver passing by stopped to help the child.
Now Clemons, of 32 Perkins St., Salem, is facing charges of permitting injury to a child and possession of methadone and was ordered held yesterday on $5,000 cash bail by a Salem District Court judge.
It was shortly before 3 p.m.
Medicare changes for rehab hospitals worry Brooks
JACKSONVILLE -- As changes in Medicare policy regarding inpatient rehabilitation hospitals draw nearer, hospital officials are worried what effects the changes will have on their patients. One of the changes by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is the 75 Percent Rule, which requires that percentage of patients in inpatient rehabilitation facilities to be there for one of 13 medical conditions in order for hospitals to continue to be reimbursed by Medicare. .
City opposes methadone clinic
Clanton's City Council members signed a letter opposing the building of a methadone treatment facility here. The council voiced their support of those opposing the clinic last night at its regular council meeting. The letter was hand delivered to Alva M. Lambert, executive director of the State Health Planning & Development Agency. The agency is scheduled to discuss the proposed facility at its Sept. 19 meeting in Montgomery. The agency has the power to grant a certificate of need to Susan Staats Sidwell, the owner of a similar Shelby County methadone clinic and the person proposing the facility here. The letter to Lambert said, "The city of Clanton, Alabama, acting by and through its duly elected Mayor and Council Members, respectfully files this notice of its opposition to the proposed location of a methadone facility at 2100 Holiday Inn Drive, Clanton, AL.
Working through the pain
This is the second of a two-part series about suicide. Today, Sarah Breyette, 18, shares how her sister's unexpected taking of her life has shaped hers over the last seven years. Warning signs, services offered and how to assess the risk were outlined in yesterday's article. Kristina Breyette answered to "Kris," "Tina" and "Kristina." Her younger sister, Sarah Breyette, describes her as a "really happy person," a devoted "The X-Files" watcher and a passionate seventh grade football team member. While the youngest of the Breyette family can recall a time when her family - which included father Roger Breyette, mother Sharon Lyman, sister Kristina Breyette, grandfather Samuel Lyman, grandmother Marjorie Lyman and aunt Debbie Dawson - had fun and would gather together for holiday get-togethers, she most vividly recalls when such happy times began to turn dark and dysfunctional.
‘Cheese,’ steroids getting full attention of school officials
Dallas resident Fernando Cortez, Sr., never saw any of the warning signs of drug addiction in his 15-year-old son.A concerned parent and a former drug addict himself, he kept his son on "a short leash," making every effort to be aware of who his son spent his free time with when he wasn't under his father's watchful eye.But, Cortez's son, Fernando Cortez, Jr., died of an overdose of the drug "Cheese" in March. Cortez, Sr., said it was the first time his son had used the drug, a mixture of black tar heroine and common medications containing diphenhydramine, an active ingredient in Tylenol PM or Benadryl.The drug is cheap, sometimes as cheap as $2 a hit, according to officials. And that is one of the primary concerns of area police officers and school officials who say they are doing everything they can to prevent students from being lured by the drug and others like it with names that sound fairly harmless.The drug has killed some two dozen children in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and is one of the more urgent reasons for a $100 million federal grant, given to several Texas school districts.John Walters, director of the White House drug policy office, was in Dallas last week for briefings from the Cheese Heroin Task Force in Dallas.
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