Poll Finds Support for Stable or Increased Medicaid Funding, Including Among Trump Voters

A majority of Americans don’t want to see Congress reduce spending on Medicaid and believe the health care program for lower income individuals and families is important to their community, according to polling released Friday.

The survey from KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization, broke down responses by political party as well as which presidential candidate voters supported during November’s election.

The results show there is a majority of support for the program among Republicans, including those who supported President Donald Trump. But it also showed that Americans might support changes to how Medicaid is run.

Celebrate Brain Awareness Week with NIMH

Brain Awareness Week (March 10-16) is a campaign that promotes enthusiasm and support for brain science. The National Institute of Mental Health offers learning resources for students and teachers about mental health and the brain. Explore videos, activities, and coloring books to empower yourself and others on the journey to mental well-being.

Click here to view the digital toolkit for Brain Awareness Week. 

Co-prescribed Stimulants, Opioids Linked to Higher Opioid Doses

The combination of prescribed central nervous system stimulants, such as drugs that relieve ADHD symptoms, with prescribed opioid medications is associated with a pattern of escalating opioid intake, a new study has found.

The analysis of health insurance claims data from almost 3 million U.S. patients investigated prescribed stimulants’ impact on prescription opioid use over 10 years, looking for origins of the so-called “twin epidemic” of combining the two classes of drugs, which can increase the risk for overdose deaths. The study was published Feb. 17 in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.  The research team obtained data on 22 million patients with 96 million opioid prescriptions from MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters, a large U.S. health insurance database. Researchers established a cohort for this study of 2.9 million patients with an average age of 44 who had at least two independent opioid prescriptions between 2012 and 2021. The most common diagnoses linked to co-prescription of stimulants and opioids were depression and ADHD or ADHD and chronic pain.

Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno Vows Senate GOP Won't Cut Medicaid

Ohio expanded its Medicaid program with the commitment from Washington to cover 90% of the cost and the state the remaining 10%. However, Gov. Mike DeWine put a clause in the just released state budget proposal that states if Congress decides to pay less than that 90%, the state would immediately discontinue all medical assistance for those extra 700,000 covered under that Medicaid expansion. Congress is considering nearly $1.5 Trillion in reductions, including to the Medicaid program.  The one possible silver lining if these cuts pass out of the house is they would have to be approved as well by the Senate. And Senator Bernie Moreno tells News 5 Medicaid cuts, for him, will be a non-starter. "But anybody watching this broadcast, does not need to worry about their benefits being cut. That is something we should not be doing is scaring people unnecessarily," he said.