The trusty Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th
Edition, Text Revision)--better known as the DSM-IV-TR--is undergoing
its first major revision
in over a decade. The changes are primarily intended to ensure that the
DSM
reflects the most current scientific research, as well as correct
problems that clinicians have experienced with the current...
Yesterday morning, President Obama signed the long-discussed health reform bill into law. It was a historic moment for the White House and Democrats in Congress--many historians have named this law the most significant change to America's health care system since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-1960s.
The bill is long and complex; the provisions phase in over six years, so all of this is going to take time.
In accordance with Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the
government has to conduct a census every ten years. The census is used
to determine how seats in the House of Representatives are distributed,
how money for federal programs is...
President Obama gave his first official State of the Union speech last night, in which he laid out his priorities for the next three years of his Administration. As expected, especially with the approaching November elections, jobs and the economy were featured front and center. It was far less certain how Obama would address
There were three recent reports out of New York that caught my eye:
(1) The NY Times ran a profile today of Tom McLellan, former head of the Treatment Research Institute (TRI) and current Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the White House
Health reform is set to take a major step towards passage this Saturday
(if they're working on Saturday, something big must be happening!).
A quick reminder on the procedural steps that have gotten us to where
we are: First, each of the three committees of jurisdiction in the
House has to pass a health reform bill. Then those three bills have to
be merged into a single bill that the whole House can vote on. That
single, merged bill was introduced last week and can be found in...
Last week, the Congress approved the $693 billion 2010 National Defense
Authorization Act. The NDAA sets spending levels for all the programs
in the Department of Defense, the largest area of the U.S. budget after Social Security. The President is expected to sign the bill shortly.
In addition to authorizing new equipment purchases, servicemembers' salaries, and a...
Scottish poet Robert Burns's most quoted line reads,
O would some Power the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
Advocates on all issues make a similar plea: What does the public
already know, or think they know, and how can I tailor my message to
them so that it's as effective as possible? In...
We're hearing reports that Pamela Hyde, J.D., will be nominated by President Obama to serve as the next Administrator of SAMHSA. SAMHSA has been led by Rear Admiral Eric Broderick since its former administrator, Terry Cline from Oklahoma, resigned in Aug. 2008 to assist in establishing the health system in Iraq.
Ms. Hyde currently serves as Cabinet Secretary to the New Mexico Human Services Department. She has formerly served as New Mexico's state mental health director and the state's...
With an unprecedented 48 states facing budget shortfalls in fiscal year 2010, legislators are desperate to find revenue sources that save them from the rock-and-hard-place of unpopular tax hikes and unpopular cuts in services. It's not surprising then that state legislators are allured by the revenue promised by expanding legal gambling. Gamblers want the chance to voluntarily...
There was the easy way, and there was the hard way.
President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress wanted the easy way.
That's why they set August as a deadline for passing health care
reform. They came close--all three House...
I was privileged to have the chance to speak about health care reform last weekend to addiction professionals at the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals (TAAP) annual conference in San Antonio (a pared down copy of my presentation can be found here).
It was a wonderful conference and...
Health care reform has dominated the American political scene for the past few months. The original White House-imposed deadline (the August recess) for bills to be passed by both the House and Senate is rapidly approaching. Tonight, President Obama will hold a press conference in which he's expected to reinforce the importance of passing health care reform as soon as possible.
Since before his inauguration, President Obama has made it clear that health care reform would be a top priority for 2009. And for the last few months, it looked like the stars might all align for a comprehensive re-vamp of America's health care system:
Obama's election mandate, along with the Democrats' pick-up of a significant number of seats in the House and Senate, was tied to promises of health...
It is difficult to overemphasize the extent to which political
procedures determine political results. Although they are poorly
understood and often hopelessly arcane (the "how a bill becomes a law"
chart that high schoolers learn are is only the tip of the iceberg),
the procedure by which a policy is considered and implemented profoundly affects the resulting law or policy. Political procedures are the
rules of the game. Many of the most skilled lawmakers are not so much policy
wonks as...
Daniel Guarnera is the Director of Government Relations for NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals. He blogs on public policy, advocacy activity and other topics of importance to addiction professionals.
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Daniel Guarnera
