Mental Health

Twenty-one California Democrats have asked the Obama administration to investigate reports that mental health centers in Nevada are dumping their mental patients across state lines.

The letter, led by Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), is a response to a Sacramento Bee story that said Nevada clinics are putting psychiatric patients on buses with one-way tickets to California. They noted reports that as many as 1,500 patients have been dumped, which also burdens California with treatment costs.

Jamaican authorities have agreed to extradite convicted scammers who prey on American seniors following a Senate probe, the U.S. ambassador to Kingston said.

The promise follows a hearing by the Senate's aging panel last month into scams that fool seniors into handing over money in exchange for a bigger pay-off in the form of fictitious lottery winnings. The scam has hit the home states of chairman Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine) particularly hard.

The Jamaican Senate passed legislation shortly after the hearing to prosecute the scammers, who fleece American seniors of an estimated $1 billion a year. The United States is Jamaica's biggest trade partner and its main source of tourists, making good relations between the two countries crucial.

The Senate voted 95-2 for an amendment to the gun control bill that would address mental health issues.

The amendment, introduced by Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), expands federal mental health programs, including in education, suicide prevention, substance abuse and trauma centers.

A prominent House subcommittee is asking the Obama administration to assist its review of U.S. mental health policy by providing a comprehensive list of all programs and research projects that address the topic.

Reps. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) wrote to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Wednesday as part of an effort to study and better coordinate the U.S. mental healthcare system following the Newtown, Conn., shooting late last year. 

The two lead the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. 

President Obama's budget proposal asks Congress for $30 million to study gun violence, restoring research that Congress has blocked for years.

Obama proposed $10 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study gun violence, and another $20 million to expand the National Violent Death Reporting System to all 50 states.

Obama directed the CDC to resume its studies of gun violence in January, as part of 23 executive actions aimed at curbing gun violence while Congress debates further-reaching gun control.

Democratic campaign officials demanded that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) apologize Tuesday after a secret tape revealed that his campaign considered attacking a potential opponent's struggle with depression.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) blasted the Senate Republican leader after Mother Jones published audio of a private strategy meeting in which a McConnell aide criticized actress Ashley Judd as "emotionally unbalanced."

"It is beneath the office of Minority Leader to engage in this kind of trivial politics," said DSCC Executive Director Guy Cecil in a statement. "[McConnell] should apologize to the millions of Americans who suffer from depression and don't believe it’s a laughing matter." 

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Patients with substance-abuse issues are still paying more for in-patient treatment than others who seek hospital care, according to a new study.

The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), a research group, found the average hospital admission for substance-abuse treatment cost patients $889 in 2011, or 12 percent of the treatment's total cost.

This out-of-pocket figure was 8 percent higher than what patients paid for an average medical or surgical hospital admission and 2 percent higher than the cost of a mental-health admission. 

SPOTTED: Los Angeles Lakers star Metta World Peace outside the Capitol on a sunny Friday to support Rep. Grace Napolitano’s (D-Calif.) push for the Mental Health in Schools Act.

The outspoken athlete posed for photos with the noticeably shorter congresswoman and was seen speaking with school-age children. Mr. World Peace (as a press release about the event referred to him) was seen smiling as he chatted with Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.).