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Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Texas Proposal: JAIL Any Federal Officials Trying to Enforce New Gun Restrictions in the State
measure would make any federal firearms legislation passed by Congress or approved by Presidential order unenforceable in Texas
Jim Forsyth
        
A Texas lawmaker says he plans to file the Firearms Protection Act, which would make any federal laws that may be passed by Congress or imposed by Presidential order which would ban or restrict ownership of semi-automatic firearms or limit the size of gun magazines illegal in the state, 1200 WOAI news reports.

Republican Rep. Steve Toth says his measure also calls for felony criminal charges to be filed against any federal official who tries to enforce the rule in the state.

"If a federal official comes into the state of Texas to enforce the federal executive order, that person is subject to criminal prosecution," Toth told 1200 WOAI's Joe Pags Tuesday.  He says his bill would make attempting to enforce a federal gun ban in Texas punishable by a $50,000 fine and up to five years in prison.

Toth says he will file his measure after speaking with the state's Republican Attorney General, Greg Abbott, who has already vowed to fight any federal measures which call for restrictions on weapons possession.

Toth concedes that he would welcome a legal fight over his proposals.

"At some point there needs to be a showdown between the states and the federal government over the Supremacy Clause," he said.

The Supremacy Clause is the portion of the Constitution which declares that federal laws and statutes are 'the supreme law of the land.'

"It is our responsibility to push back when those laws are infringed by King Obama," Toth said.

Texas is the second state to propose a measure to shield the state from the impact of any gun possession restrictions imposed by Congress or by Presidential order.  A similar measure was introduced in Wyoming last week.

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This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof;
and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States,
shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby,
anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

Quoted from Box A Rox

According to the Supremacy Clause (Article VI, clause 2) of the United States Constitution,

(Federal preemption refers to the invalidation of a US state law when it conflicts with Federal law.)

Quoted from CICERO

Executive Order isn't a law written by elected representatives in Congress. It is rule by decree.  The president isn't even proposing gun control legislation, he is announcing 19 executive orders tomorrow.

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Here's the list, via the White House.

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.

15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies

16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

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And these are the legislative ideas -- i.e., the ones the president wants to push through Congress, starting with the  more pliable Senate.

Require criminal background checks for all gun sales. (a.k.a. closing the "gun show loophole.")

Reinstate and strengthen the assault weapons ban.

Restore the 10-round limit on ammunition magazines.

Protect police by finishing the job of getting rid of armor-piercing bullets.

Give law enforcement additional tools to prevent and prosecute gun crime.

End the freeze on gun violence research.

Make our schools safer with more school resource officers and school counselors, safer climates, and better emergency response plans.

Help ensure that young people get the mental health treatment they need.

Ensure health insurance plans cover mental health benefits.

Quoted from joebxr

Her's the 23 already signed yesterday:


and here are the 9 he is proposing:

Quoted from CICERO

Executive Orders are not laws, they are directives on how to enforce existing laws.

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20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health

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Definition of PARITY

1
: the quality or state of being equal or equivalent
2
a : equivalence of a commodity price expressed in one currency to its price expressed in another
b : equality of purchasing power established by law between different kinds of money at a given ratio
3
: an equivalence between farmers' current purchasing power and their purchasing power at a selected base period maintained by government support of agricultural commodity prices
4
a : the property of an integer with respect to being odd or even <3 and 7 have the same parity>
b (1) : the state of being odd or even used as the basis of a method of detecting errors in binary-coded data (2) : parity bit
5
: the property of oddness or evenness of a quantum mechanical function
6
: the symmetry of behavior in an interaction of a physical entity (as a subatomic particle) with that of its mirror image

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 3, 2010

Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343

Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan announce national coalition to enroll uninsured kids in health care

The Urban Institute’s Genevieve Kenney presents new report on states’ success enrolling target populations in Medicaid and CHIP

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan today highlighted the Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge to enroll five million children in Medicaid and CHIP within five years. Since Sebelius announced the Challenge last February, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have built an unprecedented coalition of partners, ranging from state governors to national advocacy organizations, who have stepped up to the challenge to enroll kids and educate families.

Although health coverage is currently available to children in families with incomes up to about $45,000 per year in nearly every state, an estimated five million uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but not enrolled.

“Nothing is more important to our future than the health of our children. No child should have to skip a doctor’s appointment or go without the medicine they need because their family can’t pay,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Despite the great advances that states have made over the years, there are nearly five million uninsured children who are currently eligible for coverage but are not enrolled. I’m challenging everyone, from my state and federal counterparts, to local governments and community-based organizations, to health centers and school districts, to faith-based groups and Indian tribes, to take this conversation about children’s coverage to the next level – to find and enroll those five million kids.”

”If a child is not healthy, he or she cannot learn,” said Secretary Duncan. “The education community has a critical role to play in finding and enrolling eligible children. We’re working to involve every member of the school community, including superintendents, principals, teachers, school nurses, and lunch room staff in meeting this achievable challenge.”

Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan were joined by Genevieve Kenney of the Urban Institute, whose new report Five Million Eligible But Uninsured: Who and Where Are the Children Yet to Enroll in Medicaid And The Children’s Health Insurance Program? was released in Health Affairs on-line today along with a Health Affairs Commentary by Secretary Sebelius, Rising to the Challenge: Tools for Enrolling Eligible Children in Health Coverage.

For years, researchers have struggled to produce accurate estimates on the number of uninsured children in each state. The paper released today by Health Affairs successfully created a new model, using data from The American Community Survey, that enabled researchers to produce meaningful national and state estimates. Some of the key findings include that:

According to coverage estimates, an estimated 7.3 million children were uninsured on an average day in 2008, of whom 4.7 million (65 percent) were eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but not enrolled
Participation rates varied across states from 55 percent to 95 percent
Ten states had participation rates at or above 90 percent
Thirty-nine percent of eligible uninsured children (1.8 million) live in just three states—California, Texas, and Florida—and 61 percent (2.9 million) are concentrated in ten states.
“This new data will help us to focus our efforts and our grant funding where they are most needed,” Sebelius said. “We now have a much better sense of where most uninsured children live, and which communities may need more help.”

Together, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) and the Affordable Care Act provide $120 million for grants designed to promote enrollment and retention strategies that will increase the prevalence of health coverage.

One of this Administration’s key goals is to fulfill the CHIPRA legislation – which the President signed as one of his first acts in office – to ensure that all children who are eligible for Medicaid and CHIP are enrolled in coverage and stay enrolled for as long as they are eligible.

CHIPRA, combined with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and its recent extension of increased federal Medicaid funding, has given states unprecedented federal support that has enabled them to keep providing essential health services for low-income families through Medicaid during the economic downturn.

To date, 17 national organizations and a number of states have agreed to sign on to the Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge. These organizations, ranging from the United Way to the American Academy of Pediatrics, represent a broad base of organizations who are working to enroll children in health insurance. The full list includes:

Governor Ted Strickland, Ohio
Governor Ted Kulongoski, Oregon
American Academy of Pediatrics
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Families USA
First Focus
March of Dimes
MomsRising
National Academy for State Health Policy
National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions
National Association of Community Health Centers
National Association of School Nurses
National Council of La Raza
National Covering Kids and Families Network
New England Alliance for Children’s Health, Community Catalyst
PICO
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
United Way Worldwide
Voices for America’s Children
There are a wide range of strategies – like providing 12 months of continuous eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP to reduce the chances of children cycling on and off of coverage and pre-populating renewal forms to make it easier for families to stay enrolled – that are known to help get and keep children insured. HHS will be providing technical assistance as well as targeted grant funding to promote these strategies.

More information on the Secretary’s Challenge can be found at insurekidsnow.gov.

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EHR | Health Maintenance Protocol eHealth

HealthWatcher automates sending those easy-to-forget reminders to your patients with medical advice and health care best practices

Providing sound health maintenance means including a full array of counseling, screening, and other preventive services designed to minimize the risk of premature sickness and death and to assure optimal physical, mental, and emotional health throughout the natural lifecycle. Today's leading EHR systems offer a wide variety of electronic health record (eHealth or EHR) features to optimize workflow and patient safety. For example, screening tests and physician counseling are important tools for identifying common yet potentially serious injuries, illnesses and diseases that can be prevented or cured with early intervention.

EHR Helps Obtain Successful Health Compliance Outcomes

EHR (eHealth) provides you the tools for successful management of patient populations, conditions, and preventive health routines ensuring patient compliance and preventive care. The HealthWatcher tool allows for customized profiles and protocols to ensure your practice complies with best practices and your patients adhere to your medical advice.

eHealth Maintenance Tailored to Your Practice Needs

With ADP AdvancedMD EHR, you can tailor your health maintenance solution to fit the unique needs of different groups of patients. For example, you can customize health maintenance information by diagnosis or by payer to accommodate carrier guidelines. Find out how ADP AdvancedMD can help your support staff quickly identify and reach out to patients who are due for tests or procedures.

Utilize Continuity of Care Protocols for Better Safety, Health Maintenance & Compliance
Our HealthWatcher (eHealth maintenance) module is part of our EHR and is a tool that helps the practice and provider follow continuity of care protocols. We support care plans, guidelines and protocols for the management of specific conditions based on factors such as age, sex, diagnosis and lab result values.

Benefits of HealthWatcher Maintenance in the EHR
Generates alerts for appointment recall, prescription refills and laboratory orders
Protocols can contain one or a series of tasks, renewable based on user-defined intervals
Health maintenance protocols can be assigned to an individual or group of patients

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Psychotherapy Notes47. A covered entity must obtain an individual’s authorization to use or disclose psychotherapy notes with the following exceptions48:

The covered entity who originated the notes may use them for treatment.
A covered entity may use or disclose, without an individual’s authorization, the psychotherapy notes, for its own training, and to defend itself in legal proceedings brought by the individual, for HHS to investigate or determine the covered entity’s compliance with the Privacy Rules, to avert a serious and imminent threat to public health or safety, to a health oversight agency for lawful oversight of the originator of the psychotherapy notes, for the lawful activities of a coroner or medical examiner or as required by law.

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A.D.H.D. Study Suggests Links Between Medication and Fewer Crimes
By PAM BELLUCK
Published: November 21, 2012
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A large study suggests that people with serious attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are less likely to commit crimes when taking medication.
Related

Well: Younger Students More Likely to Get A.D.H.D. Drugs (November 20, 2012)
Health Guide: ADHD
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, examined records of 25,000 people in Sweden to see if those with A.D.H.D. had fewer criminal convictions when taking medication than when they were not.

Of 8,000 people whose medication use fluctuated over a three-year period, men were 32 percent less likely and women were 41 percent less likely to have criminal convictions while on medication. Patients were primarily young adults, many with a history of hospitalization. Crimes included assault, drug offenses and homicide as well as less serious crimes. Medication varied, but many took stimulants like Ritalin.

“The study adds a lot,” said Dr. Gabrielle Carlson, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Stony Brook University medical school, who was not involved in the study. “Cutting the crime rate, that’s not trivial. Maybe it will get some help for people in jail. It gives people who were on the fence maybe a little more confidence in this treatment.”

Studies suggest that people with A.D.H.D. are more likely to commit crimes. And while people, especially boys, are often prescribed medication as children, they often resist taking it as teenagers. Studies have not shown that medication has long-term effects on symptoms.

Dr. Paul Lichtenstein, a study author and a professor at Karolinska Institute, cautioned against concluding that everyone with A.D.H.D. should be continuously medicated.

“There are pros and cons to medication,” he said. But “in young adults, the age where criminality is most common, you should consider medication because it is more harmful for these people to be involved in criminal activities. Also for prisoners and people who have left prison.”

Researchers said that correlations between medication and decreased crime held regardless of the type of medication or crime and the presence of other disorders. They tried to determine if patients stopped treatment because of criminal convictions, but found that treatment itself appeared linked to fewer crimes.

Among psychiatric experts, when, and sometimes whether, to prescribe A.D.H.D. medication is still debated. Drugs do not work for everyone, and side effects can include jittery feelings and suppressed appetite and growth.

William Pelham, director of the Center for Children and Families at Florida International University, said nondrug therapies like behavioral modification worked as well as medication in the short run. He said that the study did not prove that medication caused less criminality, and because most subjects were seriously ill adults, the results were irrelevant for most American children.

Jason Fletcher, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, said that despite some weaknesses, the study provided a “very suggestive piece of evidence” supporting medication. “Because crime is so expensive, if you can reduce it, even by half of what they’re saying, you might still say this is really effective medication.”

He did wonder if medication is reducing crime or “making better criminals,” who avoid arrest. Dr. Lichtenstein deemed that unlikely. “I don’t think you would commit the crime,” he said, “and then just not get caught.”