Senate votes to confirm Georgia Rep. Tom Price as Health and Human Services Secretary

Tom Price Secretary of Health and Human Services Confirmed! pic.twitter.com/QvyyActFqm

— TransitionTracker (@DaveNYviii) February 10, 2017

Confirmed, 52-47: Exec. Cal. #13, Thomas Price, to be secretary of health and human services.

— Floor Monitor (@senategopfloor) February 10, 2017

BREAKING: Senate votes to confirm Georgia Rep. Tom Price as Health and Human Services Secretary

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 10, 2017

BREAKING: Trump’s ‘Repeal and Replace’ Pick Dr. Tom Price CONFIRMED as HHS Secretary https://t.co/BoEeSdxSc2

— RedState (@RedState) February 10, 2017

Trump picks ObamaCare critic Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services

JUST IN: Donald Trump picks ObamaCare critic Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services https://t.co/pEid66hT73 pic.twitter.com/n3vtiM8YbA

— New York Post (@nypost) November 29, 2016

County Mental Health Branch in Crisis After Mass Resignations of Doctors, Nurses

◼ There is an exodus of doctors and nurse practitioners underway at the Mental Health Branch of the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). - Ryan Burns/Lost Coast Outpost

While the current county budget includes funding for 10 full-time physician/psychiatrists in that unit, just half that number were employed at the start of the year, and four of those remaining five doctors have since submitted their resignations.

If those positions aren’t filled in the next six weeks it will leave just one full-time, local psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer “Katy” Wilson, employed at the county Mental Health branch, and Dr. Wilson works primarily at the county jail rather than Sempervirens (the county’s psychiatric hospital) or the Crisis Stabilization Unit.

Meanwhile, all but one of the branch’s nurse practitioners have also resigned. (The one who remains, Jennifer Albrecht, has been on leave since Aug. 2013; she’s scheduled to return March 10.)

In interviews and documents obtained by the Outpost, insiders describe a program in crisis, a mental health unit where gross mismanagement and chronic understaffing have led to employee burnout and dangerous conditions for patients and employees alike. KEEP READING

10 States Suing Over Obama’s Immigration Actions Find Their Senators on Opposite Side

◼ Lawmakers in Florida, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin—states that have all signed onto a lawsuit that alleges the president’s immigration plan is unconstitutional—have twice blocked debate on a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security while also undoing Obama’s immigration actions. - Daily Signal

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation who has closely followed the lawsuit, said these senators are not working in the best interest of the people back home.

He told The Daily Signal: “The polling shows that Americans are overwhelming against what Obama has done. Yet, we have senators from these states going against what their constituents want and what their state attorneys general or governors are doing.”

Senators from the 10 states include:

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio
Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

Humboldt County supervisors take on rising health insurance costs: County faces $1.4M in unexpected expenses

◼ Around $1.4 million in unanticipated costs will be discussed at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday during the first quarter budget update for this fiscal year. - Catherine Wong/The Times-Standard

According to a county report, the approximately $303.7 million budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year was developed with the expectation that the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, would increase monthly health insurance rates by around 7.5 percent. Instead, the county's portion jumped from $425.30 to $550.20, or about 29.4 percent, for staff not with the Humboldt Deputy Sheriff's Organization.

The money adds up to $457,000 in unexpected costs to the General Fund and $934,000 to other county funds, totaling just under $1.4 million.

”The good news is that the County ended fiscal year 2012-13 with a $6.8 million General Fund balance,” county Public Information Officer Sean Quincey said in an email .

State Threatens To Seize Infant Who was Fed Goat’s Milk Instead of Approved GMO Soy Formula

◼ A young mother in Maine is being threatened by the Department of Health and Human Services to have her infant child taken away and put into foster care. Her crime? Feeding him goat’s milk instead of commercial infant formula. - healthimpactnews.com

The young mother made a huge mistake, however. She told her pediatrician about the formula. The doctor turned her in to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which resulted in home visits, an overnight stay in the hospital, a directive to buy “approved” commercial infant formula (most of which contain GMOs and soy) and threats to remove the baby and place him into foster care.

The local mainstream media apparently is confused by this action, and has covered the story. WABI even interviewed another family doctor in the area who said: “I’ve got plenty of kids in my practice that have been given goat’s milk, for example, and they’re growing and developing fine.”

Indeed, goat’s milk is generally considered healthier, more easily digested, and less allergenic than cow’s milk. It has been fed to infants in traditional cultures for probably many thousands of years. So why the uproar and threats? The local media tried to interview the DHHS, but they refused, and instead referred them to government websites that stated goat’s milk was not suitable for infants.

◼ “I’m trying to do the best for my child, and I’m getting in trouble for it,” Gellerson said at the protest that drew about 40 people, including nine who spoke at the event. (a rally Thursday at Cascade Park in Bangor to make a statement against DHHS)

“Put down the iCarly lunchbox and back away slowly!”

◼ It’s not about whether a homemade lunch meets a government agency’s “necessary guidelines.

It’s about the fact that there are “necessary guidelines” in the first place, and now they’re even sending agents around to enforce them. It’s about yet another busybody government bureaucracy intruding into yet another aspect of our daily lives. Join the conversation with Jim Treacher at the Daily Caller