Hamutal Bernstein for the Urban Institute: Resettled refugees undergo extensive screening before admission to the United States and are eligible for supports to assist them on a fast track to becoming Americans. They are assigned to a specific U.S. community under the care of a nongovernmental resettlement agency that addresses their most urgent basic needs and supports their integration. They are required to file for permanent legal residence after one year.
The pool of refugees is extremely diverse, with individuals and families coming from nearly 80 countries last year, and the largest numbers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria and Burma, followed by Iraq, Somalia and Bhutan. …
Many migrants entering Europe have fled persecution and instability the same way U.S. resettled refugees have, but they have not gone through the international resettlement regime, and they have not been screened and admitted for privileged resettlement status.
These waves of refugees and migrants have entered Europe after fleeing Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries. This “mixed migration” wave includes both people fleeing persecution and violence, and people seeking better economic prospects. In 2015, 1.3 million applied for asylum in Europe, up from 400,000 in 2013, constituting a “migrant crisis.” …
Although they are often referred to as “refugees” because of their eligibility for international protection, highlighting their vulnerability and inability to return home, they do not have the legal status of refugees resettled to the United States.
While referring to today’s migrants as refugees makes sense from a humanitarian perspective, we need to be clear that resettled refugees in the United States are different from migrants and asylum seekers in Europe because of the extensive security screening that U.S.-bound resettled refugees have cleared.
Walker’s Wisconsin isn’t beating its Democrat-led neighborhood
Dean Baker for the Center for Economic and Policy Research: In 2010, Wisconsin elected conservative Republican Scott Walker as governor. At that time, Republicans controlled both houses of Wisconsin’s legislature. Neighboring state Minnesota elected Mark Dayton, a liberal Democrat. Democrats also controlled both houses of Minnesota’s legislature. Both governors were re-elected in 2014.
The two governors took their states on diametrically opposed courses. Walker cut taxes and paid for them with cuts to spending in education and a number of other areas. He also deliberately confronted the state’s public-sector unions …
By contrast, under Dayton, Minnesota raised taxes on the wealthy and used the money to improve the quality of education in the state. The state also raised its minimum wage, which now stands at $9.50 an hour for large companies and $7.75 for small employers. In contrast with Walker, Dayton has maintained good relations with Minnesota’s unions, which are an important part of his political coalition.
Both governors argued that their agendas were the best way to boost growth and create jobs. Thus far it looks like Dayton has the better case.
Since the start of his administration in 2011, Minnesota has created more than 250,000 jobs, a gain of almost 10 percent. By contrast, Wisconsin’s economy has added 190,000 jobs, an increase of just over 7 percent.
Don’t use opioids for chronic pain
Jason Doctor and Michael Menchine for the Brookings Institution: Demand for opioids relates to our misconception of chronic pain.
While acute pain can be easily apprehended, chronic pain may have no external cause or clear precipitating event. Often, patients are eager to pursue information provided by medical imaging tests to get answers. Yet, studies show these tests are non-informative when pain is the only symptom; for example, healthy people without back pain show signs of disk degeneration, herniation or nerve impingement at high rates.
The medicalization of chronic pain can increase harm, because patients hold onto, as a plausible story, the idea that their pain has a strict pathophysiological basis that can benefit from painkillers. It will be difficult to sway patients away from choosing narcotics without helping them address their desire to make sense of why it is they hurt.
Education in the medically stable patient “hurt is not harm” use of physical therapy and the development of self-management skills will help patients learn to manage their pain and lead more productive lives. Successful programs do not have to be elaborate or expensive. A recent example used outpatient nurse visits to deliver a behavioral pain management program. The program was effective in reducing pain and increasing patient function.
Compiled by Joseph Lawler from reports published by the various think tanks.
