[acb-hsp] America's Underperforming Mental Health System

[peter altschul]

In the Wake of Another Mass Shooting, Let's Talk About America's 
Dangerously Gutted Mental Healthcare System
  Lynn Stuart Parramore December 14, 2012
  The scene has replayed itself over and over -- in Tucson, at 
Virginia Tech, at Columbine.  On Friday in Connecticut, another 
unstable man has taken innocent lives in a burst of terrifying 
violence.
  Inadequate gun control is only one half of the story.  The 
other is the shameful job America does of treating the mentally 
ill.  Today, 45 million American adults suffer from mental 
illness.  Eleven million of those cases are considered serious.  
Most of these people are not dangerous, but if they can't get 
treatment, the odds of potential violence increase.
  Yet the mentally ill are finding it increasingly difficult to 
get help.  Mental health funding has been plummeting for decades.  
Since 2009, states have cut billions for mental health from their 
budgets.  As Daniel Lippman hasreported in the Huffington Post:
  Across the country, states facing severe financial shortfalls 
have cut at least $4.35 billion in public mental health spending 
from 2009 to 2012, according to the National Association of State 
Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPAID).  It's the largest 
reduction in funding since de-institutionalization in the 1960's 
and '70's.  In fiscal year 2012 alone, 31 states that gave their 
numbers to the association reported cutting more than $840 
million.
  Thanks to the misguided austerity policies embraced by 
conservatives, more people are falling through the cracks.  There 
are not enough psychiatric beds, treatment services or community 
support programs.  Medication is expensive, and insurance 
companies routinely leave patients inadequately covered (the 
Affordable Care Act will hopefully address this problem by 
finally putting psychiatric illnesses on par with other health 
issues).
  Mental healthcare workers have been laid off.  Vulnerable 
people are neglected until their situation becomes acute -- often 
after it's too late.  Many are incarcerated, often subjected to 
solitary confinement because prison officials don't know what to 
do with them.  Others are homeless -- as many as 45 percent of 
the people living on the streets suffer from mental illness.
  This situation is no accident, and it is not inevitable.  
Economics 101 tells you that when you have a massive economic 
crisis, the government must step in to fill the gap until the 
economy can recover.  The United States government, unlike, say, 
a state or a country like Greece, does not have to balance its 
budget.  The U.S.  has its own currency and is well-equipped to 
provide stimulus money to states to make up for budget 
shortfalls.  What gets in the way of meaninful action is 
political obstruction, not economics.  Federal stimulus dollars 
and other grants have made up for some of the cuts to mental 
healthcare, but thanks to constant efforts to block adequate 
stimulus measures, not enough.  And if conservatives have their 
way, budget cuts to programs like Medicaid will continue to 
ensure that high-risk people can't get help.
  With proper treatment, people with severe mental illness are no 
more likely to commit crimes than others.  But without treatment, 
the potential for tragedy is painfully evident.
  The Right's program for public safety appears to be that 
everyone should have a gun and few should get adequate 
healthcare.  That's a recipe for death and destruction.  Killing 
sprees are on the rise.  How many more people will have to die 
before mental healthcare becomes a national priority?