Actor Crush of the Day: Pierce Brosnan
Click post title for mental health policy news.
I am SO sick of this! Yeah, I understand the need to balance the budget. But cut, after cut, after cut.
You know, most people assume that a financially needy mentally ill person, can utilize local, state, and national programs to help them get treatment.
Well, I'm a year and a half into my Social Security Disability claim.
Medicaid funding, especially the mental health portions, keep getting cut.
I remember, in 1996, accessing some mental health care at the local Davis Mental Health clinic near Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Utah. They had a sliding fee scale, and depending on income, your payment could get lower and lower. Davis being the county in Utah I lived in at the time.
Two years ago, when seeking treatment and resources, I called for an over-the-phone assessment from a psychologist at this clinic, which I received, but he let me know, that unless my payment/funding for services came from certain sources, they would not be able to treat me. I was confused . . . . he wouldn't, or couldn't, put it in any more specific terms than that.
I took that to mean Medicaid and/or Medicare, or something. And/Or health insurance, but maybe not even that.
So this sort of public mental health care, where you can pay say a sliding fee or something, doesn't exist any more; at least, not HERE. And, I daresay, not a many more other places, either. As funding as been cut in drastic amounts in the last decade.
There is going to be, there IS, a mental health care crisis. Yes, there's a crisis in all areas of health care, but people seem to forget this aspect. It's as though the public, blissfully unaware, just doesn't know that there is becoming no hope, for the mentally ill. Congress, seems to maybe in their minds think there'll be some other way people like me can get treated? Or somehow be fine without it? Don't they realize, that the costs to society will most likely be LESS, to help us, than for many like me to end up in emergency rooms around the country, where bills will most likely end up going uncollected because the people just HAVE NO MONEY to pay, and that raises costs elsewhere, of course; that the costs to society of having so many people limited or not able to function capably out among society, out among the workforce, will add up to more in the long run.
Most people, I'm guessing, probably see this as a distant issue; unless they themselves know someone with a mental illness, they don't really seem to feel much cause for concern. Or such would be my perception, of those in the general populace who even know about these funding cuts.
The sad thing is, most probably don't. Much of it seems to be happening under the radar.
I said general populace, and they, us, them, whatever, but you know what? I'm general populace too. I am they, them, us, you. Your sister, brother, uncle, cousin, niece. Your friend down the block, or your co-worker two cubicles down. Robin Williams, Jane Pauley. Not that the latter two need assistance.
I want to learn more about this issue, and about advocating for stopping the cuts, or mitigating their impact, or changing the cuts to less harmful/less drastic measures. And, where needed, advocate for increased funding and awareness.
I encourage everyone to inform themselves. As well, I will post on this blog from time to time regarding what I learn. I will also actively write to my Congressmen and Senators, as soon as I know what to say. Please, everyone, think about this issue and write to your Congressmen and Senators as well, if you will. You can pretty much email most or all of them, online.
Heck, if someone like me can get a phone call back from Congressman Rob Bishop, regarding an email I sent his office, than anyone can be heard. I have a funny story about that phone call, which I'll relate sometime soon.
3 comments:
That's one of the great things about having a blog. It gives you the platform to advocate for causes that are important to you.
It also gives you the ability to educate people on topics that they are not yet familiar with.
I would like to understand the issue of mental health care better. A good rule of thumb, when you are advocating and/or educating about a cause on a blog is to fill your postings with links to original sources (health dept statistics, articles by mental health experts commenting about the problem, state federal budget facts, etc.)
The power of using a blog in this way, is that not only do you get to express your opinion, but you can give readers the opportunity, through your links to better educate themselves, and form their own opinions. The end result being other people who are aware of the problem, and who are willing to take steps to help getting it solved.
I look forward to your future posts on obtaining proper funding of mental health care.
Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions on this. Another good reason for me to do my homework. (Research!).
Insurance policies have not been known to really give adequate coverage to those who have ongoing need either. My friend who is a nurse and has done temp work at a Psych ward said that they need to stop looking at a problem such as depression as a quick fix problem. They need to see it as a chronic problem.
I have heard that it is getting very hard for Medicaid and Medicare funding too. I think it is so sad when those who need the help the most are the ones who are being hurt by the cuts.
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