USA Today (6/25, A1, Szabo) reports in a front-page story that “systemic discrimination” against people with mental illnesses, which is “embedded in Medicaid and Medicare laws, has accelerated the emptying of state psychiatric hospitals, leaving many of the sickest and most vulnerable patients with nowhere to turn.”
According to advocates and experts, the system is “in shambles, starved of funding while neglecting millions of people across the country each year.” The piece also mentions that a bill before Congress sponsored by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) called the “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act would allow states to receive Medicaid matching payments for adult psychiatric hospitalizations.”
The measure enjoys the support of the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Emergency Physicians, among others.
Related Links:
— “Cost of not caring: Stigma set in stone: Mentally Ill Suffer in Sick Health System,” Liz Szabo, USA Today, June 25, 2014.