Mary Neal's Sharebook 

Media owners, will you PLEASE stop discriminating against mentally ill people?  When H.R. 3200 for national health care was on the table, the bill was discussed on every newscast for a year.  Newspaper reporters wrote about it, and broadcast journalists filled the airwaves with news about the national health care plan that EXCLUDES mental hospital coverage.  However, H.R.619, the bill that proposes resuming Medicaid coverage for psychiatric hospitalization, has received absolutely NO mainstream news coverage. If I were a media owner/prison investor, I would not want to make that fact so OBVIOUS.  Your bias is very blatant.  It discredits you as journalists, and lessens you as human beings to want to reserve sick people for prison so much that you outright ignore the best chance acute mental patients have to escape the revolving door in and out of prisons and jails.

It is estimated that 1 in 5 Americans has some form of mental illness.  It is wrong for the congressional bill that offers psychiatrically challenged people hospital insurance coverage to be omitted from news reports.  Do you presume to just ignore this important congressional bill?  In so doing, you renege on your responsibility to report news that affects many millions of Americans and has tremendous bearing on a number of social ills that affect the rest of the nation.  Where do mentally ill people go when they are in crisis?  Unfortunately, mental hospitals are steadily closing, and sick people are populating prisons in increasing numbers.  One major point of concern for people who CARE is that people are not generally taken to jail until AFTER some crime is committed.  Hospitals are useful for prevention of suicides and murders that sometimes occur from lack of timely treatment. 

Are you afraid that if mentally challenged Americans get the treatment they need, you would miss having gory news reports about sick people being Tasered to death by police during lunacy arrests or a mentally ill mother drowning all her children?  Is that why mainstream media fails to notify America that a congressional bill was introduced LAST JANUARY  - 15 months ago - that would reverse the bad decision to exempt mental hospitalization from Medicaid coverage?  That decision led to the MONSTEROUS prison rolls that America has now.  Approximately 1.25 million of the nation's 2.3 million inmates are mentally ill people.  They comprise 60% of those in solitary confinement, cruelly imprisoned in torturous conditions because they lack the mental stability to conduct themselves according to society's laws.  However, severe mental patients are frequently DENIED treatment that could have prevented the crimes that led to their arrests. 

IF Medicaid was removed as a funding source because officials thought decades ago that it would save money, that has certainly been proved wrong.  Prison costs rose to $50 billion per year in 2008, according to PEW.  When one factors in police services, court costs, lawyers for indigent defendants, and probation programs, the cost for crime and punishment is roughly $185 billion annually. And OVER HALF of the inmates going through that process REPEATEDLY are mentally ill people who cannot be punished or rehabilitated into a state of mental health. Therefore, resuming Medicaid so that sick people can be treated for their psychiatric issues and crimes prevented would save money and lives. 

Prisons are overcrowded.  Even mentally and physically sound people are dying from diseases that spread easily in such environments.  In 2007, eight California prisoners reportedly died of tooth decay when infection from rotten teeth entered their bloodstreams.  Some inmates say they are HUNGRY, because their meal portions are inadequate.  May I remind you that plenty of people in jail are there because they cannot make bail or no bond was set?  Therefore, they are innocent until found guilty in a court of law.  In view of the fact that around 500 convicted persons had their convictions overturned after DNA tests, new trials or hearings, there is every reason to believe that a significant number of prisoners may actually be innocent people.  Innocent or guilty, they all deserve human rights.  But so many are crowded into prisons now (because the mentally ill were added and do not belong there), that it is a strain to provide for their meals and health care. 

In addition to overcrowded conditions endangering the inmates' health, the prison budget is oppressive and prevents funding for other domestic programs, like education, public transportation, recreation and jobs programs - things that could help reduce crime and prevent more incarcerations.  If the mentally ill were treated in hospitals and community care programs instead of criminalized for their chronic health conditions, many of them would be stabilized sufficiently to return to wholesome lives and become taxpayers rather than tax burdens.  Therefore, some of the billions that are now being used to imprison them would become available for wiser investments during these lean days in our economy. 

If mental illness is not decriminalized and moved back to the health care system where it should have remained in the first place, prison costs will grow even more for several reasons:  1) mental stress builds during economic downturns; 2) around 54% of veterans transitioning home after combat duty may have PTSD; and 3) recidivism is higher among the mentally ill, many of whom left prison in worse mental states than when they arrived  Jail is not a soothing, healing environment for mentally ill people, even if they receive treatment while incarcerated.

U.S. Census reported in 2000 our population was 309,090,174 people.  If 1 in 5 were mentally ill, that means we had 61,818,035 sick people. ten years ago.  Each of the people who needs hospital coverage for mental illness likely has four people who care about them and would never want to see them imprisoned for having a heath crisis.  That means mental health insurance coverage affects all 309,090,174 people, because most of us have a friend or relative who wrestles with depression, substance abuse problems, and more severe conditions like bipolar disorder, PTSD, and schizophrenia. 

What possible excuse could mainstream media have to omit reporting about a bill that has such significance during a time when health coverage is the dominate topic on every newscast and in every single newspaper you published?  That has to be deliberate exclusion and censorship, and I demand that you stop it right now.  Furthermore, the American public should demand it with me and boycott your news reports and newspapers until you at least pretend to care about Americans with mental disabilities.  Please report that we have an opportunity before us to decriminalize mental illness and turn around many other problems by doing so.  Moreover, respect your customers who may not care about mental health care bills but rely on you for complete news coverage.

Below is a report on H.R.619's mainstream news coverage from January 21, 2009 until today - ZERO.  That is obvious prejudice and dereliction of duty.  Are you afraid that fully-informed Americans will support H.R.619, as they should?  Even if you do not editorialize in favor of H.R.619, at least let people know that it exists.  You have not even done that.  Everyone who calls himself a journalist should be ashamed.  Please improve.  We cannot afford to postpone addressing such problems.  People are suffering and dying needlessly, and prison costs are choking the nation.

Mary Neal
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

Such as you have done unto ONE of the least of these, My brethren, you have done it unto me. ~JESUS CHRIST

Good news! Congress apologized, and discrimination ended in America - APRIL FOOL! http://bit.ly/2BAFuC  -Jim Crow lives in our justice system! Sick people and prisoners of all races are the targets.

Happy April Fool's Day!  Let's really end discrimination.  STOP capital punishment, prisoner abuse, and criminalizing mental illness.

See "Black Relatives Killed by Police? So? Just Eat Yo Chicken and Shut Up!" 
http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/blacks-relatives-killed-by-police-just.html

VOTE for H.R.619 - hosptials for mentally ill Americans, not prison cells. 
Cast your vote at OpenCongress.org at this link.
 http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h619/show

Please pass the "joke" along!  April 4 is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. Help to end discrimination against the mentally ill to commemorate Dr. King's sacrifice. VOTE for human rights for mentally ill Americans.  Thanks!

 
CRIMINALIZING MENTAL ILLNESS IS WRONG.


I used the term "crazy" in the title because it is derrogatory. It takes us back to a time when mental illness was used as grounds to treat people with that common, treatable health condition as being sub-human. It still seems to reflect how some decison makers feel about 1 in 5 Americans - that is the estimate for how many have mental illness, and 1.25 million are prisoners rather than hospitalized or receiving community care.

Below are articles and information from DJ Jaffe, Mental Health Advocate, Author
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dj-jaffe

DJ Jaffe has been advocating for better treatment for individuals with serious mental illness for over 30 years.  He has served multiple terms on the board of directors of the Metro-New York City Alliance for the Mentally Ill, New York State Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and National Alliance for Mental Illness. He is a member of the Leadership Council of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. He is a cofounder of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, VA.

Jaffe wrote:

There are several new places people can get info about alternatives to incarceration. Please publicize:

treatmentadvocacycenter.org

NYers: kendraslaw.org

Twitter (follow): @TheRealMrMe

Huffingtonpost: huffingtonpost.com/dj-jaffe

You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/kendraslaw (will have more info in week or two)

MENTAL HEALTH PARITY: OBAMA STYLE 
JD Jaffe - Huffington Post - Jan. 31, 2010

This week's papers are going to be full of headlines, like this one in the New York Times: "New Rules Promise Better Mental Health Coverage."

The new announcement of new rules was a holier than thou attempt by government to end discrimination by group insurers against the mentally ill. It was big government telling big insurers to do what the Federal Government itself refuses to do: provide parity in mental health coverage to the mentally ill.

But the new fanfare-announced rules only apply to large insurers insuring groups of employees. In other words, the rules only apply to those well enough to work, and their covered family members.

It leaves out many of the most seriously mentally ill: those who were never well enough to work or be 'covered' by an employer. Those who aren't covered under another policy. And these are the very ones we should be helping: the most seriously ill.

For these individuals, Medicaid is the only one they can turn to. But it won't do any good.

An obscure provision of Medicaid law call the "Institutes for Mental Disease" Exclusion (IMD Exclusion) specifically permits Medicaid to not cover the cost of long-term inpatient care for people who have a serious mental illness. As long as your illness is not in your cranium, Medicaid will cover you. But if the disease is in your cranium, Medicaid says sayonara.

So if you're a state director of mental health, and DC says to you, "We won't pay for patients in hospitals", what would you do? The states do the same thing. They kick the patient's out of hospitals so they can 'return' to the community. Why? Because then Medicaid will pick up 50% of the cost of their care.

llene Wells had a brother, Paul who was killed by this policy.

Many mentally ill need hospitals. When released, they deteriorate. If they don't die, like Paul did, many get arrested. As a result of Medicaid discrimination against the mentally ill, states now have approximately 231,000 individuals with severe psychiatric disorders incarcerated. But there's no more room in the jails than there is in the closed hospitals. So what are states doing? Turning psychiatric hospitals they kicked the mentally ill out of, into jails they can put them into. Right now Virginia is considering turning one of theirs into a prison.

I wish I were making this up.

In spite of what Candidate Obama said, President Obama is MIA.

So I think -- I've been a strong believer in mental health parity, recognizing that those are serious illnesses. (Applause.) And I would like to see a mental health component as part of a package that people are covered under, under our plan. Okay? (Applause.)

But Obama's now-dead* health care reform did not include elimination of the IMD Exclusion; it only included a token pilot test program.

I'm happy the Obama Administration is telling group insurers to stop discrimination against the mentally ill. Now I wish they were listening to what they are saying.

UPDATE: As a result of IMD Exclusion a Hosp. in NJ is closing. Advocates will be organizing to save it. http://tinyurl.com/yc7g3ll

Health Care Reform Keeps Mentally Ill Uninsured
JD Jaffe, Huffington Post - Sept. 24, 2009

In answer to a question in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, President Obama publicly unequivocally asserted his desire to include treatment for mental illness as part of healthcare reform. And he has mobilized public opinion against the discriminatory practices of private insurers.  But when it comes to discrimination against the mentally ill, the federal government’s own program puts private insurers to shame. And Obama has yet to support the one bill, H.R. 619, that could fix it.

______________
*H.R. 3200 national health care bill may yet be passed.  


MARY'S COMMENTARY

H.R. 619 is a bill pending before congress to resume Medicaid funding for psychiatric inpatients.  I am disappointed to have it confirmed that H.R.619 is not a part of  national health care bill H.R. 3200.  About 1 in 5 Americans has mental illness.  It is just as debilitating as any physical disease, and just as treatable as other chronic ailments such as diabetes that also require ongoing care. If your neighbor has a diabetic crisis and goes into a coma, it probably would have no impact on your life. If an neighbor remains untreated and goes into a crisis due to acute mental illness, it could have tragic consequences for YOU as well as the sick person and his/her family.

Mentally ill Americans are citizens, too, and they should not be discriminated against, omitted from national health care, and preserved in their untreated state as future prisoners of America. Prisons and avoidable tragedies cost as much or more than hospitals, so why continue discriminating against mental patients and their families?

"Stop the madness," said Dr. Fuller, of Treatment Advocacy Center.  Please insist on ending this injustice.  Tell your representatives that you do not want to withhold treatment and pay to imprison your sick neighbors when it costs substantially less to treat them for their common, treatable health condition in hospitals or community care, depending on their functionality and community safety.  Only treatment can stop tragedies before they happen and restore many people to wholesome lives.

Please visit JD Jaffe's articles often at Huffington Post for more information regarding acute mental illness.  Books by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey are also valuable sources of information.  He is a leading expert on mental illness who outlines the tragic consequences of "deinstitutionalization" and sounds the call for reform. Actually, there never was any deinstitutionalization, because 1.25 million mentally challenged Americans are in prison now. See in this Sharebook a letter by NAMI, representing 230,000 members, announcing that organization's support for H.R.619.  Join all of these family members and mental health care professionals in saying to our representatives, "Please pass H.R.619 to resume Medicaid funding for inpatient treatment."  ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO DO THE RIGHT THING.  DO NOT PRESERVE SICK PEOPLE FOR PRISON TO CAPITALIZE OFF THEIR PAIN AND LEAVE AMERICANS AT UNNECESSARY RISK FOR AVOIDABLE TRAGEDIES.  PLEASE ENSURE THAT H.R. 619 PROVISIONS FOR PSYCHIATRIC INPATIENT TREATMENT ARE INCLUDED IN NATIONAL HEALTH CARE REFORM. 

Mary Neal
Website:  http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com/

ASSISTANCE TO THE INCARCERATED MENTALLY ILL
http://www.Care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI

Mary Loves Justice
P.O. Box 153
Redan, GA 30074-0153