State must start paying its own way
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
By Chris Fitzsimon
Give Henderson County commissioners credit for stepping up to the plate when it comes to mental health care.
Faced with the state’s faltering mental health care reform, the county put $529,000 into three programs in 2004. Initial reports are that the money had a positive effect. When compared on a per capita basis, Henderson County spent more on mental health care than almost any other North Carolina county.
With effort like that, one would think local mental health care is in good shape. It isn’t, because the state has failed to meet its responsibility to ensure that all state residents get equal access to good care.
State legislators passed mental health care reform in 2001. They proposed shifting patients from state institutions into local programs so they could get care in their own communities. Within six years, legislators expected to cut the number of state mental hospital beds by nearly half to 938 and use the savings to pay for buildings, staff and equipment at the community-based programs, increasing their treatment capacity.
A Times-News investigation published last spring detailed problems that have thrown the reform’s progress off track. The state has been unable to eliminate as many beds as expected, so the savings never materialized. Private providers who were supposed to provide the bulk of local services left for greener pastures and more job security. The mentally ill overwhelmed local homeless shelters, jails and hospital emergency rooms. (more…)
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