Low Funding of Mental Health Services in New Mexico Harms all Citizens
The Associated Press reported this week that the extremely low level of funding for mental health services in New Mexico is resulting in a bad situation for the mentally ill as well as all other citizens.
The AP reported:
The debate over mandated mental health care came to the fore in New Mexico after some shootings that were blamed on people with mental illnesses. It erupted again Thursday during a daylong hearing before the body that oversees publicly funded services in the state.
The group was told that, based on figures compiled for 2003, New Mexico came in last in per-capita spending on mental health services. New Mexico spent $28.80 per capita, compared to a national average of $91.88.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., agreed that a mandatory outpatient treatment law must be tied to increased funding. He offered to lobby state leaders to provide the extra money.
Domenici supports a law that would allow courts to order people with mental illnesses to comply with a treatment regimen.
Such mandated treatment can reduce the number of times a person is sent back to the hospital if patients are under the commitment for at least six months, suffer from psychotic disorders, and receive at least three services a month, said Martin Swartz, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University.
Source: Associated Press
Posted by szadmin at September 1, 2006 11:52 AM
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Government & Schizophrenia
Lack of Federal funding is not the problem, it's people being stingy with their time and effort and own personal money, not taxes, that has left the schizophrenics to depend not on the community, but the government.
Posted by: Jeremy at September 1, 2006 05:19 PM
Lack of Federal funding is not the problem, it's people being stingy with their time and effort and own personal money, not taxes, that has left the schizophrenics to depend not on the community, but the government.
Posted by: Jeremy at September 1, 2006 05:19 PM