According to an article in today’s Arizona Daily Star we may be asked to vote on another tax increase to keep the state from reducing the number of people covered under the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) – our state’s Medicaid system.  An initiative for a tax that may make it to the election in November if all goes as planned could raise enough money to stop the state from cutting 310,000 people from the AHCCCS system. The tax could come as another “cigarette tax” or maybe some other kind of “sin” tax that wouldn’t necessarily impact every citizen paying taxes.

I don’t consider myself a “tax and spend” liberal, but if I had to choose one side I would definitely fall on the side of being a liberal because I believe we need to take care of our most vulnerable.  In this case, those vulnerable 310,000 people that fall below the national poverty level, but aren’t destitute enough to qualify.

Talk about insanity……as I have said before, these people will be forced to go to emergency rooms when they need care, or in the case of a person with a serious mental illness that can’t pay for their treatment something even worse could happen. Also, according to the article, with proposed cuts the state could be loosing 42,000 jobs!

Most of us are struggling in today’s economy, that’s a fact, but we are all in this together.  At least, I thought we were.  Yesterday two out of three local school districts lost their appeal to voters to approve budget over-rides.  If voters won’t approve a a very slight increase in property tax ($50 – $100 per year) to keep their school district’s head above water I’m not optimistic that they’ll vote to increase a “sin” tax for people that can’t afford health care.  Now, that’s a sin.

When I wrote the blog about Major Hasan, the soldier who went on a rampage at Fort Hood I received a tremendous amount of response decrying my belief that the man might have a mental illness.  Most responders believed he was a “Muslim terrorist” and that mental illness had nothing to do with his act.

With yesterday’s accused “Pentagon Attacker,” Joseph Bedell, the link seems more clear cut. His family had struggled for years to get him into treatment.  But, as so often is the case unless he displayed an obvious threat to himself or others, they were limited in what they could do to help.  Even the law officer that stopped him for a moving violation in Texas could tell he needed to be in a hospital, but he wasn’t able to get him admitted. Mr Bedell was a threat to himself and others and no one paid attention.

There were so many red flags.  Like so many people in our country he was agitated with our government.  Like so many of us that are tired of the activities or in-activities of our legislature, he was frustrated and angry.  But, unlike most of us, he wasn’t able to contain his anger and acted out in the most savage way he could. 

As an advocate for people with mental illness, his tragic story reminds me once again how far we need to go when it comes to treating our fellow human beings that are suffering from brain disorders.  Inflammatory rhetoric and inexcusable callousness does not further growth as a species and can have a devastating effect on some of our most vulnerable.   Compassion and understanding have positive effects. Pushing those living with mental illness aside and pretending they don’t exist, that they are “terrorists,”   or that they are someone else’s problem has consquences.

It took a long time, but the Federal Parity Law is now in effect and health insurance plans should be covering mental health issues equal to issues related to the body.  It makes sense, after all the brain is part of the body!

Below is an excerpt from the most recent “E-News” from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

For many group health plans, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act went into effect on January 1, 2010. The new law requires most group health plans to cover treatment for mental illness and substance use disorders on the same terms and conditions as medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and asthma. Specifically the new law bars health plans from imposing durational treatment limits (caps on inpatient days or outpatient visits) or financial limitations (higher cost sharing, deductibles or out of pocket limits) that do not also apply to medical-surgical coverage.

The effective date of the new law is actually the beginning of the first new plan year after October 3, 2009. The new law applies to all group health plans sponsored by employers with 50 or more workers.

• View NAMI’s factsheet on the new law
• View a Powerpoint presentation on the new law

Is Your Health Plan in Compliance With Parity?

NAMI is seeking information from individuals and families on how the new law is working. This information is critical to informing policymakers in the U.S. Congress and the Obama Administration on additional steps that may need to be taken to strengthen the law and ensure adequate enforcement. In addition, it is critical for NAMI to demonstrate to the larger public that parity is making a real difference in improving coverage of mental illness treatment and expanding access to critical medical services for children and adults living with mental illness.