The following is a guest opinion by Guardian Reader Elaine Hirsch ( Eline currently writes for a medical transcription resource) January 21, 2012:
Thanks to a petition from disabled residents, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is postponing cuts to government-funded living expenses. However, many legislators worry about the long-term health of Medicare in Idaho as the rolls of patients with mental health disabilities steadily increase.
Between 2008 and 2011, the number of mental health holds, in which police took an emergency call and then referred a subject for a mental health evaluation, increased by 19 percent. Department of Health and Welfare spokesmen attribute the increase to Idaho veterans returning from war, high unemployment and economic stresses.
For some, giving disabled people access to health care for little or no cost constitutes the deliverance of a basic human right. The Markula Center for Ethics at Santa Clara University in California argues that offering public health care constitutes providing for "the common good" and states public access to affordable health care as a right alongside other rights, such as, a just legal and political system. The British Medical Journal, on the other hand, argues an intolerable burden on medical professionals, governments and taxpayers. that basic health care is difficult to define, and calling health care a "human right" places
Doctors, caregivers and medical experts argue that cutting payments for mental health patients will make keeping them in private homes impossible. Cuts will force many patients into public institutions.
For some, giving disabled people access to health care for little or no cost constitutes the deliverance of a basic human right. The Markula Center for Ethics at Santa Clara University in California argues that offering public health care constitutes providing for "the common good" and states public access to affordable health care as a right alongside other rights, such as, a just legal and political system. The British Medical Journal, on the other hand, argues an intolerable burden on medical professionals, governments and taxpayers. that basic health care is difficult to define, and calling health care a "human right" places
Doctors, caregivers and medical experts argue that cutting payments for mental health patients will make keeping them in private homes impossible. Cuts will force many patients into public institutions.
Statistics from the National Alliance of Mental Illness Idaho suggest that approximately 54,000 adults and 18,000 children in Idaho have some degree of mental illness. NAMI Idaho states that cuts to mental health care budgets will drive up costs, such as, hospitalization, homelessness, incarceration, emergency services and suicides.
Idaho, like many states, is experiencing budget shortfall. The Department of Health and Welfare lost $45 million when the state legislature cut its budget last year in order to balance the budget. Benefits had to be reduced to 2,000 patients served by the Aged, Blind and Disabled.
A tough economy with limited funding options makes it difficult to do more with less funding for these programs.
A tough economy with limited funding options makes it difficult to do more with less funding for these programs.
There is a nasty little fact that there are a significant number of people in jails and prisons who are there for mental health issues, the inability to cope with daily life and no safety net. Taxpayer costs for this reflect what it costs to keep criminals behind bars, not what it would cost to keep them elsewhere at a much lower cost.
ReplyDeleteI am candidate Robert Muse Independent Conservative for Canyon county sheriff and have a new model and plan of action includes mental health and is different from the waste planned by this new commissioner proposed 2012 plan. I will have a display at last meeting with proposal. Hope to see you there. My plan of action will unfold over the next 30 days at my web site idahocriminaljustice.net or call 697-2167.
ReplyDeleteDefensor fortis
Robert Muse
Hello, for long term health care you should take advice your doctor and should cover many type of topics like contact your local bar association for a volunteer speaker; arrange to hold an event for the public at a non-healthcare venue like a library, church, or school; and offer advance directive forms and other information at the movies or the theatre.
ReplyDeleteMental health Idaho