Election 2010: NAMI Lists Top 10 States Hurt by Mental Health Budget Cuts

Are candidates addressing the facts?

2010-09-23

WASHINGTON, DC, September 23, 2010 (Press-News.org) The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has issued a third alert in an Election 2010 series reminding editors, reporters and others to ask all candidates what they intend to do about the nation's mental health crisis.

State budget crises across the country have led to devastating cuts in mental health services, putting lives at risk, even as demand has risen sharply during the recession. Unemployed persons are four times more likely than others to have symptoms of mental illness.

Over the last two years, 10 states (Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina) are considered to have made the deepest cuts in mental health care. Just how deep? Figures are hard to come by--in part, NAMI believes, because of their political sensitivity. News organizations may have better luck in asking state mental health authorities (SMHAs).

NAMI has compiled extensive news clips since the beginning of 2010 to help document the crisis. The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) Research Institute also reported in Feb. 2010, based on preliminary data from 45 states, that:

- Total SMHA budget reductions from FY2009 to FY2011 were about $2 billion.
- Approximately 90 percent of SMHAs were experiencing budget cuts in FY2010. Almost 75 percent had experienced cuts in FY2009 and the same level proportion expected cuts in FY2011.
- Over 50 percent have responded by cutting community mental health services and reducing the number of people served.
- At the same time, SMHAs experienced increased demand for community services, including crisis services, emergency rooms and hospital acute care.
- The impact of cuts to Medicaid-funded programs has been softened only through use of stimulus funds. At the same time, almost 60 percent of SMHAs cut services to indigent persons without Medicaid.

Congress bears some of the responsibility, having cut and then frozen mental health block grants over the past 10 years. Cutting mental health may seem penny-wise, but it's pound-foolish. Mental health cuts end up costing all of us more through lost jobs and careers, broken families, more homelessness, higher insurance costs, more welfare and much more expensive costs for hospital emergency rooms, nursing homes, schools, police and courts, jails and prisons.

About NAMI
NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness. NAMI has over 1100 state and local affiliates that engage in research, education, support and advocacy. NAMI is a non-partisan, non-profit organization and does not endorse political candidates. Previous election alerts: State Grades: 21 Ds, 6 Fs; State Suicide Rates.

www.nami.org
http://twitter.com/namicommunicate
http://www.facebook.com/officialNAMI

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Setster Announces the Release of the World's First Geo-Appointment Mapping Application for the Web: Locations Search Returns are Plotted and Appointments Set Directly on a Google Map

2010-09-23

Setster, the innovative online appointment scheduling company has created the first fully integrated location mapping service that provides real-time appointments for service providers across multiple locations. Now, retail chains, franchises, multi-unit business and multi-location service providers can plot their locations on a map and have their users set online appointments; all from a location search. The Geo-Appointment Map comes up as an overlay and can be called from any image or search box on any web page. For users, the location search is intuitive and keeps ...

How to Create Websites Which Sell Your Products/Services Online Quickly and Easily - Guaranteed

2010-09-23

Pros Want It, Newcomers Need It and You Can Test It with a 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee... The sales letter theme for WordPress helps Internet marketers make money online quickly and easily. It is designed for the ultra easy to use WordPress and can be installed and up and running in under 17 minutes - guaranteed. This sales letter creator converts suspects to prospects and prospects to buyers amazingly well. In fact, it helps bank over $5,000 a month for Internet marketer Sam King who is the designer and owner of the website. If you're looking for a sales letter ...

Los Angeles Personal Injury Law Firm Lederer & Nojima LLP Protects Car Accident Victims' Rights

2010-09-23

Driving is a way of life in the state of California. California encompasses hundreds of thousands of miles of highways that wind around the ocean and the mountains, through and around major cities. Additional thousands of miles of local streets and rural roads provide vehicle access to desert and small towns areas. Although a vital necessity, driving can result in fatal tragedy. The California Highway Patrol investigated 1,119 accidents in 2008, representing an 8 percent increase over the 1,036 accidents investigated in 2007. In 2008, the number of accidents while driving ...

New "How to" Morso Educational Videos Teach Eco-Wise Wood Stove Installation & Operation

2010-09-23

When it comes to the environment, even the newest state-of-the-art wood stove needs its operator's assistance to achieve energy-efficient, smoke-free performance. That is exactly why Danish wood stove manufacturer Morso has produced five - easy-to-follow - educational videos that teach novices and experienced wood stove operators the eco-wise ins and outs of wood stove selection, installation, lighting, maintenance, as well as wood fuel quality, seasoning, and storage. Giving owners the best possible wood stove experience is a valued tradition that this wood stove leader ...

The Real Jersey Shore

2010-09-23

It had been a location of yearly vacations for my brothers and I when we were young. Like many other children, we would ride in the back seat of a car heading to Long Beach Island for a week in July or August and hope that the weather and waves would be kind and good. So many memories of the drive from Brooklyn through New Jersey led me and my brothers to venture down to Seaside Heights, the town of Sun & Fun, during the Clown Festival which has occurred in September of every year for nearly three decades, and which our father was, oddly enough, very fond of. Perhaps ...

NC State's Centennial Campus Announces New Corporate Partner - Phononic Devices

2010-09-23

Phononic Devices, an early-stage company commercializing advanced thermoelectric materials and devices, is the latest company to partner with Centennial Campus, North Carolina State University's research park and campus. Phononic Devices' proprietary approach combines thermopower with a thermally insulating and manufacturing-friendly semiconductor platform to dramatically improve the efficiency of heat-to-electricity conversion. "We are very excited to have Phononic Devices on our campus," said Dennis Kekas, associate vice chancellor of the Centennial Campus Partnership ...

Software Development Company from EU: Binary Studio

2010-09-23

Binary Studio: Bringing new talents to western IT The economic crisis. We all remember how hard it was. Many of us miss the true professionals we have lost because of it. Now they are working for competitors and our business lacks hands and brains to make the breakthrough. Now is the most appropriate time to catch up and compensate for these years of careful waiting and watching the situation. Now is the time to grow. And those who do it in the smartest and most effective way will be the winners. In such a situation companies start to look at some alternatives, unusual ...

Mummy and Me Collection Launched at Molly Brown London

2010-09-23

2010 Jewellery Brand of the Year finalist Molly Brown London has launched a new Mummy and Me Collection. The Molly Brown children's jewellery collections are effortlessly stylish and increasingly, chic mothers have not only been buying some gorgeous pieces for their little girls, they have been buying pieces for themselves at the same time. Founder and Managing Director, Erica Illingworth commented, "We have responded to an increasing demand from adults to create designs that can be worn alongside and compliment the pieces of jewellery they were buying for their daughters ...

Bay Area Hood Cleaning Company Shares Smoke Alarm & Fire Facts for National Fire Prevention Week

2010-09-23

National Fire Prevention Week is October 3-9 the Bay Area hood cleaning specialists at American Professional Services (APS-Hoods) are sharing a list of facts about fire and smoke alarms in honor of the observance. The National Fire Protection Association sponsors National Fire Prevention Week each year by making educational information available to teachers, families and children, said Massoud Farazandeh, CEO of APS-Hoods, which specializes in Bay Area hood installation projects in restaurants and commercial kitchens. Even though most of the information is geared ...

Best-of-Breed Dominate Oncology Market

2010-09-23

Oncology routinely crosses between the inpatient and outpatient venues more often than nearly all other specialties. These operational crossovers create immense difficulty in building a product that can serve the needs of the clinician in both hospital and clinic environments. The recently released KLAS report "The Oncology IT Balancing Act: Integration vs. Functionality" found that--even though oncology is a tough technology market due to operational crossovers, complex protocols and the difference in requirements between medical and radiation oncology--system replacements ...

Election 2010: NAMI Lists Top 10 States Hurt by Mental Health Budget Cuts

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: