[NYAPRS Enews] MW: What if Candidates Needed Mental Health Care?

[Harvey Rosenthal]

McCain, Obama: What if They Need Mental Health Care?

Marketwatch  October 20, 2008

 

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- WASHINGTON, Oct. 20
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One in four Americans experience mental
health problems at some point during their lifetime. 

 

If John McCain or Barack Obama were to ever need to seek help from their
home states through public mental health services, they would be
appalled. So too would Joe Biden or Sarah Palin. 

 

"Mental health care is an essential part of health care reform. It is an
issue that every candidate for public office at every level needs to be
addressing in this election," said Michael J. Fitzpatrick, executive
director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). 

 

In 2003, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
reported that the nation's public mental health care system is "a system
in shambles" in which mental health services are "fragmented,
disconnected and often inadequate, frustrating the opportunity for
recovery." 

 

In 2006, NAMI published "Grading the States: A Report on the Nation's
Mental Health Care System for Serious Mental Illnesses." In the survey,
the national average was D. The home states of the presidential and
vice-presidential candidates hardly fared better. 

Alaska: D 

Arizona: D+ 

Delaware: C- 

Illinois: F 

 

The current issue off "Governing," the influential magazine for state
and local government leaders, also declares: "We know how best to care
for the mentally ill. But most states lack the political will to
coordinate and fund services." 

http://www.governing.com/articles/0810mental.htm 

 

NAMI recently released McCain's and Obama's responses to a questionnaire
on mental health care, along with a comparison of provisions from the
Democratic and Republican party platforms. The information is presented
for public education only. NAMI does not endorse political candidates. 

www.nami.org/election2008/candidates 

 

"Mental illness doesn't discriminate between Republicans and Democrats,"
Fitzpatrick said. "It affects millions of Americans, including veterans
of Iraq and Afghanistan, families recovering from natural disasters like
Hurricane Katrina, and families confronting home foreclosures or other
financial upheavals." 

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/mccain-obama-if-they-need/story.as
px?guid=%7BBC8ED90F-4AA6-45BA-94DF-4F3AD927BEB8%7D
<http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/mccain-obama-if-they-need/story.a
spx?guid=%7BBC8ED90F-4AA6-45BA-94DF-4F3AD927BEB8%7D&dist=hppr>
&dist=hppr 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kilakwa.net/pipermail/nyaprs_kilakwa.net/attachments/20081021/0057255c/attachment.html>