Since the failed 2001 mental health reform effort, North Carolina has done precious little to improve the accountability, cost or efficiency of that system. In fact, the budget approved this year threatens to make the situation worse, by stripping away needed funding at so critical a time.
Mental health advocates have asked Gov. Beverly Perdue to convene a special legislative session focused on the problem in the hopes that lawmakers can engineer a successful and funded reform. While Perdue has resisted that request, fixing that broken system stands at the forefront of the state’s most pressing public concerns.
The mental health reform effort undertaken early in the first term of Gov. Mike Easley represented an ambitious attempt to remake a group of disparate entities into a more cohesive system of care. Lawmakers attempted to streamline the number of agencies responsible, shut down mental health hospitals and use contractors to provide some services. They expected lower costs and better care as a result.
Citizens now know that effort had the opposite effect. A haphazard system of accounting caused the state to lose more than $400 million, thanks to overcharging service providers and poor practices. Dozens of patients died in mental health care facilities, according to a series of investigative reports by the News & Observer. And instead of thoughtful reform, the state was left with officials trading blame and poorer care for the more than 340,000 who rely on services.
Lawmakers faced this full accounting in 2008. Mental health reform was a key issue leading to the 2008 elections. Promises were made, and assurances given.
Yet, with an economy on the slide, lawmakers slashed $1.7 billion from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services this year, including between $65 million and $75 million from the community services budget which serves those affected by mental illness, developmental disability or addiction. Though Perdue announced the restoration of $15 million on Tuesday, that hardly represents the type of reform needed to improve service.
North Carolina cannot afford to leave those in need without the professional and affordable care they deserve. That has prompted advocates to call for a special session of the Legislature, which seems unlikely given the governor’s deflection of the subject recently.
However, lawmakers cannot ignore this problem or wish it away. Avoiding the hard work needed to reform this system risks lives, and North Carolina should act with haste to help.
Mental disorders are a REAL DISEASE and too many times those affected don't have families, or families who CARE and they just "fall through the cracks".
WHEN will Anerica ever understand that we need to focus on helping those who suffer with mental illness (a treatable condition) and STOP throwing money away on Wall Street and WASTING tax payers money on foolishness ??????