All About Bipolar

Posted By atorturedsoul on July 27, 2009

Public healthcare for mentally ill receives a D

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) recently released the 2009 scores for the public healthcare system in the United States. The country as a whole received a D and 6 states received a failing grade.

Not one single state received an A. If you have ever used the public healthcare system for treatment of a mental illness, I am sure this will come as no surprise to you. Only six states received a B-Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Oklahoma. Eighteen states were given a C and 21 received a D.

Since 2006, 14 states have improved, 12 have gone down, and 23 stayed the same. In 3 years, only 14 states have improved the care they provide for the mentally ill. How is this acceptable? Changes need to be made across the board.

Granted, I have insurance and I do not have to use the public healthcare system for treatment of bipolar disorder, but how many people do? Can we really expect changes in their condition if they are receiving treatment through a healthcare system that just barely receives a passing grade? It just isn’t right.

I live in Tennessee and my state received a D. Several states around me received failing grades-Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia all received F’s.

The state of public healthcare for the mentally ill in the United States is deplorable and desperately needs reform. NAMI states:

“Mental health care in America is in crisis. The nation’s mental health care system gets a dismal D. As the nation confronts a severe economic crisis, demand for mental health services is increasing — but state budget cuts are creating a vicious cycle that is leaving some of our most vulnerable citizens behind.”

http://www.nami.org/gtsTemplate09.cfm?Section=Grading_the_States_2009

Click here to see what your state scored:

http://www.nami.org/gtsTemplate09.cfm?Section=Grading_the_States_2009

Related posts:

1. Mental Illness Awareness Week diverts attention? This is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and I have found...
2. Psychiatric Advance Directives or Advance Directives for Mental Health Care Psychiatric Advance Directives, or Advance Directives for Mental Health Care,...
3. CBS public service announcement on bipolar disorder confusing CBS aired a public service announcement about bipolar disorder. It...
4. Mental Health Parity Act changes benefits The Mental Health Parity Act takes effect January 1, 2010....
5. Mental Health Benefits for Uninsured in Tennessee Behavioral Health Safety Net of Tennessee provides basic mental health...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Categories: About Bipolar Disorder, Agoraphobia, Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2, Cyclothymia, NOS, Panic Disorder, Psychosis
Tags: about, all, bipolar, care, D, grade, health, healthcare, mental illness, mentally ill, NAMI, public