The state's mental health mess
Today's No. 2 editorial.
Getting North Carolina's wasteful, inefficient mental health program on course will be like turning around an ocean liner at sea.
But for the General Assembly and next governor, improving shoddy care for the mentally ill and reining in wildly out-of-control costs to taxpayers must be priorities.
In an ongoing investigation, The News & Observer of Raleigh describes how the ill-conceived 2001 overhaul assigning services previously overseen by county and state government to the private sector has failed miserably.
The bottom line is threefold.
First, the Department of Health and Human Services is spending way too much on questionable services offered by marginally qualified private providers. Costs are estimated to be 10 times what they should have been.
Second, thousands of needy people are being lost in the shuffle. Those with serious mental problems are the most likely to be ignored in the headlong rush to uneven community-oriented treatment initiatives.
And, the four surviving mental hospitals remain under siege. All have been threatened with loss of federal insurance money because of patient-abuse charges. Instead of a hoped-for admissions drop, overcrowding prevails.
Gov. Mike Easley, whose administrators oversaw the flawed reforms, has washed his hands of the debacle which, so far, has cost state taxpayers $400 million. And only recently have legislative leaders, who carelessly rushed through the imprecise revamp, talked seriously of taking another look.
Too much, too fast has overwhelmed a fragile care-delivery network. While deferring to the private sector may sound good, there must be strict performance and financial accountability. That was and still is sadly lacking.
According to The News & Observer, since so-called reform arrived, the state's cost of caring for the mentally ill has more than doubled while nearly 90 percent of treatment is deemed unnecessary. And that doesn't begin to measure the human toll.
True reform is long past due.
Comments (2)
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It's a real shame when the government programs that are set up to protect those designated as mentally challenged are denied proper services because of the blame excuse that no one cares. It's all so easy for the outgoing director of Mental disabled substance abuse is resigning instead of being fired. Obviously the governor no longer cares about a program labeled the Governor's Advocacy Council for the Disabled when it now comes under Legal Aid of NC Advocacy for the Disabled when the disabled person is responsible for calling and getting proper legal aid when they are controlled by frauds and fraud scams of their so called payee representative. Seems like when the truth is laid out bare, it still does no good when those who are responsible for reporting abuse of the system fail to do what is right by the individual who is abused by the very system set up to protect them. I know that I plan to sue the living hell out of the state as well as Guilford County for their participation in a crime to intentionally allow my son to suffer from intentional disablement by my ex for fraud purposes as clearly documented. They have an obligation to report such fraud, but are bought by the all infamous Hatfield's in the long saga of a case that will soon end with those persons who have aided and abetted the abuse of my son by my ex for disability fraud being sued as well as those judges and lawyers who orchestrated such sick crimes to cover up the filth of the Hatfield's corruption and destruction of innocent lives to endanger them all for greed. I intend to dismantle the system in Guilford County and establilsh reforms and monitoring if their door is allowed to stay open. That goes for the courts and DSS as well for aiding an abetting such sick crimes all to cover up for the Hatfield's at the direction of chief district court judge, Joe Turner. I suggest that if there are any cases that are a victim of such scams by the courts using Mental Health, that you leave an e-mail to this blog. I know that Joyce Logan can attest to such abuse of the system all for the fraud that is purpetrated using innocent lives while putting the blame on everyone else or tearing down innocent human lives for such abuse and reckless negligence of a broken system. Mental health as allowe my son to be drug overdosed by a pedophile all to cover up the sick abuse that my son suffers while currently being held hostage by kidnapping and keeping me from helping my son for the truth to come out by abuse of the criminal process and implimentation of 50B Orders for further intended and conspired fraud by warrantless arrests. I don't stoop to the level of perverts and queer attorneys who abuse the law while committing crimes that involve the police and the current corruption that rocks Greensboro's City Council and police force. Seems to me that the mayor has failed to address the truth when she is appraised of the truth, but like her predocessors does nothing to remove those who allow such government abuse to continue.
Posted on February 27, 2008 9:13 PM
It's a real shame when the government programs that are set up to protect those designated as mentally challenged are denied proper services because of the blame excuse that no one cares. It's all so easy for the outgoing director of Mental disabled substance abuse is resigning instead of being fired. Obviously the governor no longer cares about a program labeled the Governor's Advocacy Council for the Disabled when it now comes under Legal Aid of NC Advocacy for the Disabled when the disabled person is responsible for calling and getting proper legal aid when they are controlled by frauds and fraud scams of their so called payee representative. Seems like when the truth is laid out bare, it still does no good when those who are responsible for reporting abuse of the system fail to do what is right by the individual who is abused by the very system set up to protect them. I know that I plan to sue the living hell out of the state as well as Guilford County for their participation in a crime to intentionally allow my son to suffer from intentional disablement by my ex for fraud purposes as clearly documented. They have an obligation to report such fraud, but are bought by the all infamous Hatfield's in the long saga of a case that will soon end with those persons who have aided and abetted the abuse of my son by my ex for disability fraud being sued as well as those judges and lawyers who orchestrated such sick crimes to cover up the filth of the Hatfield's corruption and destruction of innocent lives to endanger them all for greed. I intend to dismantle the system in Guilford County and establilsh reforms and monitoring if their door is allowed to stay open. That goes for the courts and DSS as well for aiding an abetting such sick crimes all to cover up for the Hatfield's at the direction of chief district court judge, Joe Turner. I suggest that if there are any cases that are a victim of such scams by the courts using Mental Health, that you leave an e-mail to this blog. I know that Joyce Logan can attest to such abuse of the system all for the fraud that is purpetrated using innocent lives while putting the blame on everyone else or tearing down innocent human lives for such abuse and reckless negligence of a broken system. Mental health as allowe my son to be drug overdosed by a pedophile all to cover up the sick abuse that my son suffers while currently being held hostage by kidnapping and keeping me from helping my son for the truth to come out by abuse of the criminal process and implimentation of 50B Orders for further intended and conspired fraud by warrantless arrests. I don't stoop to the level of perverts and queer attorneys who abuse the law while committing crimes that involve the police and the current corruption that rocks Greensboro's City Council and police force. Seems to me that the mayor has failed to address the truth when she is appraised of the truth, but like her predocessors does nothing to remove those who allow such government abuse to continue.
Posted on February 27, 2008 9:13 PM