It’s Mental Health Awareness Month: Trumpcare’s dangerous impact on mental health care

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/05/13/its-mental-health-awareness.html

5 Likes

I’ve actually heard people rejoicing that a few years of Trumpcare will drive America right onto the path of single payer. This is as wrong-headed as the lefties who rejoiced that four years of Bush would bring about the revolution. Actually, it brought about the Iraq war and another four years of Bush.

Trumpcare is not a good thing. It will not bring about the Bernie Sanders utopia. It will kill a lot of people.

29 Likes

I assume there’s a lot of hand-wringing and maniacal laughter occurring in the Koch brother’s compound these days.

8 Likes

I think we’re looking at the start of a Mental Health Awareness Quadrennium.

3 Likes

this hits a little too close to home.

3 Likes

trumps very existence is detrimental to my own mental health and blood pressure. he and his ilk simply view the mentally ill as fodder for the private prison industry. It is individuals like trump that almost make me wish for the righteous god so many of his followers claim to worship. While it is not for me to guess what ol’ sweet jeezuz might have to say to this corruption of cells called trump I’d just bet he’d think of that money changer bunch and kick that motherfucker straight through hells sewage system right down to where shit and slime turn orange.

11 Likes

That was beautiful.

2 Likes

I fully understand and agree with what you wrote. Probably not much help, but here’s the mantra posted on the wall of my late clarinet teacher and Director of Bands at UNH. Uncle Stan, we miss ya.

“Non illegitimi carborundum”

2 Likes

I can’t help it. Every time I hear/read “Mental Health Awareness”, this old newsreel clip plays in my head:

3 Likes

#trumpdontcare … he does not even read the bill.

2 Likes

As a psychotherapist, the ACA bandaid was good in that it FINALLY acknowledged that mental health care IS healthcare, but while parity solved some problems it created others - an emphasis on psychopharmacological, behavioral, and medical interventions for treatment, not allowing all licensed providers to bill for services (insurance plans were allowed to limit which professional services they would pay for, Feds won’t pay for LMFTs, etc.), insurance plans dropping mental health coverage so as to avoid parity requirements, etc.

But at least there was something. I worked in a community clinic that could finally bill for services and saw people getting help who had never had resources before, suddenly taking meds, going to therapy, and able to take basic care of themselves for the first time EVER. HMOs and independent clinics expanded their behavioral health services and people stopped needing low cost/sliding scale. Free/low cost clinics closed.

AHCA blows it all to hell. What’s coming is almost worse than what we had before, because the low cost/free options have been reduced significantly. The infrastructure to absorb the care needs is gone. We will have to start from scratch. Reproductive healthcare is in a similar situation. It’s fucked.

12 Likes

Let’s remember, the current government is trying to codify into law that people with mental illnesses should have guaranteed, unlimited access to guns but not healthcare.

6 Likes

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.