The murder of seven people in Santa Barbara, Calif., by someone with a mental disability, and recent stabbings in New York City, have again raised concerns as to how we can best help people with serious mental illnesses and avoid tragedies.
It has particular relevance to Albany because upstate U.S. Rep. Paul D. Tonko and four other Democrats recently introduced the Strengthening Mental Health in our Communities Act as a Democratic alternative to the bipartisan, Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The latter bill, introduced by Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., has 57 Republican co-sponsors including New York Reps. Chris Gibson, Michael Grimm and Peter King, and 28 Democrat co-sponsors including New York Representatives Steve Israel, Hakeem Jeffries, Charlie Rangel and Carolyn McCarthy.
Tonko should not be infusing the debate with partisan politics. He should support the bipartisan bill because it is the one most likely to help people with serious mental illness, save money and prevent violence.
The Murphy bill requires the federal government to start focusing on the most seriously ill, rather than just the highest functioning. It provides states funds to implement their version of Kendra's Law. Kendra's Law is for a very small subset of the most seriously mentally ill who have already accumulated multiple hospitalizations, arrests, episodes of homelessness, or violence due to going off treatment. It allows judges to order them to stay in six months of monitored treatment as a condition of living in the community and order the mental health system to provide the treatment.
New York's Kendra's Law has cut the odds of arrest by two thirds and cut costs in half by replacing expensive inpatient commitment, hospitalization and incarceration with less expensive community care.
The bipartisan bill also has provisions that free some parents of the seriously ill from HIPAA handcuffs. HIPAA is a privacy law that prevents parents from being informed of the diagnosis, medications and pending appointments of seriously ill loved ones, making them powerless to help them get treatment.
The Democratic bill Tonko supports does none of that. It does raise reimbursement rates for marriage counselors, thereby gaining the support of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. But having a marriage you want improved is not a mental illness. The Democratic bill would fund anti-bullying programs. But bullying is not a mental illness. The Democrat bill furthers mission-creep, when what's needed is mission control. The bipartisan bill prioritizes spending while the Democrat bill reverses priorities.
No doubt, Tonko's heart is in the right place, but he was terribly misled by the mental health industry, which wants mental health funds without the obligation to treat the most seriously ill. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said as much, telling Roll Call that she wants a bill that "has the support of the mental health community." On that, the Tonko bill delivers.
But Tonko should be on the side of people with serious mental illness, not the industry that refuses to treat them. Throwing money at mental health, as the mental health industry wants, is not the same as treating serious mental illness.
The bipartisan bill directly addresses the elephant in the room: getting treatment to adults known to have serious mental illness. The bipartisan bill is the best way to help the most seriously ill, avoid future tragedies, and keep everyone safe. Tonko should join the other New York Democrats and Republicans who support the bipartisan bill.
D.J. Jaffe is executive director of Mental Illness Policy Org. (http://mentalillnesspolicy.org), a nonpartisan think tank on serious mental illness. Irene Turski is president of NAMI/NYS (http://www.naminys.org), the state chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, representing people with mental illness and their families.