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With states reducing the number of psychiatric beds, mentally ill patients often languish in hospital emergency rooms for several days, sometimes longer. At most, they get drugs but little counseling, and the environment is often harsh.
The wait for an appointment with an expert can be long, and psychiatrists especially are in short supply. Psychologists seek to expand their role by prescribing drugs.
Analysis by advocacy group NAMI finds cuts of $1.8 billion, or about 8 percent of the states' total budgets, from 2009 through 2011.
Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, is making a "paradigm shift" in his division to focus more on care-at-home cases.
For years, the state paid private providers who care for people with disabilities to handle their clients' case management. But an 11th-hour change inserted into the budget last session stripped them of that responsibility, giving it instead to quasi-governmental Mental Retardation Authorities - and potentially creating a conflict of interest.
Sweeping agreement with Georgia points to new Obama administration campaign to ensure people with mental illness and developmental disabilities get community services and are not forced into institutions.
Insurance coverage of mental illness and addiction problems often is skimpier than for physical illness. But that is changing with the mental health parity law that took effect earlier this year and the new health overhaul.
Many homeless people are uninsured and ineligible for Medicaid. But that will change beginning in 2014, when Medicaid greatly expands under the new health law.
Juggling a caregiving role with a full-time job is daunting. But it can be even more difficult working during the end stages of a loved one's life. Some companies are helping their employees manage the tough times.
The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has suspended voluntary admissions to the state's three hospitals for the mentally ill because they are full.
You might think the fight over mental health parity - the requirement that health insurance plans not handle coverage for mental ailments any differently than coverage for any other disorder - would be over. You would, however, be wrong.
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