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October 17, 20069
DAYS LEFT BEFORE MHANYS’ AWARDS DINNER AND ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Thursday evening’s award dinner will be a celebration of our accomplishments over the last year and honoring our affiliates, legislators and colleagues in the community. Our speaker after the awards dinner is Paul E. Jones who is regarded as one of the funniest, passionate and most empowering speakers in the field. MHANYS Board Member Tom O’Clair heard him speak a few months back and said, “You’ll have tears in your eyes, if not from hearing of his painful experiences than from the humorous ways he expresses them.” Friday’s conference features Joshua Wolf Shenk talking about his best selling book, Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness. Over the last 18 months this book has received universal acclaim and has been featured in a cover story in Time Magazine and as a Documentary on the History Channel. Everyone from Mike Wallace, Rosalynn Carter, the New York Times, Washington Post and many others have praised Lincoln’s Melancholy. Mr. Shenk will also be available to sign the book after his presentation.
Conference prices are very reasonable, providing a great opportunity to get the most topical information in the field with empowering key note speakers in a relaxed atmosphere. Registrations can be made through the MHANYS website at www.mhanys.org. TIMOTHY’S LAW ACTION ALERT: Last month, the New York State Senate unanimously passed "Timothy's Law," (S.8482/A.12080) to provide parity in insurance coverage for mental illnesses. The legislation, which has been sent to the Assembly, would require insurance companies to cover most mental illnesses and would require coverage for a broad range of mental illnesses and conditions specifically related to children. This legislation also equalizes co-payments and deductibles for treatment for mental illness with co-pays and deductibles for other physical ailments. The Assembly is expected to return to Albany sometime before the end of the year to pass the legislation. It is not clear whether or not the Governor will sign the bill into law. While it is not everything we fought for (including the lack of addiction services), this version of Timothy's Law will improve access to needed mental health care for adults and children. If the Governor vetoes the bill, New Yorkers will continue to face arbitrary restrictions on mental health care and be forced to pay more for mental health care than they do for other physical ailments. Your help is needed NOW to urge Governor Pataki to sign S.8482/A.12080 into law once it reaches his desk. Tell the Governor New Yorkers can’t afford to go without mental health care anymore. You
can contact the Governor by: SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION: COVERAGE FOR TREATMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESSES This legislation requires that all insurance companies cover 30 inpatient days of treatment and 20 outpatient days of treatment for all mental illnesses (30/20 benefit) and requires that co-pays and deductibles for treatment for mental illness be equal to co-pays and deductibles for other physical ailments. The cost to employers of 50 or less employees for the minimum 30/20 benefit will be subsidized in full by the state, in accordance with a methodology to be developed and implemented by the Superintendent of Insurance. Policies and contracts for employers of more than fifty employees must also include full parity coverage for the treatment of “biologically based” mental illness; defined as schizophrenia/psychotic disorders, major depression, bipolar disorder, delusional disorders, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, bulimia, and anorexia. The broader parity benefit mandated for large employer plans will be also be made available as an option for small employers wishing to purchase such coverage. COVERAGE FOR CHILDREN WITH MENTAL ILLNESS In addition, the agreed upon legislation requires insurance coverage for children under age 18 with attention deficit disorder, disruptive behavior disorders or pervasive development disorders where there are serious suicidal symptoms or other life-threatening self-destructive behavior; significant psychotic symptoms (hallucinations, delusion, bizarre behaviors); behavior caused by emotional disturbances that placed the child at risk of causing personal injury or significant property damage; or behavior caused by emotional disturbances that placed the child at substantial risk of removal from the household. The state Insurance Department and the Office of Mental Health are also required to conduct a two year study to determine the effectiveness and impact of mental health parity legislation in New York and other states. When enacted, the legislation will take effect January 1, 2007 and sunset on December 31, 2009, to provide for an opportunity to amend the law based on the findings. IN THE NEWS: Candidates
for Governor Talk of Issues, Nation, Life (Note: A similar article was published in the Staten Island Advance) The Associated Press has asked the two major candidates for governor 100 questions to help voters gauge the politicians on top state and national issues and some that touch on their values and their lives. The series will continue to Election Day. The candidates are Republican John Faso and Democrat Eliot Spitzer. Do you support Timothy's Law? (The bill would require health insurers to provide mental health coverage on a par with physical health coverage.) Faso: "I support coverage for mentally ill, but there needs to be appropriate safeguards to protect small business from constant increases in health care costs. Health insurance mandates hurt New Yorkers by driving up costs and making health care less affordable for everyone." Spitzer: "I commend the Assembly and the Senate for reaching a compromise on Timothy's Law and hope the governor signs the bill into law. Enacting Timothy's Law will help to ensure that individuals who suffer from serious and persistent mental illness get the treatment they need. I am, however, concerned about the high cost of health insurance, which is caused in part by insurance mandates. I support Timothy's Law because I believe that, in the context of the comprehensive health care reforms I will enact if elected governor, we will cover these additional costs and reduce spending dramatically in other areas." Do you support the Shinnecock Indians' efforts to build a casino in Long Island's Hamptons? Faso: "No. First of all, under federal law, Indian casinos can only be run by a federally recognized Indian tribe or nation on Indian reservations. The Shinnecock are not a federally recognized tribe and therefore cannot run a casino. Furthermore, any casino contemplated for the Hamptons would present significant infrastructure problems. Spitzer: "No. The Shinnecock tribe is not a federally recognized tribe; they have not entered into a valid casino compact with the state; and they are proposing to build a casino on property that is not sovereign tribal reservation land." What is your guilty pleasure? Faso: "Ice cream." Spitzer: "Midnight snacks."
It has been almost eight years since an aspiring screenwriter from upstate Fredonia met a gruesome end, pushed in front of a Manhattan subway train by a mentally ill Andrew Goldstein. Last week, after earlier trials in which Goldstein's lawyers argued he was too mentally ill to understand the consequences of his actions, the sometimes-violent, often-homeless schizophrenic pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The younger sister of Kendra Webdale said the family was provided closure. Because of the high-profile crime - Kendra was 32, blonde and pretty - New York state passed "Kendra's Law,'' one of the earliest pieces of victim-named legislation in New York. State legislators were eager to support Kendra's Law, and it was signed into law by Gov. George Pataki the year Webdale died. Kendra's Law allows latitude for family members to request, and mental-health authorities to ensure, closer supervision of psychiatric patients who live outside institutions. After due process, such patients can be required to take prescribed medications and undergo treatment. Five years after enactment, the law has helped about 4,000 people, experts estimate. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill heralded New York Kendra's Law as an innovation. Notwithstanding the landmark measure, services for the mentally ill in New York remain a mixed bag; tens of thousands of mentally ill New Yorkers have been identified in need of services, and thousands of others are believed to be "outside the system'' and also requiring help. Relatedly, a weak version of Timothy's Law, which aims to make mental-health services more available through insurance, passed only the state Senate late in the recent legislative session - in time for the fall election but too late for the Assembly to debate, the governor to sign or patients to benefit this year. Family services for ill parents or children with psychiatric, emotional or behavioral problems are fractured or, in many parts of the state, non-existent. Prisons are filled with mentally ill people who receive inadequate treatment. The public and Legislature focused on civil confinement and treatment for sex offenders after the 2005 slaying of a White Plains office worker by an ex-convict, but blame games prevented a bill to be adopted by both the Assembly and Senate. In a Journal News article last week, the Campaign for Mental Health Housing estimated that more than 70,000 people with mental illnesses lack access to appropriate housing, and the number is growing. The coalition wants the state to redirect money and resources that currently go to expensive emergency services - or incarceration of the mentally ill - to preserve and upgrade about 30,000 existing units of supportive and licensed housing, and develop at least 35,000 new units over the next 10 years. The campaign also wants New York to set up a mental-health housing waiting list to assess unmet needs; a bill that would have done just that was vetoed by Pataki in mid-August. At his sentencing tomorrow, Andrew Goldstein is expected to receive a term of 23 years in prison, plus five years of post-release supervision. Kendra Webdale's killer, at least, will be housed a long time, maybe get some treatment and, if and when he leaves prison, be watched for a while.
Several organizations, including the New York State Campaign for Mental Health Housing and the League of Women Voters, observed Mental Health Week last Wednesday by calling for all gubernatorial candidates to support reform of the state’s mental health housing programs. Steven R. Coe, founding member and chairman of the New York State Campaign for Mental Health Housing said, “Estimates are that more than 70,000 people with mental illnesses lack access to appropriate housing, and this number is growing.” The groups, which include the families of people with mental illnesses, have a four-point plan aimed at redirecting resources that currently go to expensive emergency services in order to address the shortage of housing over the next 10 years for people with mental illnesses once they are discharged from a psychiatric hospital. The plan includes: reforming existing programs, preserving the approximately 30,000 existing units of licensed housing, developing 35,000 new units and creating a mental health housing waiting list to asses patients’ unmet needs. Coe called on all gubernatorial candidates to consider adding the reform proposals to their political platforms. “This is a fixable problem,” said Coe. “The resources just need to be redirected to save people’s lives and allow people to go back into the community.” According to Coe, mental health patients who are discharged without a place to live primarily end up in shelters, which are not set up to meet their needs, or in jail. Reform legislation the groups support was passed in both the Senate and the Assembly, but was vetoed by Gov. George E. Pataki. Coe said he hopes the Legislature will come back and override the veto. If that doesn’t happen, he plans to fight to have the reform proposal re-introduced next year under the new governor. “Both candidates have talked about making a more efficient system of government, and this certainly fits into that parameter,” said League of Woman Voters of New York State Legislative Director Barbara Bartoletti, of gubernatorial hopefuls Republican John Faso and Democrat Eliot Spitzer. “We not only need efficient social policies, but humane social policies,” Bartoletti said. “Situations like these are all too common and troubling,” said Roy Neville, treasurer of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Schenectady. “It’s a statewide problem that doesn’t even have to exist — we have the resources. The next governor has to make an effort to reform mental health housing.”
ALBANY -- A lawyer argued Wednesday that New York has violated the rights of convicted sex offenders who were forced into psychiatric facilities when their prison sentences ended. "It's virtually impossible for a person who is erroneously committed to a mental hospital to prove he's not crazy," Manhattan attorney Sadie Zea Ishee told the Court of Appeals. Ishee represents 12 sex offenders who were civilly confined to Manhattan Psychiatric Center after they completed their sentences in the fall of 2005 following an order from Gov. George Pataki, who instructed state authorities to detain the offenders. Solicitor General Caitlin Halligan, who represented the state during the 45-minute hearing, said the case hinges on whether state mental hygiene law or corrections law prevails. Regardless, she questioned the release of sex offenders into society. Court papers show, in the case argued Wednesday, that prison superintendents agreed to transfer the inmates to psychiatric centers based on mental hygiene law, which demands the civil commitment of anyone who poses a danger to himself or society. Two state Office of Mental Health physicians certified the petitioners as mentally ill and likely to re-offend without treatment. A third OMH physician agreed when the inmates were admitted. Nothing in the court record indicates whether the inmates received mental health services while in prison, judges said. A decision is expected in about a month. -- Michelle Morgan Bolton
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