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Um...in what way? Can you not just walk into a mental health clinic, take your credit card out and pay for service? Or is there a test first? Do you have to pass a federal check to prove that you are mentally ill before you can get treatment?
Humor me. Contact a local psychiatrist, or a psychologist, (included under your plan if you have insurance), and ask them about their 'wait times.' Look into which mental health professionals are covered under your plan. Depending on your plan, compounded by your geographical location, you may or may not have as much flexibility in terms of qualified professionals that can see you (i.e., Ph.D. or MD versus LCSW). Further, make sure to ask how many of them will let you just pay a 'co-pay'. Many want you to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed. Low rates for mental health professionals range around $75 per visit. I've seen as high as $400 an hour at Hopkins.
Secondly, contact a psychiatrist from a well-known university / medical school in your area. Ask them about their rates. See if they even accept insurance, lol.
Lastly, call up your local clinic. See what their wait time is, if they are even 'accepting patients.' I recently called several mental health clinics in Baltimore for a resident I am working with, who has a very limited insurance plan and was looking to receive therapy. Wait times were into 3-4 months, and, most places I called were not even accepting new patients.
On the flip side, while I've never purchased a gun myself, a quick Google search found its relatively easy to purchase a gun over the counter, subject to the "National Instant Criminal Background Check." If you don't have a 'delay' on your application, in some states you can walk right out of the store with your purchase. (A delay can take up to 3-4 business days for additional searching/communication with FBI). In Maryland, they require you to complete an application sent to the State Police, processing can take about a week.
It's the ultimate irony that the right wing wants to blame gun violence on poor mental health, but they don't want anyone to have access to mental health care.
In 1967 two Democrats and a Republican in California's state legislature came up with the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, designed to end INVOLUNTARY commitments of mentallly ill, alcoholic, etc. people into large mental institutions. The LPS Act was hailed by liberals all over the country as putting an end to eeevil government practices of dictating to helpless victims where they would go and what treatments they would get whether they liked it or not. It was overwhelmingly passed by California's Assembly and Senate, and finally signed by Governeor Ronald Reagan in 1967. Similar laws were quickly passed all over the country, advocated mostly by liberal groups and do-gooders.
The liberal ACLU kept pushing this agenda to get these patients out of mental institutions, and finally resulted in 1975 (coincidentally Reagans' last year as Governor) in the U.S. Supreme Court handing down a decision in O'Connor vs. Donaldson (422 US 563). This Cout decision announced a new Constitutional right: The mentally ill could not be forced to stay in such institutions if they were not an actual threat to others. This opened the floodgates and let huge numbers of patients, in various degrees of helplessness, out of the institutions.
When it was discovered that these laws and court decisions had the effect of putting many people who could not, in fact, take care of themselves out on the street, the liberals did a fast 180, hastily forgot about their long, enthusiastic nationwide advocacy and support of the agenda, and invented a completely new accusation: That it was Ronald Reagan alone who had "kicked all those poor people out of their nice, safe hospitals and made them homeless".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
The Lanterman–Petris–Short (LPS) Act (Cal. Welf & Inst. Code, sec. 5000 et seq.) concerns the involuntary civil commitment to a mental health institution in the State of California. The act set the precedent for modern mentalhealth commitment procedures in the United States. It was co-authored by California State Assemblyman Frank Lanterman (R) and California State Senators Nicholas C. Petris (D) and Alan Short (D), and signed into law in 1967 by Governor Ronald Reagan. The Act went into full effect on July 1, 1972. It cited seven articles of intent:
To provide individualized treatment, supervision, and placement services by a conservatorship program for gravely disabled persons;
To encourage the full use of all existing agencies, professional personnel and public funds to accomplish these objectives and to prevent duplication of services and unnecessary expenditures;
To protect mentally disordered persons and developmentally disabled persons from criminal acts.
The Act in effect ended all hospital commitments by the judiciary system, except in the case of criminal sentencing, e.g., convicted sexual offenders, and those who were "gravely disabled", defined as unable to obtain food, clothing, or housing [Conservatorship of Susan T., 8 Cal. 4th 1005 (1994)]. It did not, however, impede the right of voluntary commitments. It expanded the evaluative power of psychiatrists and created provisions and criteria for holds.
I believe that takes care of the liberals socialists' frantic revisionist history. At least for now, until they judge that enough time has gone by that people will forget (again) how guilty the liberals were of doing what they now accuse Reagan of, and start resurrecting the same lies about him that they tried here.
In 1967 two Democrats and a Republican in California's state legislature came up with the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, designed to end INVOLUNTARY commitments of mentallly ill, alcoholic, etc. people into large mental institutions. The LPS Act was hailed by liberals all over the country as putting an end to eeevil government practices of dictating to helpless victims where they would go and what treatments they would get whether they liked it or not. It was overwhelmingly passed by California's Assembly and Senate, and finally signed by Governeor Ronald Reagan in 1967. Similar laws were quickly passed all over the country, advocated mostly by liberal groups and do-gooders.
The liberal ACLU kept pushing this agenda to get these patients out of mental institutions, and finally resulted in 1975 (coincidentally Reagans' last year as Governor) in the U.S. Supreme Court handing down a decision in O'Connor vs. Donaldson (422 US 563). This Cout decision announced a new Constitutional right: The mentally ill could not be forced to stay in such institutions if they were not an actual threat to others. This opened the floodgates and let huge numbers of patients, in various degrees of helplessness, out of the institutions.
When it was discovered that these laws and court decisions had the effect of putting many people who could not, in fact, take care of themselves out on the street, the liberals did a fast 180, hastily forgot about their long, enthusiastic nationwide advocacy and support of the agenda, and invented a completely new accusation: That it was Ronald Reagan alone who had "kicked all those poor people out of their nice, safe hospitals and made them homeless".
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I believe that takes care of the liberals socialists' frantic revisionist history. At least for now, until they judge that enough time has gone by that people will forget (again) how guilty the liberals were of doing what they now accuse Reagan of, and start resurrecting the same lies about him that they tried here.
Wrong. You are equating mental health treatment with locking up someone inside a mental institution. Mental health care can happen on an outpatient basis, depending on the diagnosis.
It is interesting to actually "Baker Act" someone into a psych unit for monitoring, especially one not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and if that person has not harmed someone, or themselves, it is practically impossible, especially if there is no other records to support the finding. A person presents at the ER, with a family member, and you ask, "why are you here?", person says, "I was feeling mad, but I am okay now", family member, "she was talking about killing herself", I ask, "did you call the police?", "do you have guns in the home?", no to both? Okay, go home.
Well, the conservatives/Republicans are certainly making it hard for people to get access to health care, including mental health care. Just look at their strident opposition to the ACA. But when it comes to getting access to guns.....the conservatives are the prime enablers.
So, are we finally getting to the crux of the matter, that medical care is widely and readily available in this country...but you want to complain that actually have to pay for the services you receive? Is that what you mean by "harder to get"? I'd speculate that we have far more mental health providers in this country than anywhere in the world. Just how many psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors are there in the country? Seems like half the country sees a pshrink and is taking mind altering drugs to deal with their "problems".
Please point me to the federal programs that pay for private citizens to have guns they can't afford. Please! I'd like SOMETHING back for all the money collected from me in taxes, this would actually be something useful. Heck, if we can buy cell phones for people that can't afford them, certainly we should buy Smith and Wessons for them.
The kid wasn't able to purchase a gun, remember Dick's Sporting Goods (or whoever it was) would not sell him a gun. So he stole them. You can't steal mental health care, so in a way you are correct.
The Aurora theater shooter was getting mental help -- his psychiatrist was very likely part of his problem. There's no evidence the Connecticut shooter wasn't getting mental help -- his family was very wealthy after all -- it shouldn't have been a problem.
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