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Do you have a source about California mental health spending being cut? Anytime i read a comment about spending being cut or austerity it never materializes wh

by bko 3y ago

Do you have a source about California mental health spending being cut? Anytime i read a comment about spending being cut or austerity it never materializes when I look it up. I blame the media that reports "cuts in the future anticipated spending growth" as "cuts". So basically someone said spending on X will grow Y percent a year and someone else comes in and changes Y to slightly lower. Sure enough: > The chart below shows that over the last 10 years, state budget expenditures on health have increased nearly 8% per year, while spending on education, transportation, and natural resources has increased at less than half that rate. https://www.chcf.org/blog/californias-unfinished-business-addressing-health-care-costs/ https://www.chcf.org/blog/californias-unfinished-business-ad...

swivelmaster 3y ago
You’re not going back far enough. https://calmatters.org/justice/2019/03/hard-truths-about-deinstitutionalization-then-and-now/ https://calmatters.org/justice/2019/03/hard-truths-about-dei...
- coryrc 3y ago
  There are no dollar amounts in that article.
  - swivelmaster 3y ago
    Oh okay so I guess it must not be true then...? https://www.kqed.org/news/11209729/did-the-emptying-of-mental-hospitals-contribute-to-homelessness-here https://www.kqed.org/news/11209729/did-the-emptying-of-menta... "1967 Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California. At this point, the number of patients in state hospitals had fallen to 22,000, and the Reagan administration uses the decline as a reason to make cuts to the Department of Mental Hygiene. They cut 2,600 jobs and 10 percent of the budget despite reports showing that hospitals were already below recommended staffing levels." "1967 Reagan signs the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act and ends the practice of institutionalizing patients against their will, or for indefinite amounts of time. This law is regarded by some as a “patient’s bill of rights”. Sadly, the care outside state hospitals was inadequate. The year after the law goes into effect, a study shows the number of mentally ill people entering San Mateo's criminal justice system doubles." "1973 The number of patients in California State mental hospitals falls to 7,000." So in six years the number of patients in state [mental] hospitals falls from 22,000 to 7,000, and in the FIRST YEAR ALONE after the initial cuts the number of mentally ill patients entering the criminal justice system in just one county doubles. This was on the first page of the google results.
m463 3y ago
funding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1980 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1... california: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterman%E2%80%93Petris%E2%80%93Short_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterman%E2%80%93Petris%E2%80... "Some family of mentally ill individuals believe that the LPS act favors the individual's civil rights too much when weighed against their self-evident need for treatment. It can be very difficult for their family member to be placed on a 5150 hold or on a LPS conservatorship. The LPS Act requires a "grave disability" to provide oneself with food, clothing, or shelter. Thus an individual may indeed be highly symptomatic, displaying paranoia, delusions, mania, etc., but if he or she can present a cogent plan to care for food, clothing, and shelter, he or she may very well be released from psychiatric care"
Spooky23 3y ago
The 1980s story around the closure of institutional behavioral health institutions was that the people in need of care would have that care delivered in the community. If you look around, you’ll find a dearth of facilities in the community that can handle mentally ill, mentally disabled, and addicted people. The expenses you reference are mostly Medicaid growth, of which a relatively small proportion is mental health related.

by bko 3y ago

swivelmaster 3y ago

You’re not going back far enough. https://calmatters.org/justice/2019/03/hard-truths-about-deinstitutionalization-then-and-now/ https://calmatters.org/justice/2019/03/hard-truths-about-dei...

coryrc 3y ago
There are no dollar amounts in that article.
- swivelmaster 3y ago
  Oh okay so I guess it must not be true then...? https://www.kqed.org/news/11209729/did-the-emptying-of-mental-hospitals-contribute-to-homelessness-here https://www.kqed.org/news/11209729/did-the-emptying-of-menta... "1967 Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California. At this point, the number of patients in state hospitals had fallen to 22,000, and the Reagan administration uses the decline as a reason to make cuts to the Department of Mental Hygiene. They cut 2,600 jobs and 10 percent of the budget despite reports showing that hospitals were already below recommended staffing levels." "1967 Reagan signs the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act and ends the practice of institutionalizing patients against their will, or for indefinite amounts of time. This law is regarded by some as a “patient’s bill of rights”. Sadly, the care outside state hospitals was inadequate. The year after the law goes into effect, a study shows the number of mentally ill people entering San Mateo's criminal justice system doubles." "1973 The number of patients in California State mental hospitals falls to 7,000." So in six years the number of patients in state [mental] hospitals falls from 22,000 to 7,000, and in the FIRST YEAR ALONE after the initial cuts the number of mentally ill patients entering the criminal justice system in just one county doubles. This was on the first page of the google results.

m463 3y ago

funding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1980 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1... california: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterman%E2%80%93Petris%E2%80%93Short_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterman%E2%80%93Petris%E2%80... "Some family of mentally ill individuals believe that the LPS act favors the individual's civil rights too much when weighed against their self-evident need for treatment. It can be very difficult for their family member to be placed on a 5150 hold or on a LPS conservatorship. The LPS Act requires a "grave disability" to provide oneself with food, clothing, or shelter. Thus an individual may indeed be highly symptomatic, displaying paranoia, delusions, mania, etc., but if he or she can present a cogent plan to care for food, clothing, and shelter, he or she may very well be released from psychiatric care"

Spooky23 3y ago

The 1980s story around the closure of institutional behavioral health institutions was that the people in need of care would have that care delivered in the community. If you look around, you’ll find a dearth of facilities in the community that can handle mentally ill, mentally disabled, and addicted people. The expenses you reference are mostly Medicaid growth, of which a relatively small proportion is mental health related.