Posted on 06/21/2004 10:19:15 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters of the administration.
The New Freedom Initiative, according to a progress report, seeks to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," the British Medical Journal reported.
Critics say the plan protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The initiative began with Bush's launch in April 2002 of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which conducted a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system."
The panel found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children.
The commission said, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders."
Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission recommended that the screening be linked with "treatment and supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions."
The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was held up by the panel as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
The TMAP -- started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas -- also was praised by the American Psychiatric Association, which called for increased funding to implement the overall plan.
But the Texas project sparked controversy when a Pennsylvania government employee revealed state officials with influence over the plan had received money and perks from drug companies who stand to gain from it.
Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General says in his whistleblower report the "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that developed the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab."
Jones points out, according to the British Medical Journal, companies that helped start the Texas project are major contributors to Bush's election funds. Also, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to TMAP.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, one of the drugs recommended in the plan, has multiple ties to the Bush administration, BMJ says. The elder President Bush was a member of Lilly's board of directors and President Bush appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to the Homeland Security Council.
Of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000, 82 percent went to Bush and the Republican Party.
Another critic, Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Mad in America," told the British Medical Journal that while increased screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers."
Exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job training and shelter program," he said.
However, a developer of the Texas project, Dr. Graham Emslie, defends screening.
"There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who are aggressive, you can intervene ... and change their trajectory."
I smell a Demonrat campaigner...
Well, in that case, I suggest reading the actual source material, rather than the gloss on the White House's document.
How do I know it's the actual source material? Because the White Houes's document references its page.
Here it is, check it yourself:
Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America
Your nose is up your own ass.
Clinton signed it. 1996, if I remember correctly.
Have you kept a count of how many times you've posted that WH link? I don't feel like going back and re-reading this entire thread.
Thanks for the personal attack.
Duly noted.
" Give it a rest; Bush is not trying to sedate the nation.
And, thanks for hefting your weight around. Since your assertion is presented as being of more merit than mine -- even though mine is backed up by original source materials (supplied to silence the incessant whiners who refused to pull their noses away from WND) -- and, even though yours is backed up by... your demand, I'll weigh your command, and in due time, grant it whatever action it merits.
You are right! HIPAA was fully implemented in April 2003....at least that's when all involved had to comply.
Ever since they banned my assault weapon, took away my right to withhold ID from a cop if he's got no good reason to know it, decided to spend billions of my tax money (under a republican administration), denied my right to fund commercials for a political cause 60 days before an election, decided it was okay to seize my property whether or not a drug crime was committed with it, and decided to force-screen me and my countrymen for mental illness.
Well, yeah, but apart from that, you've got nothing to bitch about, right?
C'mon, admit it!
Check with your optometrist. You ain't seein' what I been sayin'.
Thanks for the link. I got mine from the White House. I'll rely on that.
*sound of DJ banging head on desk*
Good f'n grief.
WHERE THE HELL do you think I GOT that document that I linked?
Hint 1: I got it FROM the White House's document.
Hint 2: It's what the White House is BASING its program on.
God save this country...
This is what the White House webpage says about the link you all are quoting:
"On April 29, 2002, the President issued Executive Order 13263 establishing the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Composed of fifteen members representing providers, payers, administrators, and consumers of mental health services, as well as family members of consumers, and seven ex officio members, the Commission was charged with conducting “a comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system, including public and private sector providers,” and was directed to advise the President on methods of improving the system. In July 2003, the Commission issued its recommendations in a final report entitled Achieving the Promise, Transforming Mental Health Care in America. See http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/reports/reports.htm. The report identifies barriers to care within the mental health system and examples of community-based care models that have proven successful in coordinating and providing treatment services."
The report has recommendations yes, BUT THE WHITE HOUSE page has outlined what it took from the report. If I didn't know the reputation that you have, I'd be surprised at your polemics. You don't surprise. Ever.
It's patently obvious, you've already done too much of that in the past.
HIPAA sucks! I was offered a chance to sign it when I went to an osteopath last year for a little back crack. Of course refusing to sign it would mean no treatment. No fault of the doc's either. If he didn't get my John Henry his ass would be in a sling.
Well, I gotta admit, they haven't quartered troops in my house!
Hold on, be right back. Doorbell.
Duly noted.
Just as several of us noted your post to Dane early in this thread, where you put, "GFYS."
Personally, I agree with Boxford.
Clinton signed the HIPAA Act in 1996. Don Joe is mistaken. Hasn't bothered to acknowledge that, though.
Clinton signed it. 1996, if I remember correctly.
Google is your friend.
Query for the words HIPAA and Bush
From first link it returned, Administration Fails First HIPAA Privacy Check-Up:
The Privacy Rule, mandated by Congress in the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), was issued by the Clinton administration, and President Bush allowed it to become law in 2001.There are over 32,000 other links that query will return. Knock yerself out.
Gee, I love you too.
GFYS stands for "Girl Friend, You Sexy!!!"
Now that advances an argument.
Why would any sane person want the Federal Government to do this?
Where does it get the authority to do any of that?
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