Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Job Loss, Rising Premiums Take Toll on Employer Health Coverage in 2003A "Tracking Report" from the Center for Studying Health System Change - "Against the backdrop of a sluggish economy and rapidly rising health insurance premiums, the proportion of Americans under age 65 covered by employer-sponsored insurance fell dramatically from 67 percent to 63 percent between 2001 and 2003. Although the decline in employer coverage could have spurred a large increase in the uninsured, the proportion of Americans without health insurance did not increase significantly, according to findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) Community Tracking Study Household Survey. Expansion of public health insurance—including Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)—forestalled a significant increase in the uninsured, as the proportion of the under-65 population enrolled in public coverage increased from 9 percent to 12 percent. .."
Mental Health in the House of CorrectionsA June 2004 report (in
Adobe Acrobat format) by New York's Correctional Association, made available at the
Open Minds web site - "The Correctional Association’s two-year study of mental health care in New York State prisons—which involved 22 visits to 20 correctional facilities, survey interviews with over 400 inmates on the mental health caseload and focus groups with correction officers, mental health staff and prison administrators—reveals both systemic problems and service deficiencies as well as some model programs. Specifically, the prison system’s sole psychiatric hospital has not been expanded since it opened in 1980, despite a tripling in the inmate population since that time. System-wide, staff and treatment beds have not kept pace with the increasing volume and severity of mental illness among incoming inmates. Model programs exist within the system, notably the 11 residential Intermediate Care Programs for victim-prone inmates with chronic mental illness and the Central New York Psychiatric Center, a treatment-rich facility with a total capacity of 206 beds: 189 for state inmates and 17 for county inmates with acute mental health needs."
County prevails in federal lawsuit vs. NAMI (Florida)Story in the
St. Augustine Record - "A federal lawsuit and appeal filed in 2000 against the St. Johns County Commission by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has been dismissed after a long legal battle that cost the county $100,000. But it still may not be over. County Attorney Dan Bosanko said Monday that the ruling on the case -- which involved a request in April 2000 to open the county's first mental health residential facility -- came on procedural grounds. The National Alliance's attorneys raised many legal issues, but the trial judge -- as well as the appellate court -- dismissed the case because the alliance did not have "standing." In other words, no specific patient or group was damaged. ... But a National Alliance attorney said Monday that he plans to file motions for a rehearing this week..."
State upgrades efforts to improve Oakwood (Kentucky)WKYT story - "The state has taken over management of a mental institution and turned to a consultant to create an operating plan that could make the facility a model nationwide. Oakwood once was one of the country's largest state institutions for people with mental retardation. In 2002, the Justice Department concluded an investigation that found patients were mistreated and neglected. In response, the state added workers, brought in more doctors and provided more activities for residents. But the state decided those efforts were not enough..."
