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The Economics of Recovery: System Reform
New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team gathered an impressive list of suggestions to stem the growth of New York’s 50+ billion dollar Medicaid program. I was particularly impressed with their adoption of the 80/20 concept developed by business marketers in the 70’s....
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The NYSPA Report: New York State Psychiatric Association’s 2011 Legislative Agenda
Presenting the New York State Psychiatric Association’s legislative agenda for the 2011 session in Albany represents more of a challenge than usual because the governor’s budget proposal will be presented after the writing of this report and the printing of this issue of Mental Health News....
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Point of View – Looking Back with Pride: Mental Health Policy in the 2nd Half of the 20th Century
I have had the good fortune over most of the past two decades to participate in the vast effort made by the Mental Health Association movement to make life better for people with mental illness, especially those who are disabled and rejected by society. There are two tremendously important...
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Assessing Racial Equity Impact in Mental Health Policymaking: Reflections and Recommendations
Racism has a long and unique history in the practice and policy of mental health in the United States. In colonial times, for example, it was a common belief that Blacks did not have the intellectual capacity to experience mental illness. In later periods runaway slaves were diagnosed with...
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The Economics of Recovery: Who’s Driving the Bus?
There appears to be an incredible variety of people guiding our journey of recovery; elected and career government officials, all manner of professionals, academics, health insurers, providers, family, labor unions, big pharma, etc. If recovery takes a village – then it seems they all made it on...
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The Economics of Recovery: When Worlds Collide
To quote Rahm Emanuel, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste - it’s an opportunity.” In the past decade, it’s been one crisis after another: 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, Katrina and tsunamis’, Wall Street meltdown, global warming, the gulf oil spill, Haiti, bankrupt governments, even...
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The Economics of Recovery: Threading the Needle
The Government Guy was summing up his four hour PowerPoint presentation on how easy it was for people with disabilities to get a job; “You just need to take advantage of the many work incentives like Ticket-to-Work, PASS Plan, Medicaid Buy-In, IRWEs, Subsidies, Tax Credits, etc., don’t worry...
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The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by the first President Bush in 1990. The bill, championed by Senator Bob Dole, who himself suffers from a physical disability, was enacted with the intention of eliminating discrimination against the disabled, whether it be a physical or...
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NYSPA Report – Mental Health and Addiction Parity: Law and Regulations
On October 3, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law H.R. 1424, which was known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The law was more commonly referred to by the system it created, the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP, which was used to stabilize the economy during the...
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Social Security: Dispelling the Myths
Very often in the human services field we encounter people who want to help but just are not equipped. Their desire to make a difference in another’s life or situation prompts them to pass on bits of information that they themselves have learned, experienced or heard. As often happens in the...
