Why couldnt they find a psych bed anywhere in southwestern Virginia for Gus Deeds? ... the horrifying case of Gus Deeds stabbing his father, Virginia politician Creigh Deeds, is one such case. We begin with this sentence, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch account of the incident: The son was evaluated Monday at Bath Community Hospital, Cropper said, but was released because no psychiatric bed could be located across a wide area of western Virginia.Hmmm. And why would that be so? Just one of those things? The usual pre-Thanksgiving rush? Not really. As Think Progress notes, the likely culprit here is that Virginia cut funding for psychiatric beds by 15 percent between 2005 and 2010. Certainly, 2005 would mean the cuts started under Democratic governors—first Mark Warner, and then Tim Kaine. They continued under current GOP Governor Bob “Rolex” McDonnell, who then proposed even deeper cuts last year... What’s going on in Virginia is going on nationally... Now let’s bring in the reviled Obamacare. It requires for the first time in American history that mental illness treatment of some kind will be included and covered in all plans. Such coverage has been a comparative rarity until the ACA. There’s more good in the law for people who live in the states that have accepted the Medicaid expansion, as it will provide funds for treatment for many people who haven’t qualified up to now because of extremely strict eligibility requirements, which will be loosened under the expansion
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 06:18:41 +0000
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