NEWS UPDATE!! Rep. Tim Murphy Announces Important Mental Health Legislation

Bravo -- BIG NEWS from Congressman Tim Murphy, who is willing to stand up for what is needed. The US can spend billions on space travel and fighting wars in other countries ... but we can't seem to figure out how to help "our nation's" more vulnerable citizens. IT IS TIME.  gg burns

read review by Mental Illness Policy.org here:
Mental Illness Policy Org: Rep. Tim Murphy Announces Important Mental Health Legislation

IN THE NEWS: HOUSE MEMBER OUTLINES MENTAL HEALTH PROPOSALS, CITING NAVY YARD SHOOTING

9/19/13

By Melissa Attias
Sept. 19, 2013

A key House leader on mental health announced Thursday that he will be introducing legislation soon to boost treatment options and address other challenges, noting that Monday’s deadly shooting again “raised the issues of how we are handling mental health to stop this terrible violence.”

Pennsylvania Republican Tim Murphy, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee, outlined the package in a floor speech, noting that the gunman who killed a dozen people at the Washington Navy Yard had a history of mental health issues. Murphy’s panel has been examining current mental health policies since the start of the 113th Congress, convening a forum and hearings earlier this year.

“The background checks does not even begin to deal with the millions of people who have a psychiatric illness and go untreated,” Murphy said. “There is a lack of inpatient and outpatient treatment options and we need to begin, finally, to deal with these problems.”

The proposal, expected to be introduced in a couple of weeks, appears to offer a different approach to mental health than the legislation (S 689) that was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and incorporated into a gun control package (S 649) by a vote of 95-2. Murphy expressed skepticism of that bill earlier this year, maintaining that the effectiveness of the programs proposed in the measure is unknown.

Murphy said his bill will increase the options available for individuals who need inpatient and outpatient treatment. He said that psychiatric beds have decreased from 500,000 in 1955 to less than 40,000.

Read more here: http://murphy.house.gov/latest-news/in-the-news-house-member-outlines-mental-health-proposals-citing-navy-yard-shooting/