Reduced Funding for Mental Health
The president's fiscal 2006 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services includes fewer dollars for mental health grants. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's proposed budget of $837 million for mental health programs reflects a net decrease of $64 million from 2005. The President's Commission on Mental Health “discovered a fragmented mental health system–a series of targeted categorical grants that didn't have a good sense of connectivity,” said HHS spokesman William Pierce. To reorganize the system, the proposed cut would only apply to new grants–those starting in fiscal year 2006. Infrastructure grants to support development of state mental plans and reduce system fragmentation would receive $26 million in 2006, a $6 million increase from 2005. The budget request would maintain SAMHSA's funding for community mental health services block grants ($433 million) and children's mental health services ($105 million). “There will also be a $5 million increase in HIV/AIDS minority mental health services, allowing for 11 new grants” in 2006, said Kathryn Power, director of SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services. The Campaign for Mental Health Reform, a coalition representing the American Psychiatric Association and other mental health organizations, called the budget “incredibly disappointing.”
Asian American Gays Surveyed
More than three-fourths of Asian Pacific American lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation, according to a study by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, an advocacy organization. As part of the first phase of the largest study of this group ever undertaken, researchers surveyed 124 attendees at a regional LGBT conference and found that 82% had experienced such discrimination: 82% also said they had experienced discrimination based on their race or ethnicity, and 96% of respondents agreed that homophobia and transphobia is a problem within the Asian Pacific American community. “The lives of Asian Pacific American [LGBT] people involve a complex web of issues arising from being sexual, racial/ethnic, language, gender, immigrant, and economic minorities,” said Glenn D. Magpantay, steering committee member of Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York. Participants in the survey were from a dozen different ethnic groups, including Chinese, Filipino, and Asian Indian.
Researching Terrorist Behavior
The University of Maryland has received a $12 million, 3-year grant from the Department of Homeland Security to open a social and behavioral research center dedicated to reducing worldwide terrorism. “The expertise of social scientists can help disrupt terror operations and reduce the after-effects of attacks,” Jacques Gansler, the university's vice president of research, said in a statement. “But so far the nation hasn't taken full advantage of their knowledge. With this new team, we hope to change that.” The center will work with five “major partner” academic centers as well as 10 other academic centers in the United States and abroad. Research teams will include psychologists, criminologists, and sociologists and will focus on issues such as the internal dynamics of terror organizations, looking for patterns of behavior or other predictors of what groups may do next.
Controversial Retiree Benefits Rule
The AARP is rejoicing now that a federal judge has temporarily blocked a new rule from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regarding retiree health benefits, but some members of Congress are not happy about this latest development. The rule, which the commission approved last April, exempts employers from age discrimination laws when it comes to designing retiree health benefits. The EEOC says the rule is designed to enable employers to better coordinate retiree benefits with Medicare, but AARP says the rule simply makes it easier for employers to reduce health benefits for older retirees, or abandon them altogether. EEOC chair Cari Dominguez said that “any delay in implementing the rule endangers vital protections for retirees.” Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, issued a statement saying that “if the AARP is successful with its lawsuit, it will surely cause more workers to lose their retiree health coverage.” The judge's action, issued in early February, prevents the rule from being implemented for at least 60 days.
Proposed Wheelchair Rules Issued
In an effort to clarify the requirements, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued proposed new rules for coverage of wheelchairs for Medicare beneficiaries. Previously, coverage was given to patients who were “nonambulatory” or “bed or chair confined.” Under the proposed rules, providers must state whether the patient “has a mobility limitation that prevents him or her from performing one or more mobility-related activities of daily living.” The agency also plans to require a face-to-face meeting between the provider and the patient before a scooter or wheelchair can be ordered. Fraud has been an issue for CMS lately regarding power wheelchair coverage: The agency launched Operation Wheeler Dealer in late 2003 after finding that expenditures for power wheelchairs had increased 450% over a 4-year period.