Murphy reintroduces mental health bill
Since December 2013, when U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy first introduced his mental health crisis bill, more than 60,000 people within the United States committed suicide while battling mental illness.
The figure sickens Murphy, R-18th District, who is pushing for change. His first bill, House Bill 3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, did not receive consideration by the Senate. Parts of the bill passed in the House of Representatives in April 2014, including a $60 million grant program for assisted outpatient treatment.
“The failure to pass has a huge price tag on human life,” Murphy said in a telephone interview Friday.
Murphy said the new bill, House Bill 2646, introduced this session, improves on several areas, including breaking down barriers for families to work with doctors and become meaningful partners in the care for their loved ones. The bill also focuses on fixing the shortage of crisis mental health beds at hospitals and advances early intervention and prevention programs.
More than 10 million Americans have a serious mental illness, and a large portion of those individuals go without treatment.
To understand why, Murphy said the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation launched a review of the country’s mental health system in January 2013. Although the federal government dedicates $130 billion toward mental health each year, the report found several deficits, including a lack of psychiatric beds and a lack of communication between different mental health agencies.
“Effective treatment to those with mental illness and the reduction of harm remain the same,” Murphy, who is a clinical psychologist, said about the bills. “The goal is to focus on some of the problems that have occurred over the last 20 years, like an increased rate of the mentally ill in jails and the emergency room.”
Murphy said a hearing is scheduled for today before the Subcommittee on Health to elicit feedback about the new bill. From there, Murphy said it would move onto the full House of Representatives.