Want to Stop Future Tragedies Like Tucson & Virginia Tech? Don’t Repeal Health Care Reform

Like many Americans, I was first stunned and then unsettled by the shootings that took place last week in Tucson. Since then, we’ve heard lots of debate about Jared Lee Loughner's motivations. Partisan media hyperbole? Targets on an election map?

Most recently, there has been a chorus of pundits singing about the ills of the mental health system. Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said, “The plain truth is that America's mental healthcare system is horribly broken and horribly underfunded. And across the nation, budget cuts continue to eviscerate community mental health programs that reach out to vulnerable individuals and put them on a path to recovery.”

But more surprisingly, have been the statements of key Republicans:

• Republican advisor Mike Murphy said on the Bill Mahar Show on January 14, 2011, "I'd like to see a better linkage between the gun control stuff we have now and the crazy-filter. Because if you look at Virginia Tech and you look at this guy, it is too easy for mentally ill people to get guns; because there’s no mental screening anymore."
  
• Virginia Republican Senate candidate Jamie Radtke (and head of the Richmond Tea Party) told ABC’s Top Line that "instead of it being about the political part, it’s really about needing to get our arms around our health care, the mental health policy here."
  
• Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI) said, "What we have to do is intervene earlier in that cycle of violence when they have this kind of disability. . ."
  
• Newly-elected Representative Allen West (R-FL) said, "The shooter was a very disturbed individual and it appears there were so many warning signs that he was going to do something horrible.  We should be focusing on the mental health crisis in our country, not politics."

Well, I have a simple piece of advice: if we want to stop tragedies like this from happening again, we should not repeal health care reform. Two years ago, national legislation passed that (finally) guaranteed that most individuals with insurance will have coverage for assessment and treatment of mental illness. The health care reform legislation builds on that non-discrimination parity legislation and assures that most Americans will have some form of health coverage that includes coverage of mental health conditions.

Earmarked funding for community mental health services will not solve the problem. We need to end fundamental discrimination against people with mental illnesses, and ensure that they have consistent access to the health care services that they need.