Shrinking OC's Mental Health

Early in May, I asked the Executive Director for the OC Psychiatric Society about how parity was working out.

Buried in the TARP bill was a windfall provision that prevented Insurance companies from limiting mental health benefits.

Nevertheless, in that grand contrarian tradition that so characterizes any move the OC Board makes to afflict the poor - we've headed the opposite way.

We have now so constricted County funded emergency services to the mentally-ill that counselors are telling us that hospitalization within the last six months is now a prerequisite for obtaining OC services.

I recently concluded Open Government Record Act requests which proved that the County of OC does nothing except take credit for unavoidably spending federal money on the homeless.

I also recently received another records request response from the County Mental Health people indicating that "homelessness" was enough to qualify children, and likely others, for services funded by Prop.63, California's Homeless Child Millionaire Tax. Again, like Fedfunds, State money we know how to spend, and for which the Board will likely take credit.

Limiting County mental health services to those with a recent (less than 6 months) history of inpatient hospitalization limits its scope to largely incurable cases. Although fine as a guarantee of wages for County employees, this effectively limits CMH treatment to the un-treatable.

Moreover, such a change in focus should obviously indicate a massive re-arrangement of employees - basically eliminating anyone not involved in the delivery of psych meds or inpatient therapy. At last, we can begin to fire all the unlicensed County social workers over at Mental Health, and resolve some of the revenge issues that impair the forward socialization of the County's homeless.

I therefore asked Holly Applebaum for the names of OC Psychiatric Society members who serve the County in an advisory capacity, to determine their current opinion, as well as their opinion of record, regarding this matter.

I'd like them to consider the DSM V diagnosis for extreme selfishness. Perhaps a high level intervention upon the members of OC Board of Supervisors could restore our mendacious, money-grubbing government to some semblance of health.

After a month, however, I fear that the OCPS members are shrinking from a public dialog.

They're in the right County.