Mental Health Blogs

Hi readers. I’m reposting this–something I’ve never done before–because this post originally went up during the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s and, given its assertions, it’s worth posting again since few people saw it last week. Or at least that’s the opinion of some journalist friends of mine who’ve read the piece. Oddly enough, Sen. Stabenow’s office has still not answered question I put to them about this situation almost two weeks ago.

There’s been a lot of coverage of amendments to the recently-passed Senate health care reform bill over the last 10 days, especially the Medicare giveaways for the State of Nebraska reportedly employed to capture the support of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) as well as giveaways to other Democratic senators. But one provision of the amendments, which were introduced on December 19, has escaped notice of the mainstream media and the political blogosphere alike. That would be $1.25 billion included in the amendments, apparently to secure the vote of Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow. Sen. Stabenow, a Democrat, was a passionate advocate for the so-called public option who voted to support a bill without a public option in exchange for inclusion of $1.25 billion in new federal spending to support “centers of excellence” in depression treatment. (A list of so-called cash for cloture is here.)

In October, Stabenow introduced the so-called ENHANCED Act of 2009 on the Senate floor. But the Act was not included in the original Senate health care reform bill. Instead, it showed up virtually unnoticed in the manager’s amendment (as the Senate amendments are known) on December 19. Was this inclusion in exchange for Sen. Stabenow’s vote? What would these depression centers do (the relevant text begins on page 277)? Are they really needed? Depression is, after all, a well-researched and understood phenomenon and has been for decades and billions of dollars federal, state and pharma have been focused upon it. Why does the Senator believe that depression and bipolar disorder exist at twice the rate as does NIH? Is she engaging in scare tactics? How would these centers improve access to health insurance coverage for uninsured Americans, which is what I thought health care reform was supposed to be about?

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1. Senate Health Care Bill Contains $1.25 Billion Gift To Sen. Stabenow
2. CBO Report Says Senate Health Care Bill Will Raise Premiums
3. Well, There’s One Good Thing In The Senate Health Care Reform Bill
4. Senate Health Care Reform Bill Contains Controversial MOTHERS Act, Abortion Study
5. The Nanny State Gets Into Senate Health Reform Bill