Mental Health advocates and families worried about the potential outcome of Kansas SB-123. The legislation, proposed by Mary Pilcher-Cook, was seen as a way for the state to save money on the cost of prescription drugs for patients who receive mental health care provided by KanCare, the state alternative program.
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The state’s mental health advocates oppose the bill, warning legislators that it would add administrative barriers to a treatment system that’s already challenging to navigate, send some high-risk patients into crises and shift a sizable portion of the system’s costs onto hospitals and jails.
The proposal was designed to save the state $8.3M per year by altering the drug regimes of patients receiving mental health care pharmacological treatment.
Parents and other advocates were had long conversations with case managers and advocates and decided to make our stories well known so that people would understand the very real face of the budget cuts.
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“What this all boils down to is money,” said David Wiebe, president of the Kansas Mental Health Coalition advocacy group and recently retired executive director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center.
“Our concern is, and always has been, that the best choice of drug therapy decisions are made between the prescriber and the consumer; not by someone who’s looking at a piece of paper somewhere saying, ‘No, you have to try this (drug) first because it’s cheaper,’” Wiebe said.
In quick order, many parents touched base with others and spread the word: call the capital, send email, make whatever effort possible to point out the potential real danger of this legislation.
Today, I'm happy to say that SB-123 is no more.
For those who argued on behalf of those who deal with issues of mental disability, this is a win they will be glad to take.