[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16278]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        OUR MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM

  (Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, our mental health system is 
abusive and neglectful to those with a serious mental illness. Worse 
yet, these policies disproportionately impact minorities and the poor. 
African Americans are 50 percent less likely to receive psychiatric 
treatment. Outpatient mental health spending for African Americans is 
40 percent lower.
  While there is an overall shortage of mental health professionals, 
only 3 percent of psychiatrists and 2 percent of psychologists are 
African American. The rate is similar for Latino mental health 
professionals and worse for Native Americans.
  If you are a minority or low income and have a serious mental 
illness, you are more likely to end up in prison, where 80 percent of 
inmates don't receive any treatment.
  If you are low income, Medicaid makes it harder for you to access 
inpatient mental health treatment, won't let you see two doctors on the 
same day, and says, you can't take the medications your doctor 
prescribed.
  Stop this discrimination. I ask Members to cosponsor and pass the 
Helping Families of Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646. People with 
serious mental illness can and do get better with help, but where there 
is no help, there is no hope.

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