[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2663]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            THE HELPING FAMILIES IN MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS ACT

  (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, this morning, Connecticut 
Senator Chris Murphy and I outlined a vision for real bipartisan mental 
health reform. Our legislation will have some differences but also many 
similarities.
  Both will fix the shortage of psychiatric beds; get more mental 
health workers, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and social 
workers to help; integrate physical and mental health care; fix the 
rule which says severely mentally ill patients on Medicaid can't see 
two doctors on the same day; and better coordinate the staggering 112 
Federal agencies that deal with severe mental illness.
  My bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, will also 
allow treatment before tragedy. During the trial of the former marine 
who killed Iraq war veteran Chris Kyle, the mother of the defendant 
begged VA doctors to keep her son in psychiatric treatment just days 
before he shot and killed the decorated sharpshooter.
  The reality is the system doesn't respond until after a crisis has 
occurred, because the only way to get treatment is if the individual is 
imminently homicidal or suicidal.
  We have to fix those problems. We must correct HIPAA so families can 
help their loved ones get well. We must act now before another 40,000 
die by suicide, before thousands more end up in jail, homeless, or 
victims of crime, and before more families suffer.
  I invite Democrats and Republicans to join me as I reintroduce the 
Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.

                          ____________________