The country"s inadequate mental health system gets the most attention after instances of mass violence that the nation has seen repeatedly over the past few months. Not all who
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these sorts of cruelties are mentally ill, but
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have been. After each, the national discussion quickly, but temporarily, turns toward the mental health services that may have
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to prevent another attack.
Mental illness usually is not as dangerous or dramatic.
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23 million Americans live with mental disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Very few of these men and women are
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mass-murderers; they need help for their own well-being and for that of their
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. The Affordable Care Act has significantly increased insurance coverage
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mental health care. But that may not be enough to expand 8 to insufficient mental-health-care resources.
Rep. Tim Murphy has a bill that would do so. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act is more
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than other recent efforts to reform the system and perhaps has the brightest prospects in a divided Congress. The
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would reorganize the billions the federal government pours into mental health services. It would
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the way Medicaid pays for certain mental health treatments. It would fund mental health clinics that
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certain medical standards. And it would
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states to adopt policies that allow judges to order some severely mentally ill people to undergo treatment.
Not everyone is satisfied. Some patients" advocates have
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Mr. Murphy"s approach as coercive and
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to those who need help. The government should not be expanding the system"s capability to hospitalize or impose treatment on those
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severe episodes, they say. It should instead be investing in community care that
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the need for more serious treatment.
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, for a small class who will not accept treatment between hospital visits or repeat arrests, they say, states have good reason to
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them to accept care, under judicial supervision. Mr. Murphy"s reform package may not prevent the next Sandy Hook.
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the changes would help relieve a lot of suffering that does not make the front page.