Quinn dismantling mental health safety net

Though the pressing recent issues of the goings on in Wisconsin and the attack on workers and the middle class, the silent war on states’ social safety nets, specifically in the state of Illinois, understandably takes a back seat.

However, the attack of those who are powerless will impact the safety of all Americans in addition to deteriorating the value of human life. It will turn this country closer toward the Third World.

Illinois is dismantling the security net of treatment for those suffering from mental illness and people caught in the trap of addiction to drugs and alcohol. Gov. Quinn is sacrificing the most vulnerable and scapegoated population by cutting funding for adequate mental health care and proposing to completely stop all prevention and care for the chemically dependent. This includes services to adults and children who are not covered by private health insurance plans, but are not poor enough or simply do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.

The end result will be a drastic increase in the use of emergency rooms, nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals which will only increase the cost of health care that we will all pay by raising private insurance premiums and medical costs, not to mention the personal degradation to people who can be effectively treated with less costly and non-institutionalized care.

State mental institutions were defunded and closed with the promise of providing adequate funding for community care. Those trapped in the cycle of addiction and nonviolent criminal offenders charged with drug use or possession were released from jails and prisons and rehabilitated in group homes, which provided integration into society with supervision. With the governor completely closing all programs that treat alcohol and drug addiction, police departments will be burdened and jails will become even more overcrowded. Offenders will be released into the community with no treatment or monitoring. Our communities will become less safe. The overall cost to Illinois taxpayers will shoot up due to the impact of leaving the most vulnerable to wander the streets with no support, treatment or hope.

Luanne Pross

Elgin