Walker's Mental Health Funding Scam!

Republicans rule by anecdotes and party purity.

Filled with hypocrisy and contradictions, that style of government is constantly running into the cold hard facts of life. Like mental health. Sure funding for mental health went up:

PolitiFact: Walker ... raised spending on mental health services by $29 million in his 2013-’15 state budget … the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau confirmed largest increase in at least 25 years.

But of course that's not the whole story. What about boosting Medicaid reimbursements to attract mental health providers, instead of providing some of the lowest rates in the nation?

Democratic state senator Jon Erpenbach pressed Scott Walker's top health official last week to support hiking Medicaid reimbursement rates for mental health providers in the state. Boosting Medicaid rates was identified by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin's Kids in Crisis series as a method to improve a statewide shortage of mental health providers.

Don't look at Me, I'm only the Secretary of Health Services: The video below is an example of Walker's placement of department heads who like collecting a government paycheck, but don't believe strong enough in their department to advocate for the needy. This what you call health care rationing, something Republicans keep warning us about but do automatically under the guise of "we have to balance what's important..." or "we have to take a long look at..." mumbo jumbo:

Sec. Seemeyer: "Folks have to balance, what's most important, but we've been trying to look at some of the mental health rates and see if there's something we can do about it."

Sen. Erpenbach: "I seem to remember in your opening remarks we have a surplus of how much?"

Sec. Seemeyer: "Which we returned to the general fund."

Sen. Erpnebach: "How much is the surplus?"

Sec. Seemeyer: "About $330 million, which we returned to the general fund."

Sen. Erpbenbach: "Would it have been wise to keep some of that money and increase reimbursement rates?"

Sec. Seemeyer: "I think where the money is spent resides right here in the governors office, so...."

Sen. Erpenbach: "Do you support increasing the reimbursement rates for mental health providers?"

Sec. Seemeyer: "I think we really need to look at it..."

A real advocate for the mentally ill. So we're balancing the general fund by taking $330 million away from mental health. Anyone else tired of the "we really need to look at it" BS (think highway funding).

Department of Health Services Secretary Linda Seemeyer repeatedly ducked requests to state a position on hiking Wisconsin's rates, which are among the lowest in the nation. Then she deferred rate hike decisions to state lawmakers. 

A hike in Medicaid reimbursement rates for mental health providers wasn't included in Walker's proposed state budget this year, and legislative leaders haven't been confident about boosting rates, citing competing budget priorities.

Rep. Mike Rohrkaste, R-Neenah, asked if the state could boost Medicaid reimbursement rates specifically for mental health services in schools or for children. Seemeyer said she wasn't sure and then said, “I think it probably would be” possible.

Forget guns, Walker says, blame murders on "crime," "domestic dispute, mental issues." He does know people can hear him, right?

Did Scott Walker NOT get the memo or read the paper when his party gave the mentally ill the right to own guns? It was a big story nationally:

The House of Representatives voted to overturn an Obama-era rule that banned Social Security beneficiaries from buying guns if their disability payments are handled by an outside party due to their “marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease.”

Can't Use Guns/Mental Illness Talking Point Anymore!!!! Walker's sociopathic nonchalance about gun carnage should be more disturbing to voters:

WPR: Gov. Scott Walker said guns were not the issue in this week's high-profile shootings ... Four people, including a police officer, were killed Wednesday just outside Wausau (in) a domestic incident. In Milwaukee, a city housing inspector died Wednesday afternoon, during what police say was an attempted carjacking.

"I think the problem in both those cases isn't about the firearm. It's ultimately about crime, or in the case of north central Wisconsin, it was a domestic dispute ... there's "obviously more work" to do if the Wausau-area shootings are linked to mental health issues.

I am seriously waiting for the day Walker and his fellow Republicans shift the blame to the real reason behind gun violence: guns!!! But what's behind the use of guns to solve problems? Well, mental illness is less of reason for the gun carnage than this; "intermittent explosive disorder." In other words, a lack of anger management:

The one relevant diagnosis is intermittent explosive disorder, a disorder of anger management. Violent crimes committed by people with severe mental illnesses get a lot of attention, but such attacks are relatively rare. 

Paolo del Vecchio of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has said, “Violence by those with mental illness is so small that even if you could somehow cure it all, 95 percent of violent crime would still exist” ... with significant encouragement from the gun lobby, the public has begun to seize on the wrong explanation for tragic, violent events. They focus not on the IED-diagnosed patients but on those with other diagnoses, schizophrenia in particular, ignoring the fact that what the perpetrators have in common in every single one of these cases is a loss of control of their anger. 

No effort is being made to address the much broader cultural problem of anger management. This broader problem encompasses not just mass murders but violence toward children and spouses, rape, road rage, assault, and violent robberies. We are a culture awash in anger. Uncontrolled anger has become our No. 1 mental health issue. We have sought scapegoats in minority cultures, racial groups, and now the mentally ill. 

But it all gets back to the freedom and liberty every American is craving for; the freedom to buy things...like guns.

Two Walker/GOP Myths Busted: Support for Returning Veterans and Support for Treating Mental Illness.

Let's destroy two intolerable Republican myths in one fell swoop.

Myth #1: Republicans support returning veterans. Goes without saying, they've got their backs.

Myth #2: Republicans support treating mental illness, the biggest reason they say for gun violence in the country. Like Scott Walker recently said after the last mass shooting spree:

"It's unfortunate that all too often we've seen from people like Hillary Clinton a political reaction to something that's much more sophisticated and challenging than that. The common thread we see in many of these cases is a failure in the system to help someone who is suffering from mental illness."

Myth Busting: Republicans have refused to support a bill that supports veterans that treats mental illness...:

This is how disconnected "Stand with Walker" voters are from reality

WKOW: Democratic state legislators are looking for Republican support on a bill that would authorize the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) to provide health care aid to military veterans for mental illness or substance abuse counseling.

Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach is amazed he can't muster interest from our flag waving veteran supporting Republicans:

"I don't know why the Republicans wouldn't support this," said Sen. Erpenbach. "I don't know why the (Senate) majority leader wouldn't schedule this as soon as we possibly could after it had a hearing and was voted out of committee."

The money is there as a stop gap for veterans until the VA processing is complete:

The idea is to give those who need mental health services a voucher so they can go get em, until the VA finds some time to schedule them on their own" ... according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office released October 29, veterans are still waiting an average of 26 days to get an appointment for treatment or counseling through the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs.

While Republicans try to humiliate food stamp recipients with photo IDs and cut the jobless off of their unemployment benefits (big business doesn't like paying into the fund), it appears veterans just aren't a priority...this session:

Due to its recent introduction it won't be possible to get it passed during the fall session.
"We dealt with this on the (Joint) Finance Committee back in April where the Republicans said - 'for the most part it looks like a good idea, but we need more time to review.' Well, here we are, the beginning of November," said Sen. Erpenbach.

Here's WKOW's Greg Neumann:



Oh, and how can Republicans explain away this jaw dropping list of non-support: