Monday, July 20, 2009

Bazelon Center Releases Report on Olmstead Challenges Ahead

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has just released "Still waiting...The Unfulfilled Promise of Olmstead: A call to action." The publication commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court's historic decision establishing the right to services in the most integrated setting.

Main points of the report include:
  • States must determine how many people with disabilities are served in unnecessarily segregated settings and what community-based services are necessary to support reintegration and recovery. They then must shift funding from institutions to community-based services.

  • Implementing Olmstead programs through health care reform would save billions of taxpayer dollars by making essential community services available to people with mental illnesses.

  • Often pressured by profit-making providers, states continue to waste valuable resources by placing people with mental illnesses in costly, ineffective institutional settings. The cost of a supportive apartment is one eighth that of state hospital care, just over a third of the cost in a board-and-care facility.

  • It is critical to promote Supreme Court and other judicial nominees who have an understanding of and intention to uphold Olmstead, the ADA and other civil rights laws.

“On this pivotal anniversary of Olmstead, we must take a hard look at what really needs to be accomplished to adequately serve millions of people with mental illnesses so that they receive the most integrated care possible. We are encouraged by President Obama’s statement of commitment on Monday to Olmstead’s civil rights and community integration mandates, and we hope that the release of this report spurs additional action,” said Robert Bernstein, Ph. D, executive director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.

To download a copy of the report, please click here.

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