Stabenow urges mental services expansion as part of gun bill
By Christine Tierney
Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington — U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, proposed an amendment Tuesday to a gun-control bill in Congress to improve and expand access to mental health services.
There's been a call for a national conversation about guns since the mass shootings in a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, and a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., Stabenow said.
"We also need a conversation about the need for mental health services," she said.
Her bill, which has bipartisan backing, would expand mental health services offered by community mental health centers.
They would be required to provide 24-hour crisis care and integrate physical and mental health checkups. In turn, they'd be allowed to bill Medicaid.
Now serving 8 million Americans, the centers would help another 1.5 million, including 200,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130410/POLITICS03/304100365#ixzz2Q6fCpfn1
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