TennCare is drastically restructured with reduced benefits. Almost 21,000 people with serious and persistent mental illness are losing TennCare coverage. The Safety Net for those who have lost TennCare has been set up very quickly and does not yet function smoothly. Some enrollees lost coverage in August before the Safety Net was in place. NAMI staff and affiliate leaders have been holding forums across the state to help you understand what is happening with TennCare, the Safety Net and Medicare. The system is still changing, and some services are not yet available. Meanwhile, consumers suffer and so do those who love them.
These are grim realities, yet I want to give credit to the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, to the community mental health agencies, other mental health organizations, and to pharmacies and medical practitioners across the state who are working long hours to ensure that consumers get the treatment they need to remain stable. I want to give credit to our state legislators who allocated nearly half of all Safety Net dollars to provide services and medications to individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. I want to give credit to pharmaceutical companies that are providing drug samples to help consumers until they can get on pharmaceutical assistance programs. I want to give credit to journalists across the state cover this story almost daily. Most of all, I want to give credit to you, NAMI members, who joined advocates across the state in planning councils and town hall meetings, and who contacted your elected officials and the media. You make a difference.
When I first came to Tennessee in 1989 the Department of Mental Health planned a public mental health system for 38,000 people with serious and persistent mental illness. We now know that more than twice that number of people, nearly 86,000, have SPMI in Tennessee. While it is good that we know where more people with mental illness live and what they need, NAMI's job is bigger than ever. We must continue to push until Tennessee funds proven treatments that can support every citizen who needs help living with mental illness.
That is our goal and our ongoing hope as we plan for advocacy during Tennessee's 2006 Legislative session. Our agenda is taking shape now, so call us. Let us here from you about services you need but cannot get, about ideas that work in your community, about the support you need from your local NAMI affiliate and from your state staff.
Someone I love has a mental illness. Someone you love does, too. That's why we do this good work together, especially now when times are hard.
