(Op-ed originally printed in the Kansas City Star June 2, 2009)
Privatization has become a dirty word. And for good reason. Imagine where we would be today if George W. Bush had gotten his way and gambled away our Social Security on the stock market.
So it is disheartening to read that Missouri is privatizing more mental health services at Western Missouri Mental Health Center by transferring them to the financially fragile Truman Medical Center system.Sounds like a bad bet for those needing care for severe mental illness.
For years Western Missouri Mental Health Center has provided high quality care to patients with crisis mental health problems. But now those services are in jeopardy at a time when they are needed most.
More than 87,000 Missourians have lost their jobs in the last year. For the affected families those job losses are accompanied by a spike in mental stress and anguish and an increased demand for public services.
The solution proposed by some is simply to offload care for distressed Missourians to the Truman Medical Centers system. But Truman’s own CEO, John Bluford, has acknowledged that Truman might not be able to maintain its current level of services over the next three years.
According to a recent Kansas City Star article, “Bluford is anticipating that the Truman system will break even this year. But unless the economy improves or health care reform starts covering the uninsured, his hospitals may soon face red ink.”
It was important to stop former President Bush from privatizing Social Security.
We didn’t want to see our retirement security gambled away on the stock market.
Why would we ever gamble the health and safety of distressed Missourians in the same manner?
Every Kansas City area resident should be able to count on mental health services in good times and bad. We cannot do that if delivery of these services is contingent on how they affect a corporation’s bottom line. That will not guarantee them in tough times.
The state of Missouri should step up and continue to fully fund Western Missouri Mental Health Center. Now is not the time to gamble away the badly needed services it provides.
Don Zavodny is director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 72 Missouri/Kansas. The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees represents more than 6,000 public employees who provide mental health services across Missouri.
