Seeking to put their stamp on the Congressional debate over how to deal with gun violence, a bipartisan group of senators will introduce a bill Thursday that would seek to strengthen the nation’s mental health services and perhaps stave off violent acts by the mentally ill.
The bill, which lawmakers will roll out with a Hollywood director, would require the roughly 2,000 health centers designated as Federally Qualified Community Behavioral Health Centers to cover a broad range of mental health services, including 24-hour crisis care. It would also integrate mental health services with physical services that are currently treated separately and increase support for families of people living with mental health issues, at a cost of $1.4 billion over 10 years.
The legislation would also expand access to the centers â€" many of which receive government financing and operate in poor, medically underserved areas â€" by modernizing current sites and opening new ones, subject to a Congressional approriation.
Mental health centers that provide the new services would be enabled to bill Medicaid, similar to the way Federally Qualified Health Centers do for treatment of physical health care.
David O. Russell, the Oscar-nominated director of “Silver Linings Playbook,†which features a character with bipolar disorder, will attend a news conference to introduce the bill on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Its sponsors include three Republican senators â€" Roy Blunt of Missouri, Susan Collins of Maine and Marco Rubio of Florida
- and four Democrats: Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Barbara Boxer of California and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont.
Mr. Leahy is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is pondering other gun violence bills, including a measure that would expand the background checks of gun owners, seeking in part of reduce gun access by the mentally ill. Republicans and Democrats alike have said that mental! health treatment needs to be a component of any large-scale effort to address gun violence.
The lawmakers note that roughly 25 percent of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer mental health problems; Community Mental Health Centers already serve more than eight million people and are expected to soon be serving 200,000 veterans.
In the House, Representative Marlin Stutzman, Republican of Indiana, has introduced legislation that would guarantee gun owners who legally carry a concealed weapon in their home state the right to carry their firearms in any other state that allows concealed carry.
