Spread our resources thin and we ll accomplish nothing. Stay focused and we can help our patients and ourselves. Managed care has cut expenditures on psychiatric services by more than half. Public sector and VA services laboriously built over decades are being allowed to crumble. Children s services in many states are at crisis stage.
Legislation can stop some of managed care s most outrageous practices.
Public education and alliance building must continue. Our successes in this area have led to the passage of parity laws in many states. But we need real parity not rendered meaningless by discriminatory review and we need it on the national level. We must persuade employers who purchase most health insurance of the critical importance of providing coverage for psychiatric illness, including substance abuse. APA must continue to assist district branches in this struggle, with resources and successful lobbying strategies.