“Fraud, Waste and Excess Profits: The Fate of Money Intended to Treat People with Serious Mental Illness,” a new report by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey and Mental Illness Policy Org, for which I serve as executive director, calculates $4-8 billion in mental health funds are lost annually to fraud waste and excess profits in managed care companies. According to lead author, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, that could provide
3 months of state hospitalization for 112,000 individuals
1 year of Assertive Community Treatment for 267,000 individuals
1 year of Assisted Outpatient Treatment for 800,000 individuals
1 year of a clubhouse rehabilitation program for 364,000 individuals
1 year of supported housing for 333,000 individuals
1 year of standard antipsychotic medication for 6.7 million individuals
1 year of clozapine treatment for 667,000 individuals
Well, I’m no longer fueling pharamaceutical companies, but there is a lot that has to happen in the mental health system. I expect a lot of this to be cleared up before the 22nd century. We’ve got a lot of life left to see and I’m glad these things are coming to the surface to be analyzed as opposed to hidden.
I might have liked to have had an opportunity to do community gardens or line-dancing. Oh, maybe not. I imagine if those were government programs I would likely not have liked them.
well there is an annual gross of close to 100 billion in sales yearly.
whats more insane is that clozapine or (insert drug of choice) costs in the realm of 700 a month , approx 5 billion dollars only covers barely 3/4s of a million worth of people for just 1 year. That is Highway Robbery!!!
It seems that clozapine has been on the market long enough to go generic. The patent should have run out, so other companies should have the right to produce and market it themselves. That should bring the price down.
