2007 Candidate Survey

1.  Do you have any experience, either personally (as a family member, friend, etc.) or professionally with people with mental illness?  If so, how has that experience affected your views on policies relating to mental health?
 

2.  Members of Congress and all Federal employees enjoy mental health insurance parity--health insurance coverage that ensures that mental health and substance abuse benefits are on par with coverage for other medical care.   MHANJ led the effort to pass parity legislation in 1999, but since then has worked with a statewide coalition of advocates working to improve that law. 

Senator Vitale’s (D-17) bill, S807, passed the Senate in December. Its companion in the Assembly, A2512, sponsored by Assemblyman Gordon (D-25) needs only a full vote in that house and the Governor’s signature to become law. 

S807 and A2512 improve New Jersey’s current law by ensuring that employer-sponsored health insurance plans reimburse beneficiaries for all mental health illnesses documented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), for substance abuse treatment and services, and for services received by children with serious emotional disturbances whose doctors have not yet diagnosed a biological component.

Will you support A2512 when it comes to the floor?      
 

3.  If elected, will you support legislation to remove language in our state constitution referring to people with mental illness as “idiots or insane”?  Will you likewise support efforts to register, educate, and get out to vote people living with mental illness by requiring the state Division of Elections to send Voter Opportunity information to all treatment settings?   Will you require education of all citizens working at county polling places about the rights to vote of people with mental illness?  

 4.  Some mental health advocates believe that New Jersey should pass an Involuntary Outpatient Commitment law, which would allow judges to order into community treatment people with mental illness who meet a very broad standard of dangerousness to themselves or others.  MHANJ opposes this policy and has been working to block the passage of such a law in the state.  To date, the Senate version of the bill, S1093, has passed in the Senate, and the Assembly version, A2304, has been introduced in the Assembly and referred to the Assembly Human Services Committee.  Will you oppose A2304?

5.  What initiatives will you propose and promote to support efforts to improve access to, and funding for, community-based services for people living with mental illness? 

6.  Will you support efforts to include new funding in the budget of the Division of Mental Health Services (DMHS) to improve our state and county psychiatric hospitals by addressing overcrowding, lack of quality treatment and increases in violence occurring in those hospitals?

 7.  Each year since 2001, the Governor proposes a budget for the upcoming year that has historically included co-payments for Medicaid beneficiaries.  Fortunately, each year advocates have been successful in removing this from the final budget passed in June.  With such a difficult budget anticipated for FY ’08-’09, will you support efforts to find alternative ways to balance the budget than to impose co-pays on the state’s most vulnerable citizens?

 8.  What steps will you take to increase employment opportunities for people with mental illness and promote awareness among potential employers of the abilities these individuals possess?

9.  What commitment do you plan to make to children with mental illness, specifically with regard to programs and funding to help all children get screening and coordinated treatment for mental and emotional disturbances?

10.  What changes would you make to improve access to, and funding for, treatment for persons with co-occurring mental illness and addictions, including alcohol, illegal drugs and tobacco?

 11.  Increasing numbers of persons living with mental illness are ending up in jails and prisons, after having been arrested for “nuisance crimes.”  Once incarcerated, they often go without adequate mental health services, and upon release receive very poor follow-up treatment and services.  Would you help us add diversionary programs to our system, which would direct persons living with mental illness into supervised community services rather than into incarceration?  For those who do end up in jail or prison, how will you increase state funding for mental health services and discharge planning?

 12.  How will your administration support efforts to provide culturally competent services to minority populations in NJ?

 13.  What commitment will you make to support efforts to improve access to treatment for mental health consumers in rural areas of NJ?