Mental Health Care for Military Faces Cuts
    By Joshua Norman
    The Sun Herald

    Sunday 01 April 2007

Tricare, Medicare slashing benefits.

    Affordable mental-health care took another blow last month, when Medicare and Tricare - one of the few health-care options for military veterans and their families - reduced the amount it will pay providers.

    Now, Medicare pays on the Coast approximately 48 percent of what psychiatrists and psychologists normally charge, and Tricare pays about 45 percent, according to some providers, and are the result of a general 9 percent cut in reimbursement.

    As a result, some psychiatrists and psychologists have been forced to drop all people paying for mental health care via Medicare and Tricare from their rolls altogether, because they just cannot afford to keep them on.

    This comes at a bad time, as a large number of returning veterans display a host of post-traumatic stress-related symptoms and average Coastians begin to show the painful long-term effects of traumatic stress from Hurricane Katrina.

    "I'm going to always take the position that the provision of adequate mental-health care is good for any community, any business," said Dr. Elizabeth Henderson, president of the Mississippi Psychiatric Association, adding many do not realize how much money good mental-health care saves in the long run. "It's well worth the expense, but it's also the first thing that gets cut."

    While representatives for Medicare and Tricare were unable to be reached in time for this report, Henderson and other providers said the reduction was simply an attempt to "balance the books" more or less with the two federally funded health-care systems.

    Dr. Michael Zakaras, a Gulfport psychologist, said the changes make it harder for the many military families that are straining right now under the weight of the ongoing wars.

    "This is appalling when our soldiers and their families are making such great sacrifices," said Zakaras, who has been practicing on the Coast for nearly 30 years and seen many military families. "We're screaming about Walter Reed and on the other hand we're slashing fees when it comes to mental-health services. Basically what it does is limit access to care and that's sad. I don't know if that's what's intended."

    Both Henderson and Zakaras said there is potential legislation in Congress to alleviate the problem, but it is not just federal mental-health care reimbursement that is at issue.

    "The rates of reimbursement not only with Tricare and Medicare but some major insurance carriers are not keeping up with costs of running a practice," Henderson said. "The amount they will pay for, say, a regular visit is way below what it costs to keep the lights on in the office. The system is in need of some help."