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Fact Checker: Clinton questions Branstad on mental health cuts. Did she have the right facts?

Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA) - 7/28/2015

July 28--INTRODUCTION

"And I know there are challenges right here in Iowa because you've been talking to me about it. Just listen to this. Iowa has fewer than 750 beds for more than 128,000 people in your state with serious mental illnesses. Families worry about relatives who need help and can't get it. And the Iowans I've talked to don't understand why your governor would veto a bipartisan compromise without funding a viable alternative."

Source of claim: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaking at the Iowa Democratic Hall of Fame dinner July 17.

ANALYSIS

A representative from Clinton's campaign said the original source for her statement was an Iowa Watch article that ran in early July on the status of mental health institutes and services in the state. The article states that Iowa has 726 acute care beds for 128,309 people with serious mental illnesses.

However, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 4.1 percent of Iowans, or about 123,000 people, have a serious mental illness.

The Iowa Department of Human Services also confirmed there are 726 acute care beds for people with serious mental illnesses.

Clinton's remarks take aim at Republican Gov. Terry Branstad's recent veto of a bill that would have kept two of the state's four mental health facilities open for now.

Closing mental health institutions at Mount Pleasant and Clarinda has been on Branstad's agenda since early this year, when he eliminated funding in his two-year budget proposal for the institutions, calling the system antiquated. He said a redesigned regional mental health system that delivers home and community-based services would save millions.

State lawmakers put together a compromise that would have kept open the institute at Mount Pleasant until at least next budget year and fund the Clarinda facility until December.

Branstad's veto eliminated 24 beds for those with serious mental illnesses, bringing the number down to 726 beds, with 600 of those outside of the realm of the state's mental health institutes.

Bob Krause, president of the Veterans' National Recovery Center for the Homeless and PTSD Dis-tressed said Iowa should have 1,500 beds to meet the demands of those with psychiatric needs.

"We're going the other way and shrinking and shrinking and shrinking," Krause said. Branstad's plan to redesign the state's mental health program would shift it from being delivered at a county level to a regional level, with 15 regions delivering services to those in need.

This would shift mental health care away from institutionalizing those with severe mental illnesses to a system where people could receive help in their communities.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Human Services, which oversees the state's mental health institutions, say the number of beds available isn't a good measure of the services provided because not everyone with a mental illness needs inpatient care.

"The vast majority of people who experience a serious mental illness will never require acute inpatient hospitalization," said Amy McCoy, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Human Services. "It is the severity of the symptoms that could lead to inpatient hospital treatment."

She said the Mount Pleasant and Clarinda institutions, while combined had 24 beds, used only an average of 15 throughout last year. The state still is in the process of transitioning to the regional model.

In the future, those with severe mental illnesses in need of inpatient care will be directed to one of the two remaining mental health facilities in Cherokee or Independence, or to one of the 600 psychiatric beds in hospitals across Iowa. However, the goal of the redesigned mental health system is to treat those with severe mental illnesses in their own community without institutionalizing them, according to the governor's office.

CONCLUSION

GRADE: A

While much of Clinton's claim is a matter of opinion, her assertion about the number of beds available and the number of people who live with serious mental illness in Iowa can be measured. Although she used qualifiers like "fewer than" and "more than," Clinton's claim on this point accurately reflects figures reported by the Iowa Watch article. A national organization with offices in Des Moines estimates the number of people living with serious mental illness in Iowa at a slightly lower level. However, it's not surprising that different groups would report somewhat different estimates of a population that's difficult to measure.

The Fact Checker team checks statements made by Iowa political candidates/office holders and by national candidates/office holders about Iowa. Claims must be independently verifiable. We give statements grades from A to F based on accuracy and context. If you spot a claim you think needs fact checking, email us at [email protected].

--This Fact Checker was researched and reported by Jessie Hellmann (319) 368-8983 or [email protected].

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