Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - July 23, 2008)
By Mr. DURBIN:
S. 3311. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to improve mental and behavioral health services on college campuses; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. DURBIN: Mr. President, this February, on Valentine's Day, a young man walked into a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University and opened fire. Five students were killed and 17 were wounded before the shooter took his own life. Northern Illinois University was not the first college to experience this kind of tragedy. We all remember the horrific events at Virginia Tech only months earlier--where 32 lives were taken by a gunman. The magnitude of heartbreak for friends and families and communities of those killed is hard to imagine. So, too, is the continuing trauma experienced by those who survived. These tragedies opened our eyes to a reality that needs attention.
Since February I have learned just how thin colleges and universities are stretched when it comes to providing counseling and other support services to students, and I think we need to help them. So today I am introducing the Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act, which would establish grant programs to help schools meet the rising need for mental health services on campus.
The ratio of counselors to students on campus is widening. Currently there is only one counselor for every 2,000 students on our college campuses. At some colleges, the situation is even more dismal. Studies show that 10 percent of college students have contemplated suicide. Mr. President, 45 percent have felt so depressed that it was difficult to function. Colleges are also encountering students who 10 or 20 years ago would not have been able to attend school due to mental illness, but who can today because of advances in treatment of mental illness.
Taking care of mental health needs on our college campuses is somewhat unique. Many mental illnesses start to manifest in this period when young people leave the security of home and regular medical care. The responsibility for the students' well-being often shifts from parents to students, who aren't always completely prepared. The colleges try to fill in the gaps, but with so few services and counselors, we are beginning to recognize how many needs are overlooked. This is a very real problem, even for schools that have made mental health services a dedicated priority.
Take Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. SIUC has eight full-time counselors for 21,000 students. That is one counselor for every 2,500 students. And there is another problem. Like many rural communities, Carbondale only has one community mental health agency. That agency is overwhelmed by the mental health needs of the community and refuses to serve students from SIU. The campus counseling center is the only mental health option for students. The eight hard-working counselors at SIUC do their best under impossible conditions. They triage students who come in seeking help so that the ones who might be a threat to themselves or others are seen first. The waitlist of students seeking services has reached 45 students.
With so many students looking for help and so few counselors to see them, the counseling center has to cut back on outreach. Without outreach, the chances diminish of finding students who need help but don't ask for it. This is a serious problem. We know that the shooter at Virginia Tech exhibited many warning signs of a tortured mental state. But faculty and students did not know how or where to express their concerns. Outreach efforts by campus counseling centers can help educate the community about warning signs to look for as well as how to intervene. Of the students who committed suicide across the country in 2007, only 22 percent had received counseling on campus. That means that of the 1,000 college students who took their own lives, 800 may never have looked for help. How many of those young lives could have been saved if our college counseling centers had the resources they needed to identify those students and help them? Our students deserve better.
The Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act would create a grant program to provide funding for colleges and universities to improve their mental health services. Colleges could use the funding to hire personnel, increase outreach, and educate the campus community about mental health. The bill also would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a public, nation-wide campaign to education campus communities about mental health.
Reflecting on the loss of his own son, the well known minister Rev. William Sloan Coffin once said, ``When parents die, they take with them a portion of the past. But when children die, they take away the future as well.'' I hope the bill I am introducing today will help prevent the unnecessary loss of more young lives and bright futures.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
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By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. BINGAMAN, and Mr. FEINGOLD):
S. 3312. A bill amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that victims of public health emergencies have meaningful and immediate access to medically necessary health care services; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. DURBIN. Today I am introducing the Public Health Emergency Response Act. This bill authorizes a temporary health benefit during a public emergency for people in that area who don't have health insurance. The program makes it more likely that people who need healthcare services will get them and ensures that the doctors and nurses who treat them will be compensated.
Since 2000, the Secretary of Health and Human Services has had the authority to declare public health emergencies so that government can provide resources quickly to communities in need. That authority has been exercised very rarely--for 9-11; Hurricanes Wilma, Katrina, and Rita; and the recent flooding in the Midwest. These public health emergencies--both man-made and natural disasters--ruined neighborhoods, divided families, and weakened many spirits. But for every tragic emergency witnessed, we saw acts of remarkable selflessness and kindness.
One of the greatest examples of this generosity is in the efforts of local health care providers to meet the increased need for services. Whether it was the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast, the debris in downtown New York, or the waters in the Midwest, the need for medical services was immediate and in some cases dramatic. The demand for mental health services also rose in response to the psychological stress and trauma caused by the destruction of homes, the loss of jobs, the separation of families, and the death and devastation surrounding those in the areas hit by these tragic events.
Despite the trauma of a disaster or the pain from an injury incurred during a disaster, people who don't seek care not only leave themselves vulnerable to worsening health conditions, but they exacerbate the situation on the ground. For those uninsured people who do access medical care, the providers--typically those in areas immediately surrounding the disaster area--are often left without any compensation.
During Hurricane Katrina, the Harris County hospital district in Houston assumed responsibility for the health care of 23,000 evacuees living in the Reliant Astrodome. In Baton Rouge, hospitals struggled to meet the health care needs of a population that doubled in size after absorbing half a million evacuees. Health facilities and other public infrastructure were stretched beyond their capacity as they faced the multiple challenges of addressing the public health needs in the counties or parishes directly affected; delivering needed health care to the displaced; and ensuring the continued delivery of health care services to residents of the other areas.
Victims of public health emergencies should know that the government will assist them in their time of need. This is why I am introducing the Public Health Emergency Response Act.
The Public Health Emergency Response Act would make it easier for uninsured victims to seek treatment and would provide coverage to the health care professionals who are treating them. The bill would establish a temporary emergency health benefit for people who are uninsured. The benefit could be triggered only when the Secretary of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency and chose to activate the benefit. The benefit would last for up to 90 days, and the Secretary could extend it once for another 90 days. Rather than put additional stress on our public health programs like Medicare, Medicaid or SCHIP, the funding mechanism for the benefit is the Public Health Emergency Fund, a no-year fund established in 1983. Funds for emergency victims' health coverage would be determined by Congressional appropriations. The bill will help save lives and ensure a functioning health care system for whatever lies ahead.
Most recently, we saw the entire Midwest reeling from weeks of flooding and tornadoes--from Minnesota to Kansas and everywhere in between--Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and, of course, Illinois. The damage has been heartbreaking. We know from the great flood that devastated the Midwest in 1993 and from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that the losses from this chain of weather-related disasters will be more than our states and citizens alone can bare. We also know that, in times of crisis, Americans have always come together to help those in need.
The Public Health Emergency Response Act carries on this tradition. The bill allows Federal government to prepare for the next emergency. We do not know what the next public health emergency will look like. It may be a bioterrorist attack, a hurricane, or pandemic flu. We should act now to create the framework for emergency health coverage and reimbursement.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill and a letter of support be printed in the RECORD.
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