Two years ago, due to his concern about the level of psychiatric drugging of foster children, United States Senator Thomas Carper of Delaware, chair of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the improper prescribing of psychiatric drugs to foster children whose health care is paid for through Medicaid.
On December 1, 2011, he held a hearing about their findings, titled: “The Financial And Societal Costs Of Medicating America’s Foster Children,” which documented out of control, incredibly harmful, psychiatric drugging of children in foster care. During that hearing, he was told there was nothing the federal government could do to correct the situation, other than offer “guidance” to the states.
This is not true.
As the US District Court said: Medicaid can only pay for drugs that are used for a “medically accepted indication,” meaning one that is either approved by the FDA or “supported by citations” in one of three drug compendia, including DRUGDEX. Stated another way, “off-label” outpatient drug coverage is limited to indications for which there is recognized scientific support.
If Medicaid would enforce the statutory coverage restriction of outpatient drugs to those that are for a “medically accepted indication,” the vast majority of the problems associated with the administration of psychotropic drugs to children and youth in foster care, and other children and youth on Medicaid, would be eliminated.
Because Senator Mark Begich is on the Subcommittee, Jim Gottstein of the
Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights®) prepared a Briefing Paper for him, titled, “A Proposed Solution: Enforcement of Medicaid’s Restriction of Covered Outpatient Drugs to Medically Accepted Indications,” This Briefing Paper is available on PsychRights’ website, PsychRights.Org.
If you are interested in helping stop the horrific psychiatric drugging of foster children and other children on Medicaid, let Senator Begich know it is important to you. You can call his Washington, DC office toll free from Alaska at (877) 501 – 6275, or send an e-mail via
http://begich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/emailsenator. His fax number is (202) 224 – 2354.
In addition please also call Senator Tom Carper (DL) who is Chair of the committee investigating this horrific scandal that is hurting and killing our most vulnerable children in state foster care programs.
Download PsychRights’:
“The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights is a public interest law firm devoted to the defense of people facing the horrors of forced psychiatric drugging and electroshock. We are further dedicated to exposing the truth about these drugs and the courts being misled into ordering people to be drugged and subjected to other brain and body damaging interventions against their will. Currently, due to massive growth in psychiatric drugging of children and youth and the current targeting of them for even more psychiatric drugging, PsychRights has made attacking this problem a priority. Children are virtually always forced to take these drugs because it is the adults in their lives who are making the decision. This is an unfolding national tragedy of immense proportions. Extensive information about all of this is available on our web site, http://psychrights.org/. Please donate generously. Our work is fueled with your IRS 501(c) tax deductible donations. Thank you for your ongoing help and support.”
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