Since nearly no one is talking about it...

[Koronin]

Since the Olympics have been on, I haven't watched much regular news or really much of anything else at all. However I did watch Rachel Maddow's show tonight and she did a segment on the Wisconsin shootings. So there are some out there trying to cover it.

Would this latest one have been prevented by better mental health care, most likely no. However the VA Tech shooting most likely would have been, Gabriel Gifford's shooting most likely would have been. The Colorado one may or may not have been.

[Bethany1]

Mental illness of any kind has been dropped from health care completely. It can be hard to diagnose and once diagnosed if you don't have access or refuse to take the medication terrible things happen. It's something the medical community ignores and is disgraceful. It's a silent epidemic that is showing it's ugly head more and more. Something like heart disease is easily detected. Not so much with any form of mental illness and most of us with a mental illness are not going to take a gun and start shooting in a public place.

What makes it hard it that most of those drugs have terrible side effects and just numb you so you don't feel anything. I'd rather feel something than nothing as i've been on several of them. Most people with mental illness end up in jail, get medication and once out can't afford it or refuse meds and repeat that cycle over and over until they are dropped completely from the system.

I was also surprised and very saddened that this story was basically ignored. I'm so sick of hearing about the Olympics. My heart goes out to this group of people and hope they get the help they need.

The only thing that truly has me upset over our obnoxious new health care is that the Muslim community doesn't have to have insurance due to some stupid cop-out religious law. Something about that insurance is a form of gambling. What about car insurance or house insurance? If we all are required in the US to have it, everyone is in the system and there are no exceptions. Do Muslims in Europe have health insurance or are they exempt?

Gun control will always be a hot topic when some pathetic loser uses one and those countries that have strict control still have crime rates, just not with guns.

I refuse to let these people win and have me cower in fear wherever I go. If we start putting metal detectors and other stuff around "soft targets" we let them win.

[shootingstar]

The only thing that truly has me upset over our obnoxious new health care is that the Muslim community doesn't have to have insurance due to some stupid cop-out religious law. Something about that insurance is a form of gambling. What about car insurance or house insurance? If we all are required in the US to have it, everyone is in the system and there are no exceptions. Do Muslims in Europe have health insurance or are they exempt?



Maybe someone can elaborate on this. Is this more about buying health care insurance from private insurers?

In Canada, a Canadian Muslim gets public health care, like everyone else, regardless of income because they are taxpayers...like everyone else.

[Crankin]

Mental health care is not ignored everywhere, Bethany. Massachusetts has a mental health parity law, which means people need to be able to access mental health care the same way they access physical health care. I'm sorry you have had such a negative experience in accessing care; as a provider, it makes me angry that there's such a difference in other places.
People in European countries have health care as a right; it's mostly run by the government and everyone is covered. Whether certain groups access the system is most likely up to them. There are religious exemptions for lots of things in this country.

[OakLeaf]

the Muslim community doesn't have to have insurance

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/exemptions.asp

Maybe you noticed that some of the loudest protests about religious exemptions have come from Roman Catholic institutions (not Roman Catholic individuals).