| Topic: |
Sociology > Depression |
| User: |
"slunky" |
| Date: |
14 Nov 2007 10:59:16 PM |
| Object: |
This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/clermont/orl-howard1307nov13,0,357872.story?page=1&coll=orl-home-promo
MASCOTTE - Keith Howard listened to the voices in his head and killed
his mother two years ago last week -- bludgeoning her with a flower vase
in the front yard of their home.
The Mascotte man's aunt and friends say Carolyn Howard, 60, might be
alive today if her son weren't cut off from the antipsychotic medicine
that quieted the nagging voices.
"I can't help but feel that way," said Keith Howard's aunt, Linda Owens,
60, of Groveland. "He loved his mother."
But Howard said the voices convinced him that his mother was involved
with Gainesville serial killer Danny Rolling, that she had conspired
with Lee Harvey Oswald to kill President Kennedy, and that she had to be
stopped, court records show.
Howard, 42, whose mental-health struggle began during college two
decades ago, was among 16,000 Medicaid recipients in Florida who
abruptly lost access to their antipsychotic medicine, Zyprexa, in 2005
in a public dispute between the drug maker and the state agency in
charge of carrying out cost-cutting Medicaid reforms.
Case is cautionary tale
Today, mental-health experts point to Howard's case as a cautionary tale
for the state, which increasingly uses HMOs and other for-profit,
managed-care groups to rein in rising medical costs. Critics fear those
groups will restrict access to prescription medicines, particularly
antipsychotics.
"We know it can happen -- and probably will happen," said Michael Mathes
of Orlando, who serves on the Florida advisory board for the National
Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI is the national's largest grass-roots
advocacy group for the mentally ill.
"It's not just being cut off from medicine that's the problem," Mathes
said. "Their illnesses affect their brains. Once they're cut off, many
then have limited ability to jump through the hoops necessary to get
help."
Questioned about the concerns of mental-health experts, a spokesman for
the Agency for Health Care Administration, which supervises the state's
Medicaid program, did not directly address the fears.
"The Agency for Health Care Administration's paramount priority is
ensuring the health and safety of the vulnerable population we serve,"
spokesman Fernando Senra said in an e-mail. Patients should work closely
with their doctors, he added.
'Manifestly dangerous'
Howard, who lived with his mother in Mascotte and washed dishes at the
Rainbow Restaurant on State Road 50, in July was found not guilty of
second-degree murder by reason of insanity. While his friends regarded
him as a quirky but harmless guy who rode his moped on busy highways and
talked to himself, Circuit Judge Mark Nacke declared Howard "manifestly
dangerous."
The judge cited Howard's mental illness, a paranoid type of
schizophrenia, which required him to be temporarily hospitalized twice
in the two months before the killing.
With prosecutors concurring, forensic psychiatrist Dev Chacko of Orlando
provided the judge with key testimony, saying Howard was unable to
"differentiate between fact and fiction."
"Medical records from Lifestream Behavioral Center very clearly document
that it was Medicaid denying Zyprexa and messing up his medications
which resulted in the deterioration of his mental condition beginning in
September 2005 and ultimately ending up with him murdering his mother on
Nov. 8, 2005," Chacko wrote in his report.
Never hurt anyone before
Howard had never been violent with anyone but himself, attempting to
hang himself in his mother's garage and trying to crash his moped into a
car.
"I know Keith doesn't have a mean bone in his body," his aunt said.
Through his aunt, Howard declined to be interviewed.
Now a patient at the maximum-security North Florida Evaluation and
Treatment Center in Gainesville, Howard regularly calls his aunt and
Gene Jackson, 57, of Clermont, who used to give him a ride to church.
Jackson said his friend struggles with the loss of his mother's
companionship and with guilt.
"He knows he never would have done it if his mind-set hadn't been all
scrambled without his medicine," Jackson said. "But it's hard. It was
his mother."
In 2005, Florida legislators passed a law requiring doctors who treat
Medicaid patients to prescribe medicine on a formulary, a preferred list
of drugs whose makers gave the state discounts.
Documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel show that Howard was coping
with his illness with the help of Zyprexa until the medicine from Eli
Lilly & Co. was dropped from the list. He was prescribed substitutes,
but they didn't help, according to the reports of doctors who evaluated
Howard in the Lake County Jail.
"Because people with psychological disorders are so fragile and
vulnerable, you've got to be very careful changing drug regimens. It's
not easy to switch," said Bob Sharp, chief executive officer of the
Florida Council for Community Mental Health.
"They should have the drugs they need -- period," said Sharp, who served
four years as Florida's Medicaid director, retiring in 2004.
Sharp criticized recent medical-care reforms that stress "how much it
costs over what's needed," he said.
Illness affects families, too
Florida ranks 48th among the 50 states in per-capita spending on mental
health, said Michele Saunders of Orlando, executive director of Florida
Partners in Crisis, which has opposed restrictive drug formularies.
"You end up with tragedies like Keith Howard's," she said.
Saunders said most people struggling with a mental illness are not
dangerous but are more likely to land in emergency rooms, homeless
shelters and jails, victims of acts they commit in the throes of
disease.
She said frustrated families and friends also are forced to fend alone.
Howard's father and two siblings in Michigan did not respond to requests
for interviews.
His mother Carolyn, a Disney employee, shouldered her son's illness as
best she could, the aunt said.
"She wasn't afraid of Keith, but it was very, very difficult for her at
times," Linda Owens said. "She loved him and worried about him, more so
after he couldn't get his medicine anymore."
Court records show that Howard regained access to Zyprexa almost
immediately after his mother's death. It was prescribed for him at the
county jail.
--
-slunky
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| User: "used2be" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
15 Nov 2007 03:18:17 PM |
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"slunky" <slunky@globalzero.org> wrote in message
news:slrnfjnkg0.113k.slunky@evo.zero...
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/clermont/orl-howard1307nov13,0,357872.story?page=1&coll=orl-home-promo
MASCOTTE - Keith Howard listened to the voices in his head and killed
his mother two years ago last week -- bludgeoning her with a flower vase
in the front yard of their home.
The Mascotte man's aunt and friends say Carolyn Howard, 60, might be
alive today if her son weren't cut off from the antipsychotic medicine
that quieted the nagging voices.
<snip>
that *is* scary, slunk. i can't imagine cutting off a schizophrenic's
antipsychotic meds like that. what were they thinking? dropping zyprexa
from the formulary? WHY?!!
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| User: "slunky" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
15 Nov 2007 03:22:04 PM |
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_/ used2be <used2be@nowhere.com> wrote \_
<snip>
that *is* scary, slunk. i can't imagine cutting off a schizophrenic's
antipsychotic meds like that. what were they thinking? dropping zyprexa
from the formulary? WHY?!!
Well, there is the one thing that Zyprexa is a black box drug, but it
still doesn't make sense. I only have six days of pills left.
--
-slunky
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| User: "used2be" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
15 Nov 2007 03:40:50 PM |
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"slunky" <slunky@globalzero.org> wrote in message
news:slrnfjpe2f.122.slunky@evo.zero...
_/ used2be <used2be@nowhere.com> wrote \_
<snip>
that *is* scary, slunk. i can't imagine cutting off a schizophrenic's
antipsychotic meds like that. what were they thinking? dropping zyprexa
from the formulary? WHY?!!
Well, there is the one thing that Zyprexa is a black box drug, but it
still doesn't make sense. I only have six days of pills left.
and that what, slunk? no more zyprexa?
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| User: "slunky" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
15 Nov 2007 03:43:56 PM |
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_/ used2be <used2be@nowhere.com> wrote \_
and that what, slunk? no more zyprexa?
I don't take my Zyprexa anyways because I don't want it to kill me, but
I will run out of Geodon. I can't afford to fill a presciption without
insurance, and I haven't heard anything from back from the drug
assitance programs. So when there are gone, I'll be out until I get
insurance.
--
-slunky
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| User: "mighty mouse" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
16 Nov 2007 06:03:45 AM |
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slunky wrote:
_/ used2be <used2be@nowhere.com> wrote \_
and that what, slunk? no more zyprexa?
I don't take my Zyprexa anyways because I don't want it to kill me, but
I will run out of Geodon. I can't afford to fill a presciption without
insurance, and I haven't heard anything from back from the drug
assitance programs. So when there are gone, I'll be out until I get
insurance.
Do the people who make the decisions about reinstating your insurance /
medicaid know your diagnosis and what could happen if you stop your meds
suddenly?
Does your doctor have any samples that he could give you?
Not that you should have to buy it outright, but how much does a
prescription for your meds cost without insurance?
I'm sure you're doing all you can already Slunky, it just makes me mad
that you've been screwed over like this (again).
I love a good fight with bureaucracy and if I knew the US system well
enough (or at all) I'd love to start sending some nasty letters and
faxes on your behalf.
I hope this gets sorted out quickly....
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| User: "slunky" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
16 Nov 2007 09:54:38 AM |
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_/ mighty mouse <mousieNOSPAM9947@hotmail.com> wrote \_
Do the people who make the decisions about reinstating your insurance /
medicaid know your diagnosis and what could happen if you stop your meds
suddenly?
Yes, they know, but they don't care.
Does your doctor have any samples that he could give you?
No. They don't have samples at this unit.
Not that you should have to buy it outright, but how much does a
prescription for your meds cost without insurance?
$800 for the one I need. I think about $400 for the mood stabilizer.
I'm sure you're doing all you can already Slunky, it just makes me mad
that you've been screwed over like this (again).
I really don't think they like me.
I love a good fight with bureaucracy and if I knew the US system well
enough (or at all) I'd love to start sending some nasty letters and
faxes on your behalf.
I hope this gets sorted out quickly....
Thanks.
--
-slunky
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| User: "chessucat" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
16 Nov 2007 10:20:01 AM |
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X-No-Archive: yes
On Nov 14, 11:59 pm, slunky <> wrote:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/clermont/orl-howard1307...
MASCOTTE - Keith Howard listened to the voices in his head and killed
his mother two years ago last week -- bludgeoning her with a flower vase
in the front yard of their home.
<snipped article>
I would be nice if he killed some gawddamn pigs, then fuckin' Baker
Actin'
Florida would take notice. Florida Republicans are a little dense to
cause
and effect, 'eh?! I think Jane live Florida, but I still don't like
that state.
<chessucat hisses and twitches>
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| User: "%" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
16 Nov 2007 10:23:27 AM |
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"chessucat" <chessucat@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:de9814d5-65c8-4f2b-a0e8-970d4bb1df38@b40g2000prf.googlegroups.com..
..
X-No-Archive: yes
On Nov 14, 11:59 pm, slunky <> wrote:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/clermont/orl-howard1307...
MASCOTTE - Keith Howard listened to the voices in his head and
killed
his mother two years ago last week -- bludgeoning her with a flower
vase
in the front yard of their home.
<snipped article>
I would be nice if he killed some gawddamn pigs, then fuckin' Baker
Actin'
Florida would take notice. Florida Republicans are a little dense to
cause
and effect, 'eh?! I think Jane live Florida, but I still don't like
that state.
<chessucat hisses and twitches>
< % frigs and rigs>
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
15 Nov 2007 12:09:13 AM |
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slunky <slunky@globalzero.org> wrote:
MASCOTTE - Keith Howard listened to the voices in his head and killed
his mother two years ago last week -- bludgeoning her with a flower vase
in the front yard of their home.
"We know it can happen -- and probably will happen," said Michael Mathes
of Orlando, who serves on the Florida advisory board for the National
Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI is the national's largest grass-roots
advocacy group for the mentally ill.
As I would be.
"It's not just being cut off from medicine that's the problem," Mathes
said. "Their illnesses affect their brains. Once they're cut off, many
then have limited ability to jump through the hoops necessary to get
help."
I do too, sometimes even with the Rx.
"The Agency for Health Care Administration's paramount priority is
ensuring the health and safety of the vulnerable population we serve,"
spokesman Fernando Senra said in an e-mail. Patients should work closely
with their doctors, he added.
Patients need to *have* doctors to do that I recall reading
one of the NAMI founders telling one of his patients "if this
Rx helps anyone you know, tell me so I can give you enought for
both of you" That's how to ensure health and safety IMO.
"They should have the drugs they need -- period," said Sharp, who served
four years as Florida's Medicaid director, retiring in 2004.
That's what Dr. Torrey said.
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| User: "%" |
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| Title: Re: This is why I'm scared about not getting my medicaid back |
15 Nov 2007 12:10:32 AM |
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"Contrarian" <adrba65@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:fhgnq9$475$3@chessie.cirr.com...
slunky <slunky@globalzero.org> wrote:
MASCOTTE - Keith Howard listened to the voices in his head and
killed
his mother two years ago last week -- bludgeoning her with a flower
vase
in the front yard of their home.
"We know it can happen -- and probably will happen," said Michael
Mathes
of Orlando, who serves on the Florida advisory board for the
National
Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI is the national's largest
grass-roots
advocacy group for the mentally ill.
As I would be.
"It's not just being cut off from medicine that's the problem,"
Mathes
said. "Their illnesses affect their brains. Once they're cut off,
many
then have limited ability to jump through the hoops necessary to get
help."
I do too, sometimes even with the Rx.
"The Agency for Health Care Administration's paramount priority is
ensuring the health and safety of the vulnerable population we
serve,"
spokesman Fernando Senra said in an e-mail. Patients should work
closely
with their doctors, he added.
Patients need to *have* doctors to do that I recall reading
one of the NAMI founders telling one of his patients "if this
Rx helps anyone you know, tell me so I can give you enought for
both of you" That's how to ensure health and safety IMO.
"They should have the drugs they need -- period," said Sharp, who
served
four years as Florida's Medicaid director, retiring in 2004.
That's what Dr. Torrey said.
hi
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