Mid-Week Minute Announces Blog

Hello and welcome to the new members of our "blogging" community. We have been testing out our blog for a while now and decided to officially announced it in our Mid-Week Minute released today.

Participants in the NAMI Oklahoma "blogging" community are encouraged to practice the “Golden Rule”. Our community is not designed to be a forum for criticism, negativity, or malice. Rather, it is a forum for helping identify opportunities for improving the quality of life for individuals, families and friends that experience mental illness. NAMI Oklahoma reserves the right to monitor blog entries and to disallow any posts that violate the spirit of our community.

I hope you enjoy our post and I look forward to your comments.

Oklahoman Editorial and Mandates

In today's issue of the Daily Oklahoman , the editorial board published an opinion related to health insurance premiums and the impact of mandates on the cost of coverage. In the late '90's, our state passed a very important mandate: parity coverage for mental illness. The bill that authorized the coverage (SB 2) is far from perfect; it exempts too many businesses from offering parity and does not include treatment for addiction. However, for many in our state, this mandated coverage has made a tremendous impact through early identification and treatment of mental illness, continued employment for those experiencing psychiatric illness, and preserved family relationships.

I predict that mandates will receive great attention from legislators in 2007. Without question, Oklahomans need health insurance to be affordable and accessible and it is only fair that the reasons for premium increases be investigated thoroughly. However, as part of that evaluation, we must remind policy makers that for people experiencing mental illness, anything short of parity is discriminatory and wrong.

Commissioner Cline and SAMHSA

President Bush has tabbed ODMHSAS Commissioner Terry Cline to serve as the administrator of SAMHSA. This is a well-deserved appointment for Dr. Cline. In my opinion, he will be missed by Oklahomans as he has been a real champion of persons experiencing mental illness. He has also been a good friend to NAMI. I am interested in hearing how others feel about the job he has done as our commissioner. Take a moment or two and drop us a line with your comments.

Go to the Polls on Tuesday, November 7!

Voters in Oklahoma have an important task ahead of them on Tuesday, November 7th. On this date, voters in our state (as well as other states across our country) will select our state and Congressional representatives. Each of us have opinions on who will best represent the interests of persons experiencing mental illness and there is likely a lot of disagreement among NAMI Oklahoma members on who is best for the job. That said, regardless who you vote for, the important thing is to vote! If you are unsure of your eligibility or don't know where your precinct is located, please contact your county election board (http://www.ok.gov/~elections/ceb_phys.pdf). A list of all candidates in Oklahoma standing in the general election is available at http://www.ok.gov/~elections/06genlst.pdf.

Have a great Tuesday and DON"T FORGET TO VOTE!!!

Do You Get the Mid-Week Minute?

Interested in what's happening in the NAMI Oklahoma family? We publish a weekly e-newsletter called the Mid-Week Minute. Free to any who want to receive the publication, you can be added to our distribution list by emailing us at nami-ok@swbell.net. The NAMI Oklahoma family needs YOU to be involved to carry out our mission. There is no better way to stay on top of what's going on by subscribing to Mid-Week Minute!