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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Gap Found in Rural TN Mental Health Services

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Monday, June 1, 2009   

Lyons, NE – Mental health issues like depression and stress are not just big-city problems. They affect rural Tennessee residents as well. But according to a report authored by Kim Preston with the Center for Rural Affairs, there are significant deficiencies across the board in the mental-health care system in rural America.

Among the barriers are few providers in rural areas, Preston says, which means rural Tennesseeans who have made the hard decision to seek help usually go to their closest option first - where they may be unable to get an appointment when they need it.

"It's already hard enough to walk in the door and say, 'Here, I have a problem,' but then to be turned away and sent further along, you have to get that courage up again to walk through the door again."

She says the report shows the need for health care reform that addresses the needs of rural small-business people and self-employed farmers, who have little or no mental health insurance coverage.

"They are already struggling to pay for health insurance. Trying to get mental-health coverage, where you pay out-of-pocket, is just not something they can do."

Preston says the report demonstrates that rural America's economic future depends on health-care reform that includes a public health insurance option that would give all Americans, urban and rural, access to quality mental health care. Those opposed to that option say it will drive up taxes and lead to diminished care.

The full report is available at www.cfra.org.


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