Bailout Provides More Mental Health Coverage
from The New York Times
More than one-third of all Americans will soon receive better insurance coverage for mental health treatments because of a new law that, for the first time, requires equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses. The requirement, included in the economic bailout bill that President Bush signed on Friday, is the result of 12 years of passionate advocacy by friends and relatives of people with mental illness and addiction disorders. More

Federal Disaster Aid Approved for Victims of September Flood
from the Chicago Tribune
Federal officials have approved disaster aid for Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will, DeKalb, Grundy and LaSalle Counties affected by severe weather last month. Residents are eligible for federal aid such as low-cost loans for housing and programs for business owners to recover, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency. More

Economy Forcing Many Seniors to Cut on Health Care
from the Chicago Tribune
They are splitting pills or deciding not to refill prescriptions. They're missing doctors' appointments, skipping needed dental work, canceling home-care services. As the economy founders, Chicago's seniors are cutting back wherever they can, and health care is high on the list of items being sacrificed. It's a dangerous choice for older people, who are vulnerable to illness by virtue of their age. Add anxiety about depleted savings or declining home values, and it's emotionally destabilizing as well. More

Homeless Left Out as Food Kitchen Closes
from Chicago Sun-Times
The Salvation Army's Tom Seay Center in Uptown Chicago – a bustling soup kitchen and shelter that first opened its doors to the needy some 30 years ago – has served its last meal. The building is crumbling and too expensive to fix, Salvation Army officials said. So, clients must go elsewhere. More

Frances Lomas Feldman Dies at 95; Social Worker Conducted Groundbreaking Cancer Study
from the Los Angeles Times
Frances Lomas Feldman, a University of Southern California professor and social work pioneer, who conducted a groundbreaking study in the 1970s that showed cancer patients faced discrimination in the workplace, has died. Several states modified fair employment legislation because of Feldman’s study, the National Association of Social Workers said on its Web site. More

Blagojevich Can't Expand State-subsidized Health Care Without Lawmakers' Approval
from Business Week
Gov. Rod Blagojevich's agenda was dealt a major blow Friday after a state appellate court ruled he doesn't have the power to expand state-subsidized health care without lawmakers' approval. The decision upholds a ruling that found Blagojevich had overstepped his bounds when he used his administrative powers to add more people to the state's Family Care insurance program. More

Americans Gloomier, for Now
from USA Today
As people on Wall Street and Main Street hold their breath to see if a federal bailout of the nation's financial institutions will work, Americans are starting to speak – not whisper – the word "depression." In a sign that anxiety is growing, 33 percent of 1,011 adults surveyed over the weekend by USA TODAY and Gallup, said the economy already is in a depression. Just 12 percent said that 10 months ago. More

Non-profits Agencies are Pushed to the Brink
from the Chicago Tribune
Di Vittorio, director of Blue Cap, an organization that cares for folks with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities in Chicago, said the state has fallen four months behind in reimbursing the agency, which owes $774,000 — a hefty chunk of its $5.7 million budget. Blue Cap's story is an example of how the nation's economic woes, compounded by problems at the state level, are trickling down to vendors, small-business owners and anyone who receives payment from Illinois. More

The Difficult Decisions Social Workers Face Every Day
from The Vancouver Sun
It's easy to recognize that Barbara Gamble faces a cruel fate. It's much harder to see how to ease her pain or to apply blame for the sad and bizarre situation that the 27-year-old mother, the father of her unborn child and the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Services find themselves in once again. More