State & Regional Interest	Tuesday, May 13, 2003
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Bill lifts limits on drugs for mentally ill (Published April 15‚ 2003) COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee approved a bill Tuesday that would lift restrictions for medications for mentally ill Medicaid recipients. Under the bill, those patients would not have to get approval for drugs needed to treat mental illness. Officials at the Health and Human Services Department said they were worried the change would increase costs for its prescription drug programs. Prescriptions for mental illness are the most expensive of all drugs it covers. But getting "inappropriate medication may mean intervention by the criminal justice community," said Jeff Moore, director of the South Carolina Sheriff's Association. "If you don't take the right medication for a mental health illness, you may become violent." Amendments the committee adopted limits the exceptions to schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and major depressive disorders that the American Psychiatric Association.

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