You tell us: Should BP help pay for mental health costs related to the oil spill?
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You tell us: Should BP help pay for mental health costs related to the oil spill?
Gulf states have asked BP for millions of dollars to pay for mental health costs related to the oil spill. Should the company hand over the money?
According to a new article from Propublica, BP has yet to pay out for any claims of bodily injury, including 275 claims for anxiety or stress.
Yesterday on Marketplace, Bill Radke talked with Richard LaPratt, who runs a counseling call center. LaPratt told him:
“You’re going to start seeing more family and children support needed, that would be more counseling for families. You’re going to start seeing more domestic violence issues, as well as substance abuse issues that may occur from those individuals that are most affected. You may see crime increase because of the fact that these individuals have nothing else available to them, or they may be desperate. You’re going to start seeing an agitation as well as an escalation of these types of events, as we creep further and further into this long-term disaster.”
But one of the people who responded on the Marketplace.org website thinks the focus on mental health is misdirected:
“Reality is that people don’t need therapists and counselors doing the nice listening things or the “I hear your pain” lecture and the usual stuff you can get anyway from a book or your grandma. People need jobs there and the “spill” needs cleaning up. Period.”
What do you think?
Should BP hand over the money to help pay for mental health costs?
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