that s nearly 20% of u.s. adults and numbers keep growing. at the same time, the number at psychiatric hospitals has been steady declining and sequester cuts squeezed those in need and helped people trying to get them. joining us now national reporter susie kim who covered this extensively. in the latest piece, you write in major us cities bed shortages have been forced one tried to commit her son in 2011 was told lr no beds available and he killed himself days later. what is the root of the problem? beds are part of it. dealing with what we re talking about, the mental healthy system for decades now, we ve been trying transition from the state run psychiatric awards but the problem is the
the legislature funded in the next year $42 million of new services. by 2010 all that money was gone, had been eliminated in the recession. reporter: others say bed shortages are only an issue in rural areas like bath county. 87% of the cases you have to make more calls than two. law professor richard bonnie helped reform the state s mental health system. you think there auld to be alternatives? you don t need to wait until people meet the commitment criteria. you have something to offer that they will accept and that family members, you know, will feel satisfies their needs, that you can prevent crises from getting worse, and things unravels. reporter: in other words, well-funded voluntary programs. would that have helped in this case? we can t know. we can t be sure without hearing from the family themselves. what s clear is that he did not get help that may may have