A USA TODAY report finds the stigma against the mentally ill is so powerful that it has been codified into federal law for 50 years and few outside the mental health system even realize it. This systemic discrimination, embedded in Medicaid and Medicare laws, has accelerated the emptying of state psychiatric hospitals, leaving many of the sickest and most vulnerable patients with nowhere to turn. Read the latest in USA TODAY's ongoing series exploring the human and financial costs of not caring more about the nearly 10 million Americans with serious mental illness. Ref. USAToday