Nearly every day in the news we hear about key public figures and individuals from all walks of life facing challenges with mental health and behavioral problems, problems such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and many others. These are real people: our loved ones, our colleagues, our neighbors next door.
It is estimated that 1 in 4 Americans experiences a diagnosable mental health problem, while 1 in 17 lives with a serious illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. And now more than ever, we have veterans coming home in great numbers with chronic traumas that need just as much treatment as the physical injuries that ail them. On average, 18 veterans and one active-duty service member take their own lives every single day -- that is one too many.
If you turn the 1 in 4 Americans into real numbers, approximately 54 million Americans live with mental illness and 26 million with an addiction-related problem. Yet many people carrying what are perceived to be quality employer-sponsored health plans that cover both physical and mental health benefits face blatant inequality when they seek treatment for psychological problems as compared to physical problems.
To be more concrete, an individual can visit a physician countless times for a medical condition and pay an average of $10 for a copayment, yet if that same person seeks treatment for depression or anxiety, for example, he or she is usually limited to 20 visits to see a psychologist and can expect to pay $25 or more per visit.
If I haven't grabbed your attention by now, perhaps consider the cost of untreated mental health problems: upward of about $200 billion a year nationally when you factor in the impact on the family, unemployment, medical care, incarceration, reduced educational attainment, and even homelessness.
Federal law has always allowed insurers to discriminate, so many have come to expect this as the status quo. But the good news is that's all beginning to change for the better.
Thanks to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Law of 2008, which is now being enforced, all Americans with health plans that include mental health benefits can finally expect equity in their coverage. That means a health plan may not enforce a treatment limitation or financial requirement on mental health/substance abuse benefits unless the same limit is placed on medical benefits.
Although millions rely on mental health benefits, most don't know that they have this right. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is proud to participate in the advancement of this effort to spread the word about this important law. On Sept. 18 at our downtown Los Angeles campus, we are hosting the only west coast Congressional Field Hearing with lead co-sponsor of the law and former Representative Patrick J. Kennedy along with other officials and community partners to call for full enforcement of this law.
Mental health illnesses should be treated no differently than any physical illness in the body. The days of stigmatizing mental illness, of turning our backs on those who need our help, of walking away from this problem, are over. We know that being our own health advocate is paramount to ensuring we receive the best care available. I offer that we each have a responsibility to ensure those that cannot advocate for themselves are supported by those of us who can make these differences real for everyone in need.
I encourage you to attend this forum. If you're in the area, please RSVP at patriotsforparityLA@gmail.com. If you can't attend in person, register to watch online.
For more by Michele Nealon-Woods, click here.
For more on mental health, click here.
Alastair Campbell: Media Portrayal of Depression: We've Still Got a Long Way to Go
Lloyd I. Sederer, MD: The Painted Bird: Stigma and Mental Illness
Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D.: Diagnosing and Preventing the Unfathomable
By my count, that is 19 too many.
it's obvious the dems care more for the ppl who can vote and work, yet the actions of the dems do seem insane anyway, especially to the much more reasonable conservatives.
These include things like preauthorizations, medications, and access to insurance provider networks. Please see my article in Clinical Psychiatry News for more.
http://www.clinicalpsychiatrynews.com/views/shrink-rap-news/blog/insurance-networks-and-mental-health-parity/ac773e0c8b5dbaff2627dbb7752e04ff.html
The fact that, since Obamacare went into effect, there has been a 22% drop in uninsured young people (ages 18-26) when their parents were allowed to continue to cover their children until 26 may concern you, it pleases me.
The fact that under Obamacare people cannot be thrown off, or denied, insurance for "prior conditions," pleases me.
The fact that I received a letter from my health insurance company stating that I will not receive a rebate because they have kept overhead costs below 20%, delights me.
Knowing that millions of people are, under Obamacare, are collecting a rebate of the difference between the premiums they paid and the mandated 20% allowed for overhead, bodes well for people who can least afford paying for bloated executive bonuses.
The fact that a 5 year old child with severe heart problems no longer has a "cap" on the cost of insurance of $1,000,000 (which he has used before age 3), just make me ecstatic for him, his family, and the millions of people who have been 'dumped' onto the Emergency Rooms of this nation to get any health care at all. This encourages me.
"Haven't read Obamacare have you?"
No, I haven't.
However, having dealt with the insurance industry for over 34 years, watching insurers skim 30% of the premium dollars for "Overhead" (compared with less than 20% for Medicare), having seen patients who are without insurance due to "prior medical conditions," watching insurers raise rates by 15-20% PER YEAR, observing the Managed Care industry since they began carving out Mental Health care since the 1980's, watching the big insurance companies gobble up the small managed care companies (for the profits and reducing coverage), seeing the insurers intrusive reporting forms probing into areas of patients' private life unrelated to their mental health condition, insurers insisting on auditing ALL patient records (not just their customer's) which is a violation of patient confidentiality, being aware of insurers "cherry-picking" young, healthy, people while denying coverage to others, insurers dropping people who have the temerity to file a claim, and having an insurance clerk across the country (who is a high school graduate) determine eligibility for coverage by reading a company manual without ever seeing the patient or legally questioning a diagnosis, watching 60 Minutes expose insurance executives talking about Mental Health insurance as such a good thing "because mentally ill people seldom fight for payment of claims," all this and more give my take on the insurance industry a certain credibility.
And your experience is.....???