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Affordable Care Act Case Study

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Cheryl has been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and Alcohol Use Disorder. When asked about her concerns for post discharge she states that she has been heavily reliant on her parents and their health benefits for her treatment and that she is nervous that she may not have coverage to continue therapy. She reports that she felt safe knowing that “Obamacare” would be in place to help her afford the treatment she needs to stay mentally healthy and sober. She states that she is concerned about the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act because she will need help paying for her mental health expenses. The Affordable Care Act made a giant leap in extending the work of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. These two acts work together to ensure that treatment for mental illness is accessible to many Americans that need treatment. Throughout this paper I …show more content…

Historical Background In order to discuss the Affordable Care Act as it relates to mental health and addiction there needs to be an understanding of the historical development of mental health parity in the United States. There has been a long time struggle to make mental health comparable physical health in health benefits. In 1996 the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) was passed due to the crusade efforts of Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici under the Presidency of Bill Clinton (Frank, Goldman, & McGuire, 2001). The Mental Health Parity act was designed to ensure that large employers that provided health plans did not use lower limits on lifetime dollar amount for mental health in comparison to physical health (Frank, Koyanagi, & McGuire, 1997). In order to continue to build on the MHPA the congress passed the

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