Believe In A Just World: A Case Study

Having a child given a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a very stressful event for parents. It is imperative to understand that there is much that can be done for both parent and the child. From the current literature we know that parents of children diagnosed with autism worry about many things like lifetime dependency to family dissonance. We know that these parents are distressed and angry, the parents of children with more unusual behaviors feel a lot more stressed than the parents of children with fewer unusual behaviors. However, having a strategy to approach it correctly and to get the best possible help for your child is probably the most important step, one can take to relieve stress and to aid the child’s development.

Mental Health coverage prior to the Affordable Care Act was far to none. With about nearly one-third of currently covered individuals having no coverage for substance abuse disorder services and approximately 20% having no coverage for mental health services. Services such as outpatient therapy visits, impatient crisis intervention and stabilization were among many that were not offered. Since the Affordable Health Care Act has been passed more individuals are able to afford health insurance that were once uninsured. It has helped many individuals in being able to obtain medical services that were once inaccessible.

An interesting finding by Huskamp and Iglehart (2016) is that between the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there should be a rise in people with mental illness seeking services, however, services are underutilized more than ever (Huskamp & Iglehart, 2016). According to Bendant (2014), in 2013 a total of 47 million people uninsured and 25% of those suffer mental illness (Bendant, 2014). These numbers are staggering for a service that is more inclusive now more than ever. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) site indicates that the MHPA is regulated differently depending on the state (CMS, n. d.). The Department of Labor (DOL) has identified a few problems with the MHPA and addressed these issues to Congress via a 2017 report (DOL, n.

However, these are microcosms of a person’s total being that must be treated and care for as well. The Affordable Care Act outlines guidelines for “essential health benefits” that must be covered by every insurance company, “ Obamacare 's "essential health benefits," which include ambulatory and ER care, hospital stays, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance abuse services, prescription drug plans, rehabilitative care, and lab work. Dental and vision care is covered until a child reaches age 19”, (KidsHealth). It is important that when maintaining one’s health, not only the physical aspects are considered. Mental health and social health ultimately affect one’s physical health as well. That is why counseling services and rehabilitation centers are at an extreme need because mental health and substance abuse rates are at all times highs in our communities and our country. The repercussions of these can be felt on the physical body through side effects and neurological imbalances, which also lead to heart disease, stress, and stroke. The highest “silent killers” in our nation.

Mental health coverage has become a particularly notable topic in Indiana, made salient in the wake of the Scott County HIV outbreak related to needle sharing and the underlying issue of the unaddressed opioid crisis. (source, Source) An important response to the outbreak was Medicaid enrollment and treatment for both HIV and addiction (Source). Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many low-income adults could not afford health insurance that covered

2007). While highly skilled, the majority of primary care and family practitioners have minimal training in identifying or treating psychiatric conditions and/or substance use disorders (Collins, 2010). The Presidents New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2003) indicated mental health conditions and substance use disorders often go unscreened and thus untreated in a primary care setting. Currently, working as an administrator of a behavioral healthcare agency I am a daily witness to the impact delays in appropriate care cause. This is not only worrisome, it often leads to a need for a higher level of care and higher cost of treatment due the prevalence of untreated illnesses. Marrying behavioral healthcare services within a primary care setting has shown promising outcomes, affording for greater access to care for those suffering from psychosocial conditions, all the while cutting costs and providing greater proficiency in service delivery. (Mauer, 2002). As an administrator, the potential to implement and manage programs that not only provide greater access to care, but also cut cost is an exciting avenue to

What is left is that we have many citizens who are mentally ill and are not receiving treatment. However the patients who are able to receive treatment are only able to have some treatment covered. Health insurers are responsible for covering the immensely large cost of substantial treatment, a mixture of medication and therapy; since therapy is highly priced, less reliable, and time consuming; patients typically do not receive treatment for therapy. Health insurers would much rather cover medication because it is cheaper, it heals patients faster, and it is more reliable than therapy. However, medication is not made to heal, but to only coax symptoms of a mental illness (Sandberg).

The original purpose of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to address the rising amount of healthcare cost in the United States, and substantially increase the amount of Americans insured with access to affordable healthcare. The ACA allows for the expansion of Medicaid; the government health insurance program, which is designed to increase enrollees for low income families in Medicaid. With this new legislation people who are under the age of 65 who are at or below 133 percent of the poverty line will have access to Medicaid. Anyone who earns below 400 percent of the poverty line will qualify for subsidies for health insurance. (Cockburn, 7) Americans who earn above this level must either buy insurance, or use their employer’s coverage. This is a huge implication because the estimated of new enrollees in 2014 estimated by the Congressional Budget Office is between 16 and 17 million. The federal government has agreed to finance this expansion of Medicaid for the first three years of implementation, for states that agree to the program. After these three years the states will have to start to pay a small portion of Medicaid. Many people with substance abuse problems, and mental disorders without insurance, are low income earning childless adults. (Bainbridge, 5)Under the ACA these Americans now have access to behavioral health treatment, in the 26

Policy plays a key part in mental health care services available to the public. They can determine what options and treatments are available and how much an individual will pay for them. Recent policies including the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, the Affordable Care Act, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act work to expand access to coverage. It is important to know how policies play a role in the health care that individuals receive.

It has particularly helped in response to the currently increasing costs associated with the rapidly increasing growth of mental health care problems. As mental health care cost continues to increase at a bigger rate compared to other healthcare areas, managed care has made efforts to contain this rising costs. Managed care programs have helped in containing reimbursed mental health care costs offered to employees and their families/dependents (Pires, Armstrong & Meyers, 1998). Managed care for mental health services is usually provided to its providers on a fee-for-services making providers paid on every service billed. Managed care has, therefore, reduce substance abuse care, psychiatric cost, implicitly and hospital use of mental

The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was enacted on October 3, 2008 as sections 511 and 512 of the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008. MHPAEA amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Federal Register, 2013). The MHPAEA is an extension of the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, which prohibited annual or aggregate lifetime financial limits on mental health coverage by addressing other restrictions, such as limits on outpatient visits or inpatient days (DOL, 2010). MHPAEA expands parity requirements to treatment limitations, financial requirements, and in- and out-of-network covered benefits (Smaldone, 2010). It also expands the opportunity of mental health parity requirements at the federal level and includes substance use disorders within its scope. Prior to 1996, health insurance coverage for mental illness had historically been less generous than that of other physical illness (Sarata, 2011). Mental health parity is a response to this disparity in insurance coverage, and generally refers to the concept that health insurance coverage for mental health services should be offered equally with covered medical and surgical benefits (Smaldone, 2010).

Preceding the enactment of the Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, approximately forty-nine million individuals in the United States were uninsured. The Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act (MHPAEA) does not command or require coverage for mental

After receiving insurance, a nine percent increase in mental health service utilization was found amongst previously uninsured young adults (Antwi, Moriya, & Simon, 2015). This is important, as many mental illnesses

Our personalities are a total of characteristics that make us different from others, it is what makes us unique. These characteristics can consist of biological factors, developmental factors, cognitive factors, social factors and cultural factors. I have had many situations in my life where I question what type of characteristics I have, or my friends, and where they come from.

In every society there are rules and regulations that are presented because they are necessary to the way that the society runs. This is accepted as the norm in many places due to the effectiveness and control that it offers to figures of authority. The theory that John Rawls is presenting as his “original position” is that the rules that are written into a societal contract should be unbiased among all the people. This seems like a reasonable thought, but when it comes to maintaining total impartiality, most people find that it is hard to set all personal matters and feelings aside. To combat this bias, Rawls implements the “veil of ignorance” into his position and thinks that it would hypothetically make for a suitable and just world.