Disparities In Mental Health

If you were to guess a disease one in five American citizens suffer from, what would be the first condition that comes to mind? Heart disease? Diabetes? The truth is, according to the National Institute on Mental Health, 43.4 million people live with mental illness in the United States, a staggering number that is almost equal to those diagnosed with heart disease or diabetes combined.1 Untreated, people with mental illness run the risk of losing their jobs, developing other chronic diseases in the future, or increasing the chance of suicide. Given this surmounting need, scientists are continuously researching new ways to offer hope and relief to the millions of people coping with this illness every day. Although their recreational use was

The lack of mental health care services for minorities is a long-standing problem in the United States. The first time the issue received attention was in 1985, when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report that described serious health discrepancies that minority populations were enduring. In 1986, because of this report, the Office of Minority Health was formed to assist in the reduction of the health care shortages for

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

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has made a significant impact on the U.S health care landscape. One facet of health care that has greatly benefitted from the ACA is mental health. A research article published by Saloner and Le Cook, (2014) on the effects of the ACA on young adults with possible mental health and substance abuse disorders reflect how much this population gained from this program. The researchers wanted to find out if the ACA coverage expansion of dependents to the age of 26 would improve accessibility to mental health and substance abuse care. They performed the research by reviewing data files from the 2008–12 rounds of the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (Saloner and Le Cook, 2014). The researchers analyzed mental health

“Evidence combined with the growing recognition that physical, mental, substance abuse and social challenges are interrelated-has led to calls to integrate behavioral health care into primary care services.” (Klein & Hostetter, 2014, p. 9) Behavioral health and substance abuse treatment in the primary care office is rare and in some cases non-existent. This is mostly due to no or little financial incentive or administrative advantages to integrating these services within the primary care office. Dr. Roger Kathol, M.D. president of the Cartesian Solutions Inc., believes the biggest obstacle in integrating mental health and substance abuse treatment into the primary care office is low payment from payers. Payers use separate provider networks,

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) required group health plans and health insurance issuers to ensure that financial requirements (such as co-pays, deductibles) and treatment limitations (such as visit limits) applicable to mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits are no more restrictive than the predominant requirements or limitations applied to substantially all medical/surgical benefits. MHPAEA supplements prior provisions under the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA), which required parity with respect to aggregate lifetime and annual dollar limits for mental health benefits. The most recent change came with the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation. It mandated that mental health services be comparable to surgical and medical services in order

These include recognition that: All people in America should have a right to health-care benefits, including needed behavioral health services. Since comprehensive health-care is critical to people's well-being and to realizing their full potential, barriers to behavioral health care and treatment cannot be justified or tolerated. Coverage of needed health care whether through government, employment, or individual purchase must be afforded equitably to all people, without regard to the nature, severity, or cause of the individual's illness or disability. Insurance practices that set stricter limits on behavioral health coverage than on coverage for other illnesses cannot be justified and must not be permitted (Mental Health America, 2016). An estimated 18 million Americans are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Only 50 percent of the individuals who need treatment receive it; only 20 percent of adolescents with alcohol and drug addiction obtain treatment. The costs to society of untreated addiction is estimated at more than $165 billion. Treatment of addiction is as successful as treatment of other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma (Bateman,

The efforts aimed to integrate behavioral health services into mainstream medical service will affect the lives of many Americans positively, as only a small percentage of people who need treatment for alcoholism, drug and substance abuse and other mental conditions actually get the treatment in the absence of proper legislation. As many as 89% of people who required treatment for mental disorders and addiction in 2010 did not get treatment due to unfavorable and restrictive health plans which they may not afford anyway. 25% of grown-ups in the United States suffer from some sort of mental disorder. Regulation of the group health plans and insurance benefits helps to alleviate this situation, but more should be done in the way of correcting detrimental (old) laws.

I understand the complexities of the dual diagnosis of mental health and substance abuse, and the interconnected complications in assisting clients to achieve recovery from both illnesses. I am passionate about client advocacy, and thus, have served on the board of the Saratoga County Citizens Committee for Mental Health (SCCCMH) as the Public Relations Chair for the past four years. This experience has provided me opportunities to organize and coordinate advocacy events such as SCCCMH and TSA's involvement in the annual Mental Health Association New York State (MHANYS) Mental Health Matters Legislative Day. Additionally, I have been a member of the TSA Communication Committee and the Grants Committee. Serving on these committees have developed in me a deeper understanding of our client's needs, and our agency's work and

It has been my goal since beginning in the field of social work to begin addressing some of the disparities surrounding mental health that exist within varying communities. It is common knowledge that communities with a high rates of poverty are not considered a priority when receiving the help that is needed when addressing the mind's health. This is evidenced by the state of the healthcare system that exists within this country. Though healthcare has seen drastic changes over the past few years under the Obama administration, there still remains a gap in care to people who need it.

2016 reports state that there has been a 4 percent increase of American adults suffering from mental illness (18.53 percent) when compared to 2015 (18.19 percent) (“2016 State of Mental Health in America - Adult Data”, MHA). Mental disorders have been a continuous public health concern within the United States, one of most chronic, disabling, costly, and recognizable being Schizophrenia. Contrary to popular belief, this mental disorder is rather common, an estimated 1.5 percent of the United States population being diagnosed within their lifetime (“What is Schizophrenia?”, SRF). Although treatment provided by specialty services may be highly effective, only 44 percent of Americans diagnosed seek treatment. In order to encourage that number to rise, the United States government needs to update the costs per treatment, increase the effectivity, and inform the population of the demands it deserves in order to achieve effective recoveries.

APHA has identified that SDH in America is influenced by substance abuse, poverty, racism, discrimination, lack of employment, poor housing and poor health choices. These issues have led to the increase of mental health issues and has contributed to the increasing number of suicides reported In America. APHA has dealt with these issues by providing education to all and forming policies like “APHA Policy Statement 9701: For Non-discriminatory Coverage of All Mental Health Treatment” (APHA, 2015). Policies like this also promote social

These obstacles are complex and range from the impact of the individual’s socio-economic status, the ability arrange for transportation to appointments, and to the path that primary health care is currently delivered. Because this population is in strong demand for primary health care, it has almost certainly gone unmet, leading extremely high numbers of visits to emergency departments and increased burden on the Medicaid and Medicare systems. Those individuals’ that have issues with mental health and have acute medical conditions are frequently overlooked. Diagnostic coinciding can hide psychiatric ailments. Lastly, mental health symptoms share similar characteristics with physical symptoms which can hinder preventative identification of the co-existing conditions. Due to this, there is a correlation between a substance abuse patient diagnosed as having a co-occurring mental health illness and suffering from untreated health

These disorders are an important public health issue in the United States because of their prevalence, early onset, and impact on the child, family, and community, with an estimated total annual cost of $247 billion (CDC, 2013). Fortunately the ACA includes a mental parity law that requires coverage of mental health and substance use disorder similar to coverage of medical and surgical care (healthcare.gov, nod). Previously, approximately 30 percent of individuals covered in the individual market no coverage for substance abuse or mental health disorders “nearly 20 percent had no coverage for mental health services, including outpatient therapy visits and inpatient crisis intervention and stabilization” (Beronio, Po, Glied, & Skopec, 2013). It was because of the PeachCare for Kids coverage that the Scott family was able to access valuable behavioral and therapeutic visits which in all likelihood would save money in future health care

Health insurance is a critical factor in influencing timely access to health care. Persons without insurance are more likely to be at jeopardy of having no regular health provider, obtaining preventative care, necessary health tests, and prescriptions. Lack of health insurance has been identified as one of the leading health indicators, and predictor of overall health status (Bolin & Gamm, 2010). Health insurance is a determinate as to likelihood of health care treatment meaning that many people will go untreated for a span of mental health issue. Even as healthcare initiatives are instituted and government healthcare plans improve, clinics like the Rockbridge Area Free Clinic are essential to the wellbeing of communities. Organizations such