Mental Health Care Reform

A newest way to finance health care now days is the health care reform which it is also called Obama Care. The Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010. The main objective behind the Affordable Care Act was to ensure that affordable health care insurance was available to every U.S citizen. This law is an extensive document that contains many regulations and laws that relate not only to health care but also to the regulation of insurance companies. One of the best known regulations is that group health plans can no longer put limitations or deny benefits to individuals under the age of 19 due to pre-existing conditions and individuals under the age of 26, are now eligible to be covered under their parents’

Meltzer et al., (1995) argues that the unemployed and unskilled have more mentally unstable symptoms compared to those in employment. Also, the fear of being unemployed and job insecurity has a disadvantageous effect on health (Bartley et al., 1996).

The Mental Health Services Act is a monumental proposition that has helped many people for more than a decade. In California alone, close to 1.2 million adults and around 422,000 children live with a serious mental illness (State 2010). Without the proper treatment, suicide is the leading cause of death for a person battling an untreated mental illness (State 2010). With over thirteen billion dollars raised so far, MHSA has been the root of funding for mental health in California (Williams 2015). MHSA is still a work in progress. The act is nowhere near perfect, as a recent audit has shown, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

In history, cyclical pattern of institutional reforms has established for public mental health policy. In the early 19th century, first cycle reform developed as asylum and moral treatment. In the early 20th century the second cycle introduced mental hygiene movement and in mid 20th century after WorId War II, community mental health movement initiated third cyclic reform to support and develop the community mental health center (CMHC). All of the reforms are ineffective to cure chronic mental ill conditions but successful with acute and mild mental disorders. A new reform recommended to supporting the mental health and social welfare services in a wide network to care the chronically mentally ill patients in noninstitutionalized settings.

The US pays twice as much yet lags other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy, which are among the most widely collected, hence easily compared, international statistics. Many people are underinsured, for example, in Colorado "of those with insurance for a full year, 36.3% were underinsured."[6][7] About 10.7 million insured Americans spend more than a quarter of their annual paychecks on health care because of the high deductible polices.[8]

Economic wellbeing is crucial. Its absence adversely affects health, along with social status that prompts a forswearing of the likelihood of full interest in social and financial life (Wilkinson et al. 1998).

At the individual level, lack of proper treatment for poor mental health and mental illness has a detrimental effect. At a population level, society also suffers from the burden resulting from the lack of treatment options for poor mental health and mental illness, due to loss of productivity from those crippled by poor mental health and mental illness. Evidence has begun to emerge showing that lack of treatment for mental illness -specifically depressive disorders - has been linked “with increased prevalence of chronic diseases.” Currently it is estimated about 26% of adults in the United States suffer from depression.

Economic instability, apart from causing stress about finances in general, creates a negative influence in the immigrant's life because of the lost of social interaction that is associated with the workspace, leaving the immigrant feeling alone and depressed (Kennedy 446). Economic hardships are also related to mental health because of it's connection to unattainability of mental health support. A study conducted by affiliates of Geneva University Hospitals Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry found that psychiatrists they observed believed immigrants who did not receive the mental health they needed also lacked the secure housing conditions and employment (bartlomei 3). If the issue of providing mental health support were addressed, consequently the issues of economic misfortunes would be analyzed as well, and to some degree, lessened. Therefore, immigrants should be provided mental health support they need so as to address the underlying issues related with low accessibility, such as income instability. In the same way mental health and accessibility is correlated to economic insecurity of immigrant families, mental illness is also correlated directly to the economy of the host nation. Mental illness is a prominent factor in immigrant dropouts lives, in fact a study conducted by Cathrine Hjorth, Line Bilgrav, Louise

Policy analysis of mental health care under the ACA as well as description of how mental health care/service are organized under the ACA from federal to local levels.

The United States has never had an official federal-centered approach for mental health care facilities, entrusting its responsibility to the states throughout the history. The earliest initiatives in this field took place in the 18th century, when Virginia built its first asylum and Pennsylvania Hospital reserved its basement to house individuals with mental disorders (Sundararaman, 2009). During the 19th century, other services were built, but their overall lack of quality was alarming. Even then, researchers and professionals in the mental health field attempted to implement the principles of the so-called public health, focusing on prevention and early intervention, but the funds were in the hands of the local governments, which prevented significant advances in this direction.

Policies have an important role in regulating and shaping the values in a society. The issues related to mental health are not only considered as personal but also affecting the relationships with significant others. The stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health can be traced to the lack of legislation and protection of rights (Rodriguez del Barrio et al., 2014). The policy makers in mental health have a challenging task to protect the rights of individuals as well as the public (Swigger & Heinmiller, 2014). Therefore, it is essential to analyse the current mental health policies. In Canada, provinces adopt their own Mental Health Acts (MHA) to implement mental health services. As of January 15, 2016, there are 13 mental health acts in Canada (Gray, Hastings, Love, & O’Reilly, 2016). The key elements, despite the differences in laws, are “(1) involuntary admission criteria, (2) the right to refuse treatment, and (3) who has the authority to authorize treatment” (Browne, 2010). The current act in Ontario is Mental Health Act, 1990.

When it comes to this program I did not find any information that stated it was developed based on empirical evidence. “Very little empirical data exist to help administrators select a particular staffing model for providing mental health services to inmates” (Hills, Siegfried, and Ickowitz, 2004, p. 37). This could have definitely hurt the program at Montford Psychiatric Hospital, but the staff seemed extremely professional, organized, skilled, and knowledgeable of what they were doing when assessing inmates mental health issues. Additionally, this program is also not based on theory because when a theory is created to change complicated issues, such as mental illness program or other health care programs it can be a daunting task. It is particularly troublesome when there is a lack of empirical evidence to support concepts that can lead towards success.

Senator Creigh Deeds story is just one of many that end in tragedy because of a mental health system that has failed. While the major proportion of people living with mental illness are not violent, they can become a victim of violence. According to the latest statistics from the American Psychological Association one in five adults has a diagnosable mental disorder, one in twenty-four has a serious mental disorder (SMI), and people with mental illness are no more likely to be violent that people without mental illness (Association, American Psychiatric, 2016). Untreated mental health care is characteristic of the violent crimes that we see happening today. Some of the reasons behind these untreated individuals are the unmet needs of people not having a financial means to pay for services, lack of insurance, knowledge about how to access care, embarrassment about having the need for services, and those that needed care but experienced delays in accessing care (Jones et al., 2014).

United States have definitely failed on the their responsibility to provide adequate spaces for people with mental health issues. No one should have to be denied treatment because the facility or the hospital they choose to go to doesn't have enough bed to serve patients that need care. People with severe mental illness can no be taken as a joke as some can harm themself or the people around them. We must take in account of the story of what happened to Virginia State Senator Deeds and his son. Just because Deeds want to help his son and get him treated Gus tried to kill his father but instead in the end took his own life. That could of been avoid if the hospital they went to earlier took Gus in when he need help.

Income can impact both your physical health and your mental health in a multitude of ways. Income plays a role in determining the level of health care you can afford, surgeries you can have done, and even the food you choose to eat. Stress from lack of income can have detrimental effects on your mental state as well.