Vulnerability of the Mentally Ill

In 1965, there was a histrionic change in the method that mental health care was delivered in the United States. The focus went from State Mental Hospitals to outpatient settings for the treatment of mental health issues. With the passing of Medicaid, States were encouraged to move patients out of the hospital setting (Pan, 2013). This process failed miserably due to under funding and understaffing for the amout of patients that were released from the State Mental Hospitals. This resulted in patients, as well as their families, who were in dire need of mental health services. This population turned to either incarceration (jails and/or prisons) or emergency departments as a primary source of care for their loved ones.

This article gave us information on Healthy People 2020, which was launched on December 2, 2010 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The article states that Healthy People 2020 is a strategic approach by the federal government, states, communities, and many other public and private partners to improve the health of the US population. This plans states that improvement will be completed over a ten-year time span. The Healthy People strategy was designed to define and promote a common sense of purpose and goals. These goals include: attaining a longer high quality live free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death, achieving health equity, eliminating disparities, and improving the health of all groups,

Healthy People 2020 has chosen twelve health indicators and has set a goal to improve them. Public health has a significant role in ensuring that these topics are addressed and that the goal is achieved. The leading health topic and indicator that I chose is within the Mental Health Status Improvement, and the indicator is reducing the suicide rate. In 2010, when the 10-year initiative started, the baseline measurement for suicides was 12.1; however, in 2015, it had increased to 13.3. The HP2020 target goal is 10.2 (Healthy People, 2017). The increase denotes that there was no progress made and that the measure worsens instead of improving.

Mental illness can happen at any time in the lifetime of a person. The illness affects the mind and alters a person’s feelings, thinking and behavior hence a difficulty in functioning. A majority of mentally ill people live on the streets, commit crimes and are imprisoned instead of getting proper treatment at a mental health facility. Pete Earley’s Crazy: A Father’s Search through America’s Mental Health Madness points out the essence of educating the society about dealing with mentally ill people. Earley uses his son’s condition to emphasize on the need for medical treatment rather than the imprisonment of mentally ill people. He notes that the society cannot ignore the rights of the mentally ill in accessing treatment (Earley, 2006). Notably, the justice system ought to be reformed to help the mentally ill to live a normal life like any other person.

The deinstitutionalization of state mental hospitals has left many individuals untreated and in the community where there come under police scrutiny due to their odd behavior, that is a manifestation of their illness. Majority of mentally ill offenders have not committed a serious crime and are subjected to inappropriate arrest and incarceration (Soderstrom, 2008). This new policy has become quite a concern to the fact that the correctional environment has proven to show no positive results in the mental health of the offender during their time of incarceration or upon their release date and thereafter (Soderstrom, 2008).

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.

The goal of this topic set by Healthy People 20/20 is to improve mental health through prevention and by ensuring access to appropriate, quality mental health services. (Healthy People 20/20) Through my experience of working in the mental health field, I have found and can attest to their goal that quality mental health services are extremely important and make a big difference on the quality of care a person can receive.

The impact of mental illness on public service and economics is profound in the state of Florida. Improving the quality and funding of mental healthcare requires public administrator development through practical management and intellectual organization and although such evolution consists of examining theoretical ideology, primary importance should be placed on putting theory into practice. Dutil (2014) affirms that practice and policy are results of routine; however, the state of Florida has routinely allocated decreasing amounts of financing for the mental illness crisis. More importantly, the state is failing to draw lessons from public service icons such as Gulick, Weber, and FDR who began

Seeking to improve care and lower costs, Florida became the first state to offer a Medicaid health plan designed exclusively for people with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar conditions. The plan offered by Connecticut-based Magellan Complete Care - is part of a state experimentation to co-ordinate physical and mental healthcare for those enrolled in Medicaid. Mental illness is a big driver of Medicaid costs because it is twice as prevalent among beneficiaries of the public insurance program for the poor as it is among the general population. Studies show that enrollees with mental illness, who also have chronic physical conditions, account

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 Community Mental Health Act of 1963, was the first federal law that inspired community-based mental health care, and it ignited the transformation of the public mental health system (Young Minds Advocacy, 2016). Other names of the Act are Mental Retardation and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963. It was the beginning of the Deinstitutionalized movement in mental health treatment options for children, youth, and adults (National Council for Behavioral Health (NCBH), 2015). States received money from grants, from the Community Mental Health Act for the construction of these mental health centers. Initially, the intention of the grant program was to provide 1500 mental health centers nationally (Young Minds

Attitudes toward the mentally ill started to change in the 60’s and 70’s from both the communities and professionals. The two began to recognize that the mentally ill had rights to live an independent life style like that of ordinary citizens. Before this, people with mental illness or developing disabilities had been institutionalized, giving strong medications, sedated and isolated from the rest of society. Living amongst the community, they receive their medication as well as interact with the general public. In addition, they also interact with security personnel and law enforcement officers, and all too frequently with unfortunate consequences. (Russell, 2012).

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.

Healthy People 2020’s goal is to improve the well-being of women, infants, children, and families. As a result, increasing the quality of years of healthy life. All of this can accomplish by providing a roadmap to all to help individuals and health care providers meet these outcomes. Improving the families well-being has a great impact on the rest of each person’s life.

Mental health should also be promoted by identifying public issues and recommending options that can lead to supportive environments. Advocating for healthy public policies which address a variety of health determinants is also recommended. More employment support programs should be employed to reduce stress related from unemployment and hence reduce the risk of development of mental illness. To reduce the risk of people with mental illnesses drifting into poverty, ways of actively supporting individuals with mental illness need to be