The Neglect of Mental Illness Exacts a Huge Toll, Human and Economic

Mental health care is one of the biggest unmet needs of our time.  Nearly one in two people in the U.S. will suffer from depression, anxiety disorders or another mental health ailment at some point in their life, and about one in 17 Americans currently has a serious mental illness. Young people are especially prone to these troubles. Yet millions of people living with these conditions do not receive the care they require. In recent years the health system and state and federal governments have taken steps to right that wrong. Progress has been slow, and budget cuts and legal wrangling have now put many of these measures at risk. Doctors, insurers and politicians need to pick up the pace.

Mental illness strikes without regard for economic class, but the strain is acute for people with low incomes. About one in six adults living at just above the poverty line or lower has severe mental health problems. Without access to affordable treatment, many have a hard time holding down a job yet do not qualify as formally disabled, thus leaving them locked out from insurance coverage.  A recent large study in California found that only 32 percent of uninsured residents with mental illnesses received any treatment at all and that less than 12 percent got adequate help.

 www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-neglect-of-mental-illness

All mental health disorders should get insurance coverage, not just autism, coalition says

Legislation that would require insurers to cover autism treatments unfairly singles out one condition, says a coalition that wants coverage for all mental health issues.

Gov. Rick Snyder, who backs the autism legislation, and lawmakers are being urged today to adopt a state law that would improve insurance coverage for all neuropsychiatric disorders, including mental illness, addiction, autism and developmental disorders.

“Autism certainly ought to be covered. That’s not the argument,” said Michael Reagan, external relations officer of Cherry Street Health Services in Grand Rapids. “There are other neuropsychiatric disorders that can be just as debilitating and cause just as much of a problem as autism.”

“The governor and Senate leaders have announced a course that is discriminatory, stigmatizing, and problematic for the state,” said Mark Reinstein, president of the Mental Health Association in Michigan. He said the coalition supports a bill introduced by state Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, which assures equal coverage for all neuropsychiatric disorders when employers choose to include behavioral health coverage in their policies.

Michigan is one of only seven states that does not have parity legislation requiring insurers to provide the same coverage for mental disorders as for physical illness, says Michigan Partners for Parity, a coalition of 60 organizations.

www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/all_mental_health_disorders_sh.html