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Strengths and weaknesses of the Affordable Care Act
Strengths and weaknesses of the Affordable Care Act
Strengths and weaknesses of the Affordable Care Act
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“Insurance companies often cover mental illness in a more limited fashion than physical illness” (Christensen). The lack of mental health care provided for the mentally ill has been a growing issue in the US during the previous years, and there has been some progress. For example, there has been the Mental Health Care and Parity Law of 2008 that was enacted so that the insurers would cover mental illness just as they would cover other illnesses. In addition, the Affordable Care Act was enacted to enforce that the insurers abide by the rules. Unfortunately, that hasn’t helped much, hence: the sneaky behavior of insurance companies. This sneaky behavior seems to be unnoticed by the government the majority of the time unless the patient or his family decides to file a lawsuit. Until then, insurance companies have been constantly bending rules and finding loopholes to not pay insurance for mental illness.
One of the most egregious examples of insures finding loopholes is in Melissa Morelli’s story. According to the New York Times, a 13 year old girl named Melissa Morelli was “taken to the hospital, she was suicidal and cutting herself”, her mother says (Abelson). She was transferred to a psychiatric hospital and stayed there for more than a week. Her doctors told her mother that it was not safe for her to return home but the problem was is that her insurance company, Anthem Blue Cross, wouldn’t continue to pay for her to stay in the hospital. Her mother, Cathy Morelli, kept on trying to get them to agree to pay for her daughter’s treatment, but they wouldn’t agree. “It was revolving doors”, Ms. Morelli said (Ibid). She has been constantly going to her insurance company for over 5 months just to hear them reject to pay for the care...
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...e to do this if they always loose at the end, no matter what they come up with?
Works Cited
Abelson, Reed. "Lacking Rules, Insurers Balk at Paying for Intensive Psychiatric Care." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Sept. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .
Calmes, Jackie, and Robert Pear. "Rules to Require Equal Coverage for Mental Ills." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .
Christensen, Jen, Caleb Hellerman, and Trisha Henry. "Feds Boosting Mental Health Access, Treatment." CNN. Cable News Network, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. .
Flory, Curtis and Marie Rose. "Half a Million Liberated from Institutions to Community Settings without Provision for Long-term Care." Mental Illness Policy Org, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
Belluck’s New York Times article describes a study that ordered mentally ill patients to receive treatment instead of being hospitalized. The study found that the patients were less likely to be placed in psychiatric hospitals or arrested, and outpatient treatment and medication refills increased. This also proved economical, because the mental health system and Medicaid costs were reduced by at least fifty percent. This program doesn’t only apply to the patient to accept treatment, it also requires the mental health system to provide it, making the program more effective
Editorial: Washington must treat the mentally ill. (2013, October, 7). The Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.com/html/editorials/2021988414_mentalhealtheditxml.html
Leo, R. A. (2009, September). Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
Mental healthcare has a long and murky past in the United States. In the early 1900s, patients could live in institutions for many years. The treatments and conditions were, at times, inhumane. Legislation in the 1980s and 1990s created programs to protect this vulnerable population from abuse and discrimination. In the last 20 years, mental health advocacy groups and legislators have made gains in bringing attention to the disparity between physical and mental health programs. However, diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses continues to be less than optimal. Mental health disparities continue to exist in all areas of the world.
Pollack, Harold. "What Happened to U.S. Mental Health Care after Deinstitutionalization." Washingtonpost.com. N.p., 12 June 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Braun, S. A., & Cox, J. A. (2005). Managed mental health care: Intentional misdiagnosis of
Honberg, Ron, Sita Diehl, Darcy Grutatardo, and Mike Fitzpatrick. State Mental Health Cuts: A National
Goode, E., & Santos, F. (2014, April 1). Police Confront Rising Number of Mentally Ill Suspects. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/
On December 14, 2012, a 20-year-old mentally ill young man named Adam Lanza walked into an elementary school in Connecticut and shot 20 children and six adults. This was the catalyst for a national debate surrounding the issues of mass shootings, media violence, and especially gun control. Under the direction of House leadership, the only psychologist in Congress began studying comprehensive reform of the United States mental healthcare system. One year later, Dr. Tim Murphy, Representative from Pennsylvania’s 18th District introduced H.R. 3717, The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The bill’s intent is to address the lack of treatment options at the local level, the absence of science in funding decisions, and to fundamentally restructure the governance of our national mental health treatment system. The following discussion describes the background of the bill and uses the special interest groups that have come out in support or opposition of the legislation to exemplify group theory.
U.S. Public Health Service.(1999). The Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health. Retrieved June,5,2000, from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/home.html
Why then is this area of healthcare both so expensive and common? One reason could be in the professionals in the field themselves. Mental health care professionals may request higher pay or more vacation time because “they deal with dangerous patients-although they have publicly proclaimed that mental illness is a disease like any other” (Sartorius). These professionals are supposed to advocate for their patients in society because of the stigmas surrounding them, yet these stigmas in turn allow them to ask for higher pay because society stereotypes their work as being extremely taxing. These facilities sometimes take advantage of the stereotypes of their work in the quality of care their patients receive as well. For example, the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Policy Coordinator, Michelle Funk, commented on the quality of care people with mental health disabilities receive. She says, “people in mental health facilities often are exposed to high levels of abuse and violence...Their living conditions are inhumane and the treatment they receive is degrading… people can be over medicated to keep them docile and easy to manage”
Most of the time there are many people out there who can afford to attain health insurance or have insurance but their insurance doesn't cover mental health. The poor are the one's who gets hit hard the most. The American Health Care Act doesn't want to expand anymore money towards mental health. Mental health treatment services need to be maintained but also expaned in order to keep the country's mental health needs. Melissa Warnke explains, "The House and Senate verisons of Trumpcare would both phase out funding for that expansion and cut Medicaid spending by almost a trillion dollars over a decade." (Warnke,1) By decreasing Americans access to treatment will just make them suffer even longer. Warnke says, "between 70% and 90% of individuals who have access to medication and/or counseling treatments for mental health issues see a significant reduction in symptoms." (2) If Trumpcare goes into effect, your only option are to be rich or maintain physical and mental health throughout your life. Treatment should not just be for the wealthy. This will just lead to suicide because there will be no help. Advocates for people with mental illnesses have urged the government
Since it has become more understood better treatment plans have been created. There a various therapies and medications that can help manage mental health. However, there is an estimated 50 million people in America that has a mental disorder(s) and sadly only about 10 million will receive mental healthcare. Why is this? This happens simply because mental illness does not care who you are and how much money you do or do not have in the bank. Mental illnesses can effect anyone and it can be anyone of the numerous different psychological disorders. When mental illness effects a person it disrupts their whole life, this would include their daily living as well as effecting how preform at work. Take for instance, if they work a production job it can cause them not to make production. If they cannot function well enough to work at their required performance, then this could and probably would lead into them being fired from their job. Without a job they would not only lose their income but they would also have say bye-bye to their insurance plan as well. This would leave them without and mental healthcare. Did you know that if 50% of those with schizophrenia, 25% of those with anxiety disorders, 33% of those with depression are currently receiving successful treatment and the likely success rate will be around 80 to 90%? A number of people with
The Affordable Care Act was created to provide mental health coverage for those who cannot afford it but actions are being taken to get rid of what is benefiting