This writer decided to develop a lobbying plan for the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA). The MHPA was passed in 1996 and it was only the beginning of what would change the life of people with mental illness. Essentially, the point of the MHPA is for people with mental illness and substance use disorder to have the same level of care that a person with a medical condition has, without limitations. Initially, the MHPA started out by employers offering as part of a group insurance. That changed in 2014 when President Obama passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With both the ACA and MHPA, everyone including individuals outside of a group could take advantage of the same benefits as the groups did. Everyone predicted that the MHPA with ACA would …show more content…
What is definitive is that the MHPA could use some improvement. Besides according to Dlugacz et al. (2004) a business or agency should always strive for better (Dlugacz et al., 2004). The Department of Labor (DOL) identified several problems with the MHPA, that were referred to as violations. These violations can be thought of as areas that MHPA is not in compliance. Naturally, it seems that the MHPA falls short on the quality assurance end of the spectrum. Therefore, this writer is suggesting for quality assurance measures to be put into place in order to improve consistency. Consistency is required in the following areas: to minimize the stringent restrictive quantitative treatment limitations (QTL), lower annual dollar limits on benefits, inadequate disclosures, insufficient benefits, and higher financial requirements (DOL, n. d.). With quality assurance measures in place, managers can make a conscious effort to include mandatory in services that employees must attend to/training as part of their continued education, as for the community more awareness needs to be drawn to mental illness, while also sharing with the community all the services available under the MHPA. Perhaps the combinations of both actions can lead to a more successful and utilized MHPA. While also normalizing mental illness and substance use
The Mental capacity Act 2005 is a very important piece of legislation, because it makes a real difference to the lives of people who may lack mental capacity. The act will empower patients to make their own decision; it will also protect people with lack capacity by providing them with a flexible framework that places individuals at the very heart of the decision-making process.it will make sure that the patients with lack of capacity participate as much as possible in any decisions made on their behalf, and that these are made in their best interests. It also allows people to plan ahead for a time in the future when they might lack the capacity, for any number of reasons, to make decisions for themselves. The Act covers a wide range of decisions and circumstances; the act is supported by the practical guidance, and the Code of Practice which provides information about how the act works in practice. (http://www.direct.gov.uk 2007)
Parker, Laura. "The Right to Be Mentally Ill: Families Lobby to Force Care." USA TODAY. Feb. 12 2001: 1A+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
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.
Mental Health Act 1983- The meaning for this Act is to let achievement to happen, where it’s required, to ensure t...
As time goes on, the law has put more emphasis on facility just like Bridgewater State Hospital in which many of the actions of the facility workers can face legal consequences such as facing prison time, fines, lawsuits, and etc. Society has a better understanding of why certain people act the way that they do and being more knowledgeable about psychology and mental diseases allows us to have a different approach when dealing with these topics or these individuals. In today’s era, there are many normal individuals who are willing to stand up for those who do not have a voice of their own. I believe that this change in one’s ability to stand up for another individual or group of individuals is what brought about change to the medical environment of those who are mentally
“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.
If the United States had unlimited funds, the appropriate response to such a high number of mentally ill Americans should naturally be to provide universal coverage that doesn’t discriminate between healthcare and mental healthcare. The United States doesn’t have unlimited funds to provide universal healthcare at this point, but the country does have the ability to stop coverage discrimination. A quarter of the 15.7 million Americans who received mental health care listed themselves as the main payer for the services, according to one survey that looked at those services from 2005 to 2009. 3 Separate research from the same agency found 45 percent of those not receiving mental health care listing cost as a barrier.3 President Obama and the advisors who helped construct The Affordable Care Act recognized the problem that confronts the mentally ill. Mental healthcare had to be more affordable and different measures had to be taken to help patients recover. Although The Affordable Care Act doesn’t provide mentally ill patients will universal coverage, the act has made substantial changes to the options available to them.
According to the response of the State’s legislation, the change involves the four regional mental health hospitals that operate independently without common policies to regulate or synchronize their efforts. Although the legislation is evidence-based, it does not depend on local resources driven from within the mental health organizations inv...
The mental health stigma has become a prevalent issue in the world of medical care. It can prevent people from receiving proper medical care and the quality of care people may receive. Stigma is defined as members of groups who violate the norms established by the dominant or privileged group and, as such, are marked as deviant (Jr. and Kite). Stigma can also lead to discrimination. The way we can try and diminish the severity of the stigma is to create transparency and openness about mental illness. Seeing that people are not defined by their disorder and can be successful regardless of the diagnosis. That they are not defined by their diagnosis they just have and suffer with the disorder. Also promoting education about mental health issues can diminish the myths about these issues thus lessening the amount of stigma. I have seen instances on our own campus in which they could have promoted counseling and mental health among the student body. I think the staff body could have took a more proactive approach to mental health. Instead of waiting until after students committed suicide and trying to fix the problem they could actively be promoting it regardless of the instances on the university campus. There are two different types of stigma; public and self-stigma. These stigmas can have different effects on the individual. Everyone has mental health and raising awareness about it and eliminating the stigma can help the world learn how to discuss and change this problem.
People with serious socio-emotional and emotional disturbances are challenged in many aspects of life. Historically people of color with serious mental health related issues had little assistance and chances to having their needs met equally to Whites. In order to properly or adequately address the emotional and mental wellbeing of everyone on an equal basis, the stigma association must be removed from people of color.
The aim of this assignment is to examine the Mental Capacity Act evaluating its effect on introducing safeguard for deprivation of liberty, both for patients and individuals lacking capacity in hospital and residents of care homes.
1. The term "Mental Health Parity" in terms of health insurance coverage has been used frequently regarding access to care for those with Mental Illness (MI). What do you understand by the term and how would you describe its impact on those with MI and family or partners? Answer in 2 - 3 paragraphs with supporting documentation.
Advocates for people with mental illnesses have urged the government
Can you picture the student voted “most likely to succeed” in your graduating class? This individual must have had everything going for them. They probably had good grades, popular, never in trouble, no health issues and socially and emotionally stable. However, twenty years later, after graduating college, a successful business owner, had a beautiful wife and three kids, he decides emotionally he is done and takes his own life. Mental health issues can manifest at anytime with varying degrees of significance on the emotional stability of a person. Factors such as socioeconomic status, biological and environmental issues all dictate mental health needs. Obviously, a variety of circumstances can evoke these mental health issues. Now imagine coping with these mental health issues and being expected to still be a normal student and conform to your peers around you. This is what we expect of our students dealing with a variety of mental health issues. The policies and procedures are established to meet the needs of all students. The mental health issues are recognized and evaluated based on the best placement for the student to receive an education. The public school system has the responsibility to provide a free and appropriate education. The school does the best they can to provide a whole school approach to deal with the increasing number of mental health concerns. However, the mental health concerns carry on beyond high school.
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