The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) is a significant milestone in the effort to address disparities in health care coverage, particularly involving mental health concerns and substance abuse treatments. This law is significant in healthcare as it requires insurance plans to offer these services at the same level as any other medical treatment so that there is the same level of coverage and benefits. Prior to the MHPAEA, individuals seeking any sort of mental health treatment encountered a myriad of barriers preventing equal and fair access to healthcare. These barriers included limited insurance coverage, higher out-of-pocket costs, and discriminatory treatment by insurance providers. This not only made it worse to find …show more content…
Prior to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, inequalities in health care coverage were evident, especially considering access to mental health and substance abuse services. Those suffering from mental health concerns had to face difficult barriers before receiving proper care. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department explained “if coverage for mental health services was provided, often there were limits on the number of visits and higher out-of-pocket costs than the same coverage for medical and surgical services.” (n.d.). Patients would have to face higher costs for mental health and substance abuse services, limited coverage, and stricter visit limitations. These led to those individuals having to face financial burdens as well as logistical obstacles — all in order to receive their necessary care. More specifically, there LEGISLATIVE IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES 4 was a disparity of those who struggled to receive this care. These groups include people with low incomes, minorities, and those living in rural areas. In addition to these concerns, many healthcare providers were not that informed or understood the needs of certain …show more content…
The way MHPAEA does this is by prohibiting insurance companies from imposing higher fees, copayments, or deductibles for these services compared to any other medical needs. Additionally, the MHPAEA prevents insurers from having strict limitations on the number of treatments and services for mental health services and substance abuse treatments compared to other services.The American Journal of Public Health described that this act “was expected to expand access to [mental health and substance abuse treatment] insurance coverage for 62 million people” (2019). Through the MHPAEA, it helps reduce the stigma around mental health and substance abuse issues, which overall encourages people to seek help without fear of any barriers they may face. The American Journal of Public Health explains they “found a positive association between implementation of MHPAEA and utilization of outpatient behavioral health services” (2019).With more people reaching out for help, it overall improves health outcomes for individuals and
Each year, 52 million Americans have some form of mental health problem and out of those patients 60% are members of a managed care group. (Madonna, 2000, ¶ 8) Managed mental health care’s successes and failures now bear directly on the mental wellbeing of 32 million particularly vulnerable Americans. Initially managed care was intended to be a “comprehensive approach to healthcare that included balancing cost, quality, utilization, and access.” (Madonna, 2000, ¶ 23) In theory, this is an optimal approach to the delivery of health care and it has proven somewhat successful in the area of physical health, but it has not provided the same success in the area of mental health. Mental health is still being treated as a separate and less important aspect of health care despite the fact that some mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia, have shown higher success rates than those of common medical procedure, such as angioplasty. (Etheredge, 2002, ¶ 6)
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.
Provisions to expand Medicaid are central to legislation aiming to eliminate racial inequities. Minorities make up about one-third of the population, but account for over half of the total 47 million uninsured. This is a reflection of racialized economic structures that leave many minorities unable to afford insurance or access employer-based coverage. The ACA attempts to decrease the rate of uninsured for low-income individuals and families by expanding Medicaid to adults with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line. Although this provision will help to expand coverage to some of the nations poorest individuals, the Supreme Court’s Decision to leave the choice to expand up to the states has a serious impact on the b...
Mental health care disparities can be rooted in inequalities in access to good providers, differences in insurance coverage, or discrimination by health professionals in the clinical encounter (McGuire & Miranda, 2008). Surely, those who are affected by these disparities are minorities Blacks and Latinos compare to Whites. Due to higher rates of poverty and poor health among United States minorities compared with whites. Moreover, the fact that poverty and poor health are
The Affordable Care Act first provides a Marketplace where people can look for and compare private health plans, get answers to questions about health, get a break on costs and enroll in a health plan that meets their needs. The ACA also requires insurance plans to cover mental health benefits. Health insurance plans and Medicaid alternative benefit plans must include mental health and substance use disorder services.4 These plans must meet the health and substance use parity, which means coverage for mental health and substance abuse services generally cannot be more restrictive than those for medical and surgical...
For that reason, in the formulation of a given policy, senior officials have to analyze the impacts of the policy implementation process. This is important to ensure that the policy produces intended impacts rather than unintended ones. Additionally, this process reduces the chance of yielding unintended impacts. Mental health care systems tend to have intricate adaptive systems that require scrutiny of the policies before implementation (Mckechnie, 2013). The policy impact represents the initial step in the formulation of any given policy, especially in the mental health care system. However, there are four main procedures followed in the formulation of a given mental health care policy; particularly, the national mental health recovery policy. The four ste...
Life altering stressors in an individual’s life are frightening. Stressors are varied and, often, unpredictable. Obtaining medical treatment for a physical illness brings hope and perseverance in the fight for health. Losing a job with health insurance and benefits is overwhelming; however, an independent functioning person, with adequate personal and community resources, begins applying for new employment or career change. Enjoyment of life hobbies and interests will be limited, but basic needs are met and health care obtained. However, there are those who have great difficulty obtaining resources for maintaining basic needs. Persons with mental illness, those who are homeless, pregnant teens, or substance abusers are individuals of the vulnerable population. Poverty and discrimination become the way of their life. How does a mentally ill person navigate through the complex process of obtaining health care within their family or community for optimal functioning?
The development of mental health policy has gone through many changes in the course of the twentieth century. Today, mental health policy is totally different from the policy hundreds of years ago. Because of this, it is important to emphasize the fact that mental health policy has shifted from the indifference and isolation of people with mental illness, to the delivery of social services and community integration. In other words, mental health policy has experienced a serious change that has changed the attitude of policy makers, health care professionals, ordinary people, and also to people with a mental illness. Today, people with mental health problems are no longer outsiders as they used to be. Instead they are seen as people who have different needs and social geared towards their integration into the community. The federal government now has a policy that addresses the problems faced by people with mental illness, gives the community a chance to understand these people, and sets a standard in providing mental health services. There are over seventy actions in The Federal Mental Health Action Agenda. “It offers an unprecedented opportunity to fundamentally alter the form and function of the mental health service delivery system in this country to one that puts individuals-adults with mental illnesses, children with emotional disturbances, and family members-at its very core” (The Federal Action Agenda: First Steps. Web. 24 Mar. 2014).
In this section of the paper, we will be observing a specific issue regarding companies that deal with mental health. Before we diving into this topic, lets provide some information about mental health companies and cost containment. These behavioral health care companies (or mental health care companies) are here to help by promoting the well-being and preventing or intervening in mental illness while also aiding in preventing or intervening in substance abuse or other addictions (Sandler, 2009).” Now, what cost containment does is aids those companies to maintain different expenses that may lead to unnecessary cost or spending. This leads to the issue of should managed behavioral health care companies be permitted to achieve cost containment through the management of access to care?
Mental health has been hidden behind a curtain of stigma and discrimination for a long time. Suffering, burden, and magnitude in terms of disability and costs to individuals, families, and societies are overwhelming. The world has become more aware of the enormous burden and potential that exists to make progress in mental health. We really need to invest substantially more in mental health and we must do so now. In the United States, government health insurance plans exist for eligible patients with these disorders, although they sometimes do not cover everything patients need.
In the United States, most people might think that everyone is equally healthy either mentally or physically, however, this is not true. In fact, “people in the U.S. public mental health system who have a serious mental illness are dying 25 years earlier than the general population. Those who have a dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse, on average, die nearly 32 years earlier than their fellow citizens outside of the public mental health system” (Miller 1). This means that citizens with mental disorders are not capable of living life to the fullest due to severe mental issues, and we should monitor them to minimize patients with mental illness. Now that the commotion has settled, what is mental illness? The term mental illness
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
Mental illness is accompanied by a stigma and interferes with almost all aspects of one’s life. The type, severity and duration of the illness vary from one individual to the next. The delay or absence of treatment for patients with mental illness has serious consequences. mental illness costs the U.S. government an estimated $193.2 billion annually in lost earnings. (Insel, 2008). According to Colton & Manderscheid, mental illness and physical illness is one of the same and both conditions should be provided together within the healthcare system
Paragraph One: Introduction The offer of appropriate mental healthcare is crucial in a client’s recovery. Coherent and varied care poses the best treatment option for people with a mental disorder. In recent years the costs of mental health care (GGZ) has seen a higher increase compared to other health care sectors. This increase is due to people with mild psychological problems (such as burnout, sleeping problems, and problems related to domestic violence) being subject to specialized psychiatric care; which often is unnecessary.
Both mental illness and substance abuse remain stigmatized with major gender, racial-ethnic and economic inequalities in access, use and quality of services and support. Therefore, my goal is to collaborate with educational institutions, health organizations and government agencies to create, study, and disseminate interventions that reduce the risk, increase resilience, provide effective treatment, and aid in-long term recovery. In particular, I am interested in creating policies that will help bridge the economic inequalities face by those who experience mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders. With these plans in mind, I am currently studying French and will continue working with underserved communities to gain valuable field experience in public