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Parity and addiction equity act
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Having equal resources available regardless of the type of condition is important for many reasons. When medications and doctor visits are not covered by your insurance, and you have to pay for it out of pocket, you have to make some tough decisions. If your bipolar medication costs 100 dollars for a month’s supply, and that is how much you usually budget for groceries, which one are you going to choose? Having to choose between basic needs and your own health care is a position no one should have to be in. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act is trying to eliminate this kind of problem. It makes it so that patients have the same help with doctor visits and medications for mental health conditions as they do for conditions that
Neil Postman, in his 1985 book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” asserted that Aldous Huxley’s worry, we are becoming a passive and trivial society controlled by what we love, is coming true. Now, more than ever, these fears are becoming reality. Our society’s addiction to drugs and the stigma against the communication of emotions are causing us to fall down the slippery slope that is leading to an oppressive society similar to that of the one depicted Huxley’s Brave New World. ****
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
More than 57 million people in the United States suffer from some type of mental disorder. Mental illnesses can turn a person’s world upside down. These medical conditions can disrupt every aspect of a person and their family’s lives. Mental disorders do not discriminate; age, sex, or color does not matter when it comes to mental illness. Many people live with different types of mental health problems. These problems can be anxieties, drug or alcohol addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, and personality and mood disorders. People can suffer from one or more of these conditions. There are treatment options available but unfortunately treatable mental illness is being left untreated. Many people feel ashamed or just don’t realize the help available to them. In the past several decades there have been substantial changes in the care for those with mental disorders but even with all the technology, science and a better understanding of what mental illness is, improvement of the lives of those with a mental illness still falls short. One disorder seems to be making its way to the front of the line of all the different disorders out there. Bipolar disorder. Statistics are saying by 2020 bipolar disorder will be the number two health ailment, right behind heart decease (Reilly 224). We can teach society about this disorder and educate people on the see-saw of emotions tied to bipolar and the treatment that is available to them to help ease some of the weight on bipolar patients and their loved ones. There is hope!
A psychological assessment is defined as “the gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation that is accomplished through the use of tools such as tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and specially designed apparatuses and measurement procedures” (Cohen, Swerdlik, &Sturman, 2013). Although examiners strive toward the assessment being good enough to be useful, they sometimes have to make decisions about what type of error is acceptable. There are many psychological assessments that have been used in the study of addictions, but we will take a look at the Addiction Severity Index.
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.
Conceptualizing Co-Occurring Disorder Co-occurring disorders are terms that can be very broad and can describe different conditions that happen or occur at the same time. For the purpose of this essay and from the mental health perspective, co-occurring disorders refer to someone who has a substance use disorder such as alcohol or drugs, and also has a mental disorder such as depression or any other mental illness. According to a study conducted in 2014 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), adults 18 and over who were surveyed reported having substance use and/or mental illness. “Of these, 7.9 million people had both a mental disorder and substance use disorder” (SAMHSA, 2016). This essay will provide general history information about co-occurring disorders, how the term came about, treatment integration and the quadrants, as well as a personal view on the use of the co-occurring term.
Mental health disparities, “the power imbalances that impact practices influencing access, quality, and outcomes of behavioral health care, or a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rate in a specific group of people defined along racial and ethnic lines, as compared with the general population” (Safran, 2011). Although there are many mental health care dipartites, I’m going to focus on the impact of poverty and lack of attention given to mental health. By advocating for a prevention, promotion, and intervention related to mental health, will aid in minimizing mental health disparities. Not only is it important to advocate on a macro level, but it is important to educate
Mental Health Funding Mental health is a subject a lot of people prefer not to talk about, which is a main reason that it is so underfunded. The severe underfunding affects not only the people suffering from mental illness, but also the government, the economy, and society as a whole. It is in the government's best interest to put more funding into mental health due to the health consequences on patients, including weight issues, drastic effects on bodily functions, and difficulties in pregnancy. As well as this
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
“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.
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...
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 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.
Substance abuse complicates almost every aspect of care for the person with a mental disorder. When drugs enter the brain, they can interrupt the work and actually change how the brain performs its jobs; these changes are what lead to compulsive drug use. Drug abuse plays a major role when concerning mental health. It is very difficult for these individuals to engage in treatment. Diagnosis for a treatment is difficult because it takes time to disengage the interacting effects of substance abuse and the mental illness. It may also be difficult for substance abusers to be accommodated at home and it may not be tolerated in the community of residents of rehabilitation programs. The author states, that they end up losing their support systems and suffer frequent relapses and hospitalizations (Agnes B. Hatfield, 1993).
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