Delivering For Mental Health

As the demand for mental health and substance abuse is growing, the insurance coverage must be preserved and developed. It is essential that we preserve the guarantee of Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans with disabilities. trade parity should be adopted, the parity of coverage should follow, and if we accept what the research tells us - that addiction is a chronic, relapsing conditions that require ongoing monitoring and management, while such as diabetes, asthma, and yes, like mental illness - then we must act. We must lead the fight to restore eligibility for social security disability for people suffering from addictive disorders.

The data collected through documentation of nonprofit organizations increased demand and increasing the number of uninsured. States reallocated dollars from their general funds for mental health for Medicaid match. And now, the state plans to cover the uninsured are floundering. This leaves many people with treatable mental illness in our overburdened emergency rooms and lack of access to services that can engage, treat, and return to work.

We deny our economy productive taxpayers. We are losing lives. We must present and defend a federal funding source to cover the costs of mental health and substance abuse treatment of the insured.

The Community Mental Health Services Improvement Act begins to address our workforce crisis, but it's just a beginning.

We can not stand by and watch our best plastic surgeons and become investment banks. requires qualified staff adequate compensation. We must be attractive to leaders who reflect the diversity of our communities. And we can not allow people with severe mental illness or addictions to wait for weeks and months for an appointment with a psychiatrist. We must be clear and vigorous defenders of reimbursement of costs that supports the salaries that can attract and retain qualified personnel.

If we really want to reduce the gap between science and service, we need to stop investing in textbooks and planning grants, and begin to invest in new tools to organizations that provide services.

We must preserve, strengthen and extend mental health and capacity of drug treatment in this country. But it was not and will not be easy.

We are part of a health system that reflects the American belief in the market. A health system that talks of universal coverage, but hate the taxes. A health system that is resistant to control costs, relying on disease management and prevention offerings, although so far they show little evidence of savings. A health system for the promotion of "medical houses", as the new strategy to reduce costs, confusing a strategy to improve the quality of care by another, which saves money.

But we know something about saving money. pioneering studies tell us there are huge disparities in health spending in a region of our country to another, with no difference in the results of health care. If the entire nation could bring its costs down to match the lower spending regions, we reduced 20-30 percent of American health care bill. Most of the difference in spending for hospital care. The hospital, including inpatient psychiatric care is a key intervention that should be available, but in many communities, we can do better.

If we are serious about improving outcomes for consumption, point of service is where the improvement will take place.