Editor’s Note: Mental Health America created this fact sheet to be considered by Congress while debating any Health Care Reform legislation. The following is a summary of the material MHA provided to Congressional leaders.

Legislation to extend health care coverage to currently uninsured individuals and improve the quality of care for all Americans must include the prevention and treatment of mental health and substance use conditions. 

Mental health and substance use conditions are some of the most chronic and disabling conditions.   They often begin in childhood and adolescence (with an average age of onset of 14) and interfere with a young person’s ability to succeed in school and successfully enter the workforce.  Moreover, treatment often does not begin until ten years after diagnosis, increasing the risk of developing a costly disability.  Serious mental illnesses alone are estimated to have cost $193 billion in lost wages in 2002  which exceeds the gross revenue of 499 of the Fortune 500 Companies. 
  
Mental health and substance use conditions often accompany and greatly increase the cost and complexity of treating other chronic conditions including diabetes, asthma, heart disease, and obesity.  Tragically, individuals with severe mental illnesses die on average 25 years earlier than the general population due to complications from these and other co-occurring disorders.   Public mental health system consumers are a segment of our population with some of the greatest unmet needs for improved care coordination and prevention services. 

MHA Priorities – Parity, Integration, Prevention, Quality

We urge that the following priority issues be addressed in any health care reform legislation:

1. Ensure Full and Equitable Coverage of Behavioral Health Services by –

  • Including mental health and substance use treatment as core components of any benefit package offered to uninsured individuals; and
  • Requiring parity in coverage for these conditions compared to medical and surgical benefits.

2. Support Integration of Behavioral Health and Medical Care, by improving coordination between primary care and behavioral health specialty providers and increasing access to primary care and specialty behavioral health services through —

  • Incentives for medical home and collaborative care treatment models adapted to address the special needs of this population, for example the Medicaid demonstration program proposed by Senator Debbie Stabenow in the “Mental Illness Chronic Care Improvement Act of 2009” (S. 1136);
  • Education of primary care providers about prevention and treatment of mental health and substance use conditions; and
  •  Work force development initiatives to increase recruitment and retention of mental health and substance use disorder treatment professionals, especially people of color and those in recovery.

3. Prioritize the Prevention of Mental Health and Substance Use Conditions by –

  • Covering the following interventions highlighted in a recent Institute of Medicine report  for reducing rates of behavioral health conditions:
    • home visiting by public health nurses for low income first time mothers;

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