Our Health Policy Matters

A Kaiser Health News sampling of the latest headlines about Obamacare reflects our continuing anxiety over the law just months before it is fully implemented. The most interesting to me was this one.  According to a new CNN poll, only 43 percent of the public favors Obamacare .  But of those who oppose it, only 35 percent do so because it is too liberal.  Sixteen percent say that it is not liberal enough! No matter how you feel about Obamacare, one of the most significant changes it facilitates will be the integration of health and behavioral health care – meaning that care for both physical and mental illnesses will soon be delivered together. This only makes sense.  People with cancer, for example, often develop depression or anxiety that complicates their care.  And people with mental illness often develop physical conditions – sometimes as a side effect from the medications they take – that can cut twenty-five years from their lives. Inte...

A Kaiser Health News sampling of the latest headlines about Obamacare reflects our continuing anxiety over the law just months before it is fully implemented. The most interesting to me was this one.  According to a new CNN poll, only 43 percent of the public favors Obamacare .  But of those who oppose it, only 35 percent do so because it is too liberal.  Sixteen percent say that it is not liberal enough! No matter how you feel about Obamacare, one of the most significant changes it facilitates will be the integration of health and behavioral health care – meaning that care for both physical and mental illnesses will soon be delivered together. This only makes sense.  People with cancer, for example, often develop depression or anxiety that complicates their care.  And people with mental illness often develop physical conditions – sometimes as a side effect from the medications they take – that can cut twenty-five years from their lives. Inte...

How do we help political leaders understand that the actions they take can have a profound, long-term effect on the mental health of our population?  copyright Mental Health America, 2011 David Shern, CEO of Mental Health America and one of the nation’s leading mental health advocates, has an answer.   Arguing that “the next century of mental health in the U.S. needs to be fundamentally different” from the last one, he makes the case for a new “vision for mental health now within our grasp.” Speaking at an April 13th seminar sponsored by the Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County, FL, Dr. Shern offered a glimpse into a policy future that could reverse the epidemic of mental illness in America.   “The United States has the highest rate of mental illness in the world,” he began, as he laid out the present state of mental health in the United States. ·          One in four of us have diagnosable mental illnesses each year...

How do we help political leaders understand that the actions they take can have a profound, long-term effect on the mental health of our population?  copyright Mental Health America, 2011 David Shern, CEO of Mental Health America and one of the nation’s leading mental health advocates, has an answer.   Arguing that “the next century of mental health in the U.S. needs to be fundamentally different” from the last one, he makes the case for a new “vision for mental health now within our grasp.” Speaking at an April 13th seminar sponsored by the Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County, FL, Dr. Shern offered a glimpse into a policy future that could reverse the epidemic of mental illness in America.   “The United States has the highest rate of mental illness in the world,” he began, as he laid out the present state of mental health in the United States. ·          One in four of us have diagnosable mental illnesses each year...

Isn’t it worth a few dollars to preserve essential mental health services?   It would appear that many state legislators would say no. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, states have cut a total of $1.6 billion for mental health services over the past three years. That was just the teaser.   This year, states around the country are making people with mental illness pay the price for tax cuts and deficits. NAMI state-by-state data show that the State of Florida spends no more for mental health services than it did in 2009.   But Health News Florida reports that the Florida Senate has proposed millions of dollars of cuts to mental health.   Next week, its Appropriations Committee will vote whether to cut $137 million from adult mental health services, 57% of the total outpatient budget.   Anyone who thinks these services aren’t essential should think again. On a single day this spring, in addition to offering its full array of group counseli...

Isn’t it worth a few dollars to preserve essential mental health services?   It would appear that many state legislators would say no. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, states have cut a total of $1.6 billion for mental health services over the past three years. That was just the teaser.   This year, states around the country are making people with mental illness pay the price for tax cuts and deficits. NAMI state-by-state data show that the State of Florida spends no more for mental health services than it did in 2009.   But Health News Florida reports that the Florida Senate has proposed millions of dollars of cuts to mental health.   Next week, its Appropriations Committee will vote whether to cut $137 million from adult mental health services, 57% of the total outpatient budget.   Anyone who thinks these services aren’t essential should think again. On a single day this spring, in addition to offering its full array of group counseli...

When you’re headed in the wrong direction, running to the front of the crowd and yelling charge may not be the best strategy.   On Monday, Governor Rick Scott of Florida did this when he proposed his new state budget.   Like every state, Florida has struggled over the past few years as state revenues have declined.   The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has documented just how tough that job has become – at least 21 states have already proposed budgets this year with inflation-adjusted spending below 2008 levels.   In presenting his bare-bones $66 billion budget, Governor Scott promised to bring new business principles to state government.   The problem is that he forgot an old one.   If you don’t increase the supply of a product when demand goes up, you’re going to pay an increased price.   He proposed $4 billion in cuts (over two years) from current Medicaid levels.   Medicaid is almost 30% of the state budget, and cutting it w...

When you’re headed in the wrong direction, running to the front of the crowd and yelling charge may not be the best strategy.   On Monday, Governor Rick Scott of Florida did this when he proposed his new state budget.   Like every state, Florida has struggled over the past few years as state revenues have declined.   The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has documented just how tough that job has become – at least 21 states have already proposed budgets this year with inflation-adjusted spending below 2008 levels.   In presenting his bare-bones $66 billion budget, Governor Scott promised to bring new business principles to state government.   The problem is that he forgot an old one.   If you don’t increase the supply of a product when demand goes up, you’re going to pay an increased price.   He proposed $4 billion in cuts (over two years) from current Medicaid levels.   Medicaid is almost 30% of the state budget, and cutting it w...