There seems to be a growing call for improved access to mental health care. The current attention likely has something to do with the recent school shootings. Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy is calling for parity in health plans in Colorado. Governor Hickenlooper wants funding to improve access to mental health care.
Yesterday, I wrote a blog about Senator Al Franken who wants to see an increase in the number of school counselors, social workers, and psychologists. He is on the education committee in the United States Senate, and said he will push for federal funding to make that happen. He said:
One of the things we need to do better is identifying mental health issues earlier in a child’s life.
Former United States Representative Patrick Kennedy is calling for health insurance reforms in Colorado. The changes he wants to see would require health insurance plans to give parents and families access to mental illness treatment equal to what they would get for medical health treatment. He wants both to be covered equally.
Right now, many insurance plans in Colorado (and in other states) exclude coverage for mental health care. Insurers could be refusing to cover some forms of treatment, or they might be denying coverage for all forms of mental health care. This places a large financial burden on families who have children who require that type of health care.
Kennedy says that federal health care reform requires health insurance companies to cover treatment and care for mental illness. However, there has been a problem with implementing that in Colorado. He said:
If you want to keep people from getting cancer you do screenings. But we want to keep people from being addicted. We want to keep people from having psychosis, so why don’t we have prevention?
The brain is part of the body. I’m sorry to, like, alert people but it is and we cannot discriminate against it.
Governor John Hickenlooper recently gave a State of the State address. It is an eye-opening speech because it points out the many tragedies that Colorado has faced in the past few years. Here are some key parts regarding mental health care:
We have to do a better job of identifying and helping people who are a threat to themselves and others. That is why we are requesting your support for a comprehensive overhaul of our state’s mental health system.
We ask you to pass legislation that will update civil commitment laws, make it easier to identify people with mental illness who are a danger to themselves and others and provide safer, more humane systems for their treatment.
According to the CBS Denver, Governor John Hickenlooper is asking the Legislature to approve $18.5 million for mental health treatment. If approved, this could probably help a lot of families with children who have a mental disorder or who require mental health care.