Mental Health and Addiction Services Must be Part of Healthcare Reform
Posted 07/01/2009
By Morris L. Roth
CEO and President of Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group
– Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus, 1883
As we celebrate our country’s 233rd birthday, we reflect on the words of Ms. Lazarus – concepts that so embody the spirit of our great Nation and offered incomparable hope to myriad immigrants as they entered this land.
And yet, 50 million tired, poor, and huddled Americans without health insurance – most of whom with mental illness and/or substance abuse problems – still yearn to breathe free of prejudice, debilitating illness and economic devastation.
Guaranteeing healthcare for all is a moral issue – and an economic one. Our administration, right in solving this issue once and for all, must include proper provisions for mental and substance use disorders.
The economic, social and human costs of mental illness and addictions are staggering. According to the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare:
- Mental illness drains our economy of $80 billion every year; it accounts for 15 percent of the total economic burden of all disease.
- Substance abuse contributes to the death of more than 100,000 Americans and costs $500 billion, annually.
- A fourth of all Social Security disability payments are to individuals with mental illness.
- Three of every five people with serious mental illnesses die from preventable chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and cardiopulmonary conditions.
Quality healthcare should focus on prevention, early intervention and treatment of chronic health conditions. Comprehensive healthcare reform could also help stem the escalating mortality rates of people with serious mental illnesses who, according to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, die 25 years sooner, on average, than other Americans.
It is my hope that any healthcare reform legislation:
- Includes mental health and substance use treatment as core components of all benefits packages and requires coverage of those conditions equal to medical and surgical benefits;
- Improves integration of mental health and primary care for both children and adults; and
- Increases access to prevention services for mental health and substance use, particularly for children and youth.
Ms. Lazarus wrote her immortal words 126 years ago. But it’s not enough to welcome the downtrodden to our shores – or to pay lip service to those in need. Ultimately, we need to help them. And, in doing so, we remain true to the principles of our Founding Fathers while strengthening further our great Nation.
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