It’s no great surprise to families throughout America to say that decent mental healthcare is both hard to find and outrageously expensive. However, it’s equally obvious that the deteriorating mental health of people throughout our communities is resulting in greater distress, increasing violence and, at times, major disruptions to how our society functions.
Ease of Access
So how hard is it to get decent mental healthcare? From the consumer’s point of view, high quality treatment is a rare and precious commodity, especially outside the major urban centers, even though mental health issues are just as likely to occur in more rural areas, if not more so due to lack of personal opportunity, poorer physical health and limited access to specialist care.
In addition, the insurance industry’s “pay-as-a-last-resort” approach, not unique to mental health, hardly facilitates the search for appropriate care, leaving families on the horns of a dilemma: pay outrageous costs ($400 for a 45-minute appointment is not unusual) or pray that the problem just goes away.
Not unique to mental health, the cost of healthcare can be the hundreds of dollars.
This makes me wonder why the situation exists at all in the most capitalist of countries. America is the shining example of markets meeting needs and yet this need remains unsatisfied. Why hasn’t a market developed in providing basic mental care (wellness visits) just as we are encouraged to do for our physical well-being?
Time for Change
There is a desperate need for young, energetic mental healthcare professionals who can attack this crisis in numbers. They could change the face of this industry with a focus on providing affordable treatment throughout the country and, most importantly, reducing the need for more intensive care later by addressing issues earlier. In addition, fees could be made lower making mental healthcare more available to patients in all classes of income, while encouraging insurance companies to recognize the benefit that comes from availability of cheaper services and the ability to diagnose problems in their early stages.
Mental health and guns
Some of our representatives in Washington and in State capitals around the nation strongly suggest that mental health issues are the cause of our epidemic of mass shootings, not the proliferation of guns. Their solution provides that a serious improvement in mental healthcare would reduce the crisis we face in so many communities.
But like so many solutions to the nation’s ills, our elected officials talk a good game but don’t actually do very much. Confronted with over 30,000 deaths each year from gun violence (a death toll that if caused by terrorists would result in a massive, well-funded response), Congress has two major options: support greater funding of mental health education, training, treatment and support; or enact and enforce real gun control laws. (Imagine if they did both!) In the meantime, the bickering between hopelessly divided political parties makes this crisis of mental health just another example of the growing inequality of life in America.
With a myriad of diverse and yet equally crippling mental health issues across the globe, something must be done to help prevent these issues from leading individuals into harming themselves and others.
The cost of care
Prices in healthcare as a whole only seem to rise, despite the constant pressure from insurance companies on their providers to accept lower payments and reduce appointment times. This would be unique, were it not for the constant inflation in education costs, another topic where value for money is an oxymoron. But American history is full of examples of competition creating innovation, lower prices and advantage to the customer. Why shouldn’t this be the case with mental healthcare?
The Affordable Care Act is intended to have a moderating impact on the cost of treatment and medical coverage, at least by some. While providing medical coverage to uninsured millions it has had a very mixed effect on the pricing of insurance premiums, depending on the State. But It’s hard to imagine that the price of any type of treatment will be seriously affected when matters of tort law and the competitive nature of hospital systems remain unchallenged. Damages for medical accidents and the ubiquity of medical scanners at every hospital raise prices to stratospheric levels that price healthcare beyond the reach of most patients, topics not directly addressed by the ACA).
Is capitalism working for us in the manner that competition, accountability and freedom would suggest? Not right now.
How absolutely absurd.