Mental health has been hidden behind a curtain of stigma and discrimination for a long time. Suffering, burden, and magnitude in terms of disability and costs to individuals, families, and societies are overwhelming. The world has become more aware of the enormous burden and potential that exists to make progress in mental health. We really need to invest substantially more in mental health and we must do so now. In the United States, government health insurance plans exist for eligible patients with these disorders, although they sometimes do not cover everything patients need.
For mental health disorders, there is a huge emotional and financial burden for individuals, families, and society. The economic impacts
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Even in countries where insurance plans exist, they often do not cover mental and behavioral disorders to the same degree as other illnesses. This creates enormous difficulties for both patients and their families. The costs are expressed in international dollars ($) that take into account purchasing power in different countries. More severe psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia require higher inputs than the relative costs, especially as affected individuals require hospitalization or care in out-of-hospital residences. Unlike the cost to effectively treat an episode of depression is estimated at 100-150 dollars.
Insurance covering part of the treatment of patients with mental disorders:
Mental Health Services (Inpatient) Hospital insurance such as (Medicare Part A) covers the mental health services you receive at a hospital that requires you to stay in the hospital. Both in a general hospital and in a psychiatric hospital that cares exclusively for people with mental health conditions. You only pay up to 190 days for psychiatric inpatient services throughout your life.
What Medicare Covers:
- Deductible of $ 1,316 per benefit period
- Days 1-60: Coinsurance of $ 0 for each benefit period
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- 20% of the amount approved by Medicare for doctor visits or other health care provider to diagnose or treat your medical condition. Part B deductible applies.
- If you receive your services at an outpatient clinic or outpatient department of a hospital, you may have to pay a hospital copayment or coinsurance. Your doctor or other health care provider may recommend that you get services more often than Medicare covers. If this happens, you may have to pay some or all of the expenses.1 There are institutions such as the NAMI Family-to-Family in San Diego, which includes a free twelve-week course for family caregivers of people with mental illness. Materials are free for classroom participants and their families. The curriculum focuses on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder, with a new resource on post-traumatic stress disorder. The course discusses treatment for these diseases and teaches the knowledge and skills family members need to cope with the challenges of living with a family member with a mental
Two decades ago hospitals were for the physically ill and asylums were for the mentally ill. With the stigma fading from mental illness and a movement toward deinstitutionalization, this paradigm of segregation of mental and physical health care does not hold true today. A direct effect of the paradigm shift is a greater willingness on the part of the public to seek help for mental health problems. (Madonna, 2000, ¶ 6) Managed care has stepped up to fill the increasing need for inexpensive mental health care coverage.
One is automatically enrolled to Part A plan when one apply to Medicare. Part A does not cover doctor’s fees, however, it covers nursing care and hospital stays. It also covers part of home health services, nursing care after hospital stays and well as hospice care. There are no monthly premiums for Part A due to all the payroll taxes paid while one was employed. However, there is a yearly deductible before Medicare covers any hospitalization costs. Part A pays around 80 percent of Medicare-approved inpatient costs for the first 60 days the enrollee is hospitalized. If enrollee stays longer in hospital, enrollee will have to pay a larger
Private insurance, however, would be reimbursed. Hospitals knowingly discharged patients without adequate psychiatric care, and without being admitted into a program or residential treatment facility, like a “step down” phase to integrate patients into the community. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.3.676 Health Aff May/June 2009 vol. 28 no. 3 676-684 University of Massachusetts Medical School, in Worcester William Fisher (Bill.Fisher@Umassmed.edu) William H. Fisher, Jeffrey L. Geller and John A. Pandiani
You could avoid additional fees by using an in-network doctor instead. In some cases, an insurance company will cover more for an out-of-network visit or treatment if no in-network doctor is available to you for that particular service. It is still your responsibility to receive preauthorization and pay any differences.
Around the nation, many parents are plagued with the thought of how they can afford to provide proper care to their children with mental illness. Millions of individuals suffer daily from the effects of various forms of mental illness. Such forms vary from moderate to extremely severe forms that require expensive treatment. Some individuals are fortunate to beat illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder, while others suffer from permanent illnesses that are extremely difficult to maintain and treat. As healthcare is very costly, many rely on financial assistance through medicaid. As congress moves to repeal the Affordable Care Act, parents continue to struggle with the realization that they may no longer be able to support
Mental healthcare has a long and murky past in the United States. In the early 1900s, patients could live in institutions for many years. The treatments and conditions were, at times, inhumane. Legislation in the 1980s and 1990s created programs to protect this vulnerable population from abuse and discrimination. In the last 20 years, mental health advocacy groups and legislators have made gains in bringing attention to the disparity between physical and mental health programs. However, diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses continues to be less than optimal. Mental health disparities continue to exist in all areas of the world.
Medicare itself covers the basics from Hospital care to Home health services. There are many things that come into play on what Medicare can and can’t cover. The first being federal and then state laws that vary depending on the region where you live. Usually Medicare makes national coverage decisions to decide what is covered throughout the United States. Also, local companies can deem something either necessary or unnecessary in certain areas.
In an economic lens, mentally ill patients also experience discrimination due to the stigma and stereotypes surrounding their disorder. Although mental illness is similar to other diseases/disorders such as cardiac disease, in the sense that they are malfunctions in a part of the organ, mental disorders are not treated like it. Until the passage of Mental Health Parity And Addiction Equity Act in 2008, an act that made mental health and substance abuse treatment easily accessible, there was health care discrimination where they refused to pay for therapy sessions or other forms of treatment for people with mental disorders. But, even with the passage of the act, there is still discrimination in accessing. For example, Ali Carlin a person
Are you ever afraid that you won't be able to pay for the Medicine? What are your thoughts on the Insurance industry with regard to Mental Health Care?
In today’s society, the stigma around mental health has caused many people to fear seeking medical treatment for problems they are dealing with. With an abundance of hateful outlooks and stereotypical labels such as: crazy, psycho, and dangerous, it is clear that people with a mental illness have a genuine reason to avoid pursuing medical treatments. Along with mental health stigma, psychiatric facilities that patients with a mental health issue attend in order to receive treatment obtain an excessive amount of unfavorable stereotypes.
Most of the time there are many people out there who can afford to attain health insurance or have insurance but their insurance doesn't cover mental health. The poor are the one's who gets hit hard the most. The American Health Care Act doesn't want to expand anymore money towards mental health. Mental health treatment services need to be maintained but also expaned in order to keep the country's mental health needs. Melissa Warnke explains, "The House and Senate verisons of Trumpcare would both phase out funding for that expansion and cut Medicaid spending by almost a trillion dollars over a decade." (Warnke,1) By decreasing Americans access to treatment will just make them suffer even longer. Warnke says, "between 70% and 90% of individuals who have access to medication and/or counseling treatments for mental health issues see a significant reduction in symptoms." (2) If Trumpcare goes into effect, your only option are to be rich or maintain physical and mental health throughout your life. Treatment should not just be for the wealthy. This will just lead to suicide because there will be no help. Advocates for people with mental illnesses have urged the government
The NSDUH reports that individuals with a mental illness is more like to also have a chronic health condition and are more likely to use hospitalization and emergency room treatment (NSDUH, 2014). According to SAMSHA (n.d.), 50% of Medicaid enrollees have a diagnosable mental health condition. Individuals with a diagnosed mental health condition have health care cost that is 75% higher than those without a mental health diagnosis (SAMSHA, n.d.). For an individual with a co-occurring disorder the cast is nearly three times higher than what the average Medicaid
Why then is this area of healthcare both so expensive and common? One reason could be in the professionals in the field themselves. Mental health care professionals may request higher pay or more vacation time because “they deal with dangerous patients-although they have publicly proclaimed that mental illness is a disease like any other” (Sartorius). These professionals are supposed to advocate for their patients in society because of the stigmas surrounding them, yet these stigmas in turn allow them to ask for higher pay because society stereotypes their work as being extremely taxing. These facilities sometimes take advantage of the stereotypes of their work in the quality of care their patients receive as well. For example, the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Policy Coordinator, Michelle Funk, commented on the quality of care people with mental health disabilities receive. She says, “people in mental health facilities often are exposed to high levels of abuse and violence...Their living conditions are inhumane and the treatment they receive is degrading… people can be over medicated to keep them docile and easy to manage”
Mental disorders are rapidly becoming more common with each new generation born in the world. Currently, nearly one in two people suffer from some form of depression, anxiety, or other mental health problem at some point in their lives (Editor). With so many people suffering from their mental illnesses, steps have been taken in order to get help needed for these people but progress has been slow. In the medical world, hospitals are treating those with physical problems with more care than those with mental problems. Prescription drugs can only do so much helping the mentally ill go through their daily lives and more should be done to help those who need more than medicine to cope with their illness. Mental health should be considered just as important as physical health because of how advanced physical healing is, how the public reacts to those with mental illness, and due to the consequences that could happen if the illness is not correctly helped.
Direct costs such as medications and psychologist/therapist visits will add up to a pretty penny. Especially if you do not have insurance that will help cover your medical expenses. This financial trouble can cause more stress and more mental illness on someone. The indirect cost affects more of the productivity of work because of the mental illness. A lot of people are affected by their work effort when they have a certain mental illness; they could lose interest in work and stop showing up or caring about the