Health Care Reform and Mental Health

You might think you've heard all you need to know about health care reform. Our newspapers offer daily coverage of the debate, and the airwaves are saturated with opinions and emotions regarding our health care system. But when did you last hear mention of mental health in the context of system reform?

Mental health is at best merely implied and at worst completely overlooked in the prevailing health care discussion. Yet mental illness is common, affecting one in four adults each year, and mental health is essential to overall health. Persons with mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than the general population, according to a study by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD). The National Institute for Mental Health reports that mental illness is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for people between the ages of 15 and 44 and costs our nation more than $190 billion a year in lost productivity.

Despite these grim statistics, mental illnesses are as treatable as physical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Treatment works, but only for those who receive it. An estimated 5.4 million Americans had a diagnosable mental illness that went untreated in 2007, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Though stigma still contributes to a reluctance to seek help, nearly half of those who don't obtain treatment for a mental illness cite cost as the primary barrier. And NASMHPD reports that more than a third of people with mental illness have no health insurance to defray the cost, compared to one-sixth of the general population without insurance.

At Larimer Center for Mental Health, we see how lives are changed when barriers to access are overcome and people receive the mental health treatment they need. As the leading provider of affordable, comprehensive mental health care in Larimer County, we serve 6,300 of your neighbors and loved ones each year. When their mental health needs are met, these individuals and their families have a renewed hope and a restored ability to contribute to our community.

With effective treatment available both locally and nationwide, it's shameful that so many people with mental illness continue to fall through the cracks in our health care system. Many of the areas where overall health policy needs to improve-expanded access to quality care, public education and early intervention-are also areas where mental health policy needs improvement. Our health care discussions must bring these overlaps to the forefront. Let's seize the opportunity to commit to reform that integrates general health and mental health care. You can begin by informing yourself with legislative updates at the Mental Health America Web site (www.nmha.org) and by encouraging your legislators to remember mental health as they shape our new health care policies.