Insurers Push Back On White House Proposal For Mental Health Coverage
Requirements proposed by the Biden administration aim to reduce out-of-pocket costs for mental health treatment. But insurers say that they would drive up prices instead and that the standards are unrealistic amid a shortage of providers.
The Wall Street Journal:
Insurers Spar With Biden Administration Over Coverage For Mental Health Care
Many consumers with insurance are forced to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars a year on mental-health care despite a 15-year-old law that is supposed to make such treatment as affordable and accessible as any other type of medical care. Now the Biden administration wants to impose new requirements on insurers that it says would reduce out-of-pocket costs for mental-health care and substance-use-disorder treatment. The insurance industry is firing back, arguing the proposal would drive up prices and set impossible-to-meet standards. (Armour, 10/29)
KFF Health News:
When That Supposedly Free Annual Physical Generates A Bill
Christine Rogers of Wake Forest, North Carolina, didn’t hesitate when she was asked to fill out a routine mental health questionnaire during a checkup last November. Her answers on the form led her primary care doctor to ask about depression and her mood, and Rogers said she answered honestly. “It was a horrible year. I lost my mom,” Rogers said she told her physician. After what Rogers estimates was a five-minute conversation about depression, the visit wrapped up. She said her doctor did not recommend treatment nor refer her for counseling. (Appleby, 10/30)
On the Alaska Airlines incident —
CNN:
Alaska Airlines Incident Renews Calls For FAA To Address Pilot Mental Health Reform
Countless professional pilots are calling on the FAA to take up “decades overdue” mental health reform after one of their own was charged with trying to crash an Alaska Airlines flight. (Muntean and Wallace, 10/29)
NBC News:
Psychedelics And Mental Health Issues: What You Should Know
What many people don’t understand about psychedelics, said psychiatrist Dr. Joshua Woolley, director of the translational psychedelic research program at the University of California, San Francisco, is the impact can last for days, weeks or longer after the substance is no longer detectable in the body. In a new study, British researchers described the experiences of 608 people who were willing to talk about long-lasting difficulties that occurred after they had taken psychedelic drugs. ... According to the new study, 15% of the participants experienced “derealization," or confusion or uncertainty over what was real in the days, weeks or months after a psychedelic experience. (Carroll, 10/29)
In other mental health news —
BorderBelt:
Children's Mental Health Swamps Rural Providers
A 9-year-old girl who spent four months last year inside the Columbus County hospital’s emergency department lashed out at nurses and clawed at the drywall. She wasn’t allowed to use a fork over fears she would use it as a weapon. Each day, staff at the Columbus Regional Healthcare System tried desperately to secure a bed for the child at a pediatric mental health facility. But such placements can be hard to find in North Carolina. (Rappaport, 10/28)
BorderBelt:
Mental Healthcare Limited For Foster Children
Amanda Price and her husband were finally in the process of adopting their three daughters in 2022. The couple had fostered the girls for four years and had planned to adopt them in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays. The wait was hard on the biological sisters, who are now 6, 10 and 11. The older girls struggled with memories of being shuffled around the foster care system. The oldest lived in three different homes before landing with the Prices. At school, the middle child was teased for having a different last name than her parents. “They’ve been through so much in their short years,” Price said. (Baldauf, 10/29)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Program That Helps Those With Severe Mental Illness Get Jobs Expands Across Missouri
For nearly 20 years, Kenney Willis was afraid to get a job. He had worked a couple days at a convenience store but was fired after he couldn’t find the potato wedges and spilled the pizza sauce. “I worked once, and I failed, and I didn’t think I could do it again,” said Willis, 40, who has bipolar disorder and lives in a group home in Farmington. Bipolar disorder causes unusual shifts in mood, energy and concentration. (Munz, 10/29)
Chicago Tribune:
Mayor Brandon Johnson's Mental Health Investments Spark Questions
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget comes at a crossroads moment for the Chicago Department of Public Health. More than three years after COVID-19 placed the Health Department on the front lines and made it among the most vital and prominent departments in the city, Johnson’s decisions on prioritizing spending there as federal pandemic dollars dry up will help shape how prepared Chicago is should another significant public health crisis arise. (Byrne, 10/30)
