Politically, There’s Little Public Pressure To Enforce Mental Health Parity Laws, Patrick Kennedy Says

Modern Healthcare: Patrick Kennedy Pressuring Insurers To Boost Mental Healthcare
Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, co-sponsored the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act while serving as a Democratic congressman from Rhode Island. In 2013, he founded the not-for-profit Kennedy Forum to support parity in health insurance coverage for behavioral and addiction treatment and advance evidence-based practices. Kennedy, who wrote a 2015 memoir about his and his family’s struggles with mental illness and addiction, currently is pushing regulators and large employers to crack down on insurers that discriminate against people who need behavioral care. Kennedy recently spoke with Modern Healthcare senior reporter Harris Meyer. The following is an edited transcript. (Meyer, 4/13)

In other news on mental health care —

Wyoming Public Radio: A Closer Look At Access To Mental Health Care: Transportation
The closing of an inpatient psychiatric unit in Lander has highlighted another issue in the state's mental healthcare system. That's the difficulty of transporting a mentally ill patient to and from a hospital. If a person in northern Wyoming needs inpatient psychiatric care, the first thing they need to tackle is how to get to the hospital. (Kudelska, 4/12)

KQED: Young Women In The Eastern Coachella Valley Address Mental Health Through Storytelling
Mental health is a largely stigmatized conversation among young Latina women and other women of color in the Eastern Coachella Valley, a rural, unincorporated area of Riverside County. In 2018, a small group of young women, ranging from ages 15-25, and their adult allies launched a new storytelling collective called ¡Que Madre! Media with the goal of challenging those stigmas through storytelling. (Rodriguez, 4/14)