Latest KFF Health News Stories
New Insurance Policies Must Cover Mental Illness
Anyone who buys a plan through the new online marketplaces will find mental health services covered as one of 10 “essential health benefits.”
Doors To Treatment Opening For Poor Illinoisans Struggling With Mental Illness
Federal and state laws expand psychiatric coverage, but some experts fear care will be in short supply.
‘Peers’ Seen Easing Mental Health Worker Shortage
Peer programs such as Georgia’s “certified peer specialist” licenses could become especially important once the Affordable Care Act takes effect early next year.
Colorado Weighs Reopening A Psychiatric Hospital To Serve The Homeless
A proposal by Gov. John Hickenlooper would bring mentally ill and addicted homeless people to Fort Lyon, a one-time mental hospital, then prison, that’s been shuttered for two years. The patients would voluntarily come to the institution. And the tiny town of Las Animas would welcome the jobs that reopening the facility would create.
Triage System Helps Colleges Treat Mentally Ill Students
Colleges and universities across the country have seen an influx of students with mental health needs.
Oklahoma Looks for Ways to Keep Mentally Ill Ex-offenders Out of Prison
Oklahoma prisoners with mental illnesses face a myriad of obstacles in rejoining society, but a state program seeks to reintroduce them to society, keep them on medication and save them from returning to prison.
Nation’s Jails Struggle With Mentally Ill Prisoners
More Americans receive mental health treatment in prisons and jails than in hospitals or treatment centers, yet the criminal justice system was never built to handle people with mental illnesses. A judge in Miami-Dade County is trying to prevent those with mental illnesses who have committed minor crimes from ending up in jail.
Justice Dept. Pushes For Services To Move Patients Out Of Mental Hospitals
Sweeping agreement with Georgia points to new Obama administration campaign to ensure people with mental illness and developmental disabilities get community services and are not forced into institutions.
Kansas Mental Hospitals Beyond Capacity
The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has suspended voluntary admissions to the state’s three hospitals for the mentally ill because they are full.
