As demand for mental health and addictions treatment grows, insurance coverage must be preserved and expanded. It’s critical that we preserve the guarantee of Medicaid coverage for low income, disabled Americans. Commercial parity must be passed; Medicare parity must follow; and if we accept what research is teaching us–that addictions are chronic, relapsing conditions that require ongoing monitoring and management, just like diabetes, asthma, and yes like mental illnesses–then we must act. We must lead the fight to restore eligibility for social security disability for people with addiction disorders.

Data collected by non-profit organizations documents increased demand and increased numbers of uninsured. States reallocated their general fund mental health dollars to the Medicaid match. And now state plans to cover the uninsured are floundering. This leaves large numbers of individuals with treatable mental illnesses in our overburdened emergency rooms and without access to the services that can engage them, treat them, and return them to work.

We’re denying our economy productive taxpayers. We’re wasting human lives. We must introduce and champion a federal funding stream to cover the mental health and addictions treatment costs of the uninsured. Read the rest of this entry »