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New Initiative on Mental Illness

“Our country must make a commitment: Americans with mental illness deserve our understanding, and they deserve excellent care. They deserve a health care system that treats their illness with the same urgency as a physical illness.” With these words President George Bush urged Congress to pass a mental health “parity” bill that would treat mental illness like any other illness.

Currently many insurance plans either don't cover mental illnesses or treat them differently by imposing separate deductibles, co pays and other limitations on care.
President Bush was joined by Senator Pete Domenici as he spoke on the need for mental health parity, “Insurance plans too often place greater restrictions on the treatment of mental illness than on the treatment of other medical illnesses. As a result, some Americans are unable to get effective medical treatments that would allow them to function well in their daily lives.”

The President went on to say, “Our health insurance system must treat serious mental illness like any other disease.… Senator Domenici and I share this commitment: health plans should not be allowed to apply unfair treatment limitations or financial requirements on mental health benefits…We are determined to confront the hidden suffering of Americans with mental illness.”

Senator Domenici, whose daughter suffers from mental illness, will sponsor the president's legislation in the Senate.

Perhaps the President was thinking of the Senator when he said, “As many Americans know, it is incredibly painful to watch someone you love struggle with an illness that affects their mind and their feelings and their relationships with others.”

The President went on to point out remarkable treatments exist, yet many people remain untreated. To achieve the improvements he envisions in our country's mental health system, he identified three obstacles that must be overcome.

“The first obstacle is the stigma, the stigma that often surrounds mental illness — a stigma caused by a history of misunderstanding, fear, and embarrassment. Stigma leads to isolation, and discourages people from seeking the treatment they need. Political leaders, health care professionals, and all Americans must understand and send this message: mental disability is not a scandal; it is an illness. And like physical illness, it is treatable, especially when the treatment comes early.

“Today, new drugs and therapies have vastly improved the outlook for millions of Americans with the most serious mental illnesses, and for millions more with less severe illnesses. The treatment success rates for schizophrenia and clinical depression are comparable to those for heart disease. That's good news in America, and we must encourage more and more Americans to understand, and to seek more treatment.

“The second obstacle to quality mental health care is our fragmented mental health service delivery system.

“The third major obstacle to effective mental health care is the often unfair treatment limitations placed on mental health in insurance coverage.”

By Executive order Mr. Bush created the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. The 15-member Commission will conduct a comprehensive study of the US mental health service delivery system and advise the President on methods of improving the system.

These efforts could significantly help older people. The Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health states the capacity for sound mental health among older adults, notwithstanding, a substantial proportion of the population 55 and older — almost 20% of this age group — experience specific mental disorders that are not part of “normal” aging. Suicide, which is frequently a consequence of depression, is highest among older adults relative to all other age groups.

The President concluded his speech by saying, “We must work for a welcoming and compassionate society, a society where no American is dismissed, and no American is forgotten. This is the great and hopeful story of our country, and we can write another chapter. We must give all Americans who suffer from mental illness the treatment, and the respect, they deserve.”