It looks like we’re taking an important step toward treating mental health issues as illnesses that should be taken as seriously as physical ailments. Congress is (hopefully) about to pass legislation that requires employers to offer mental health coverage at the same level as physical coverage. The downside is that it will of course raise costs to employers who will then spread that around to employees and customers, but the long-term benefit to employees and ultimately to businesses are worth it.
The antiquated notion that mental health issues are all in someone’s head needs to go. Yes, there are definitely people who have excuses or the ‘victim illness,’ but there are too many people who have been denied the opportunity to address a real problem simply because it wasn’t covered by their insurance. We need to keep moving toward a holistic and preventive model of health and get away from a limited view of health and a repair-only model.
Let’s hope it passes this time. That was on the agenda for Tipper Gore and had we had Gore rather than Bush it would have been true 7 years ago. We can find the money for welfare for corporations but not for the basic needs of our citizens.
Yeah, I think this is long overdue.