Advocacy Programs to Address Disparities in Mental Health and Addiction Management

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The CHOICES Program
Advocacy Program
Mental Health Coverage Modification
Benefits of Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Patients who are diagnosed with primary psychiatric problems ultimately have a difficult time accessing mental health services. Regarding mental health care, ensuring cultural competency and increasing clinical quality are just as important as expanding access to treatment options. The accessibility of care for mental illnesses is not on par with other types of medical treatments. Some people in the United States have difficulty accessing the resources necessary for mental health care due to poverty. Others cannot receive medical care because there is a lack of available transportation to access the hospitals. Although mental health professionals may be easily accessible in certain regions, inpatient psychiatric hospitalization may not be. The essay will examine programs and advocacy resources that ought to be used to alleviate the disparity among mentally ill and substance-addicted populations. In addition to this, the significance of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) will be discussed.

The CHOICES Program

The CHOICES program is a one-of-a-kind initiative to assist smokers with mental illnesses through peer-driven community outreach. The CHOICES initiative has a wide-ranging scope, and the feedback that customers and industry professionals have provided regarding the program has been quite encouraging. A few different programs have emerged due to efforts to combat tobacco use among people with mental illnesses (Pinedo, 2019). These projects involve customers in the planning and transportation of services. The CHOICES program is a great example of how a successful wellness and rehabilitation project might look from multiple angles.

The program seeks to reduce the harm caused by tobacco use in a population that is particularly susceptible to its effects and targets a population with significant unmet demand for medical care. The utilization of peer-offered services is crucial to the efficacy of this strategy. Employing peer counselors is an efficient method for eliminating the stigma associated with mental illness and substance abuse (Brouwers, 2020). Other benefits of a peer-to-peer intervention include the shared experiences of clients who understand mental illness and its associated challenges (Earnshaw, 2020). It is not surprising that smokers find it easier to discuss tobacco with a peer counselor than with a doctor or mental health counselor.

Advocacy Program

Due to the absence of coverage offered by state Medicaid programs, the problem with the community’s overall health likely resides in a population segment that is unable to receive care, especially individuals with mental health concerns. In order to fulfill the demands of the population serviced by state Medicaid programs, a plan requiring a shift in strategy must be released (Fagrell Trygg et al., 2019). The objective of this project is to solicit additional cooperation from residents and to encourage various stakeholders to change the scope of the newly introduced Medicaid program. When building advocacy campaigns, it is vital to utilize the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) techniques to gain support for policy formation and engage with a wide range of stakeholders (Loeb et al., 2021). Two other ways of sharing knowledge include utilizing various forms of media and involving persons from all parts of society.

Mental Health Coverage Modification

The “coverage gap” affects close to 5 million low-income persons without health insurance in the United States. The decision modify mental health coverage resulted from numerous states’ unwillingness to extend their Medicaid programs. The Affordability and Accessibility Act (ACA) was enacted to overcome state-by-state coverage gaps (Morales et al., 2020). One of the variables contributing to the observed discrepancies is that many people living below the poverty line lack health insurance.

The development of state Medicaid programs accessible to all adults with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line is a key component of this strategy. A huge number of previously uninsured individuals will be eligible for Medicaid in states that expand their Medicaid programs, according to the law. If states choose not to implement the expansion, the Affordable Care Act will remain out of reach for many uninsured adults, and they will continue to have few options for health coverage. The modification reduces the financial burden connected with therapy, encouraging persons with mental health disorders to seek the help of competent medical specialists.

Benefits of Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act

The policy established by the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act aims to eliminate all disparities between the insurance coverage for general medical treatments and the coverage for mental health services. The MHPAEA can help those who may require the most intensive treatment and the highest level of financial protection (Tran Smith et al., 2017). Consequently, health plans must pay close attention to their benefits to verify that they comply with the law’s specific standards. The MHPAEA incorporates financial requirements and treatment restrictions as part of its patient safeguards. It was put into law in 2008, and it stipulates that mental health and substance addiction disorder benefits cannot have more limits or limitations than normal medical and surgical benefits (Tran Smith et al., 2017). Copayments, deductibles, and coinsurance are examples of treatment limitations that are easily quantifiable and, as a result, easily comparative between mental health and substance abuse benefits and medical and surgical benefits. It is relatively simple to evaluate, for instance, whether a particular mental health benefit is subject to a higher coinsurance than a specific medical treatment.

Conclusion

Monetary considerations and stigma contribute to disparities in the treatment of mental illness and substance abuse. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to devise advocacy strategies to ensure that the impacted population receives healthcare services on an equal footing with other populations. It is essential to make use of peer advocates in order to address the situation because this helps to remove the stigma that is associated with mental health.

References

Brouwers, E. P. (2020). Social Stigma is an underestimated contributing factor to unemployment in people with mental illness or mental health issues: Position Paper and future directions. BMC Psychology, 8(1). Web.

Earnshaw, V. A. (2020). Stigma and substance use disorders: A clinical, research, and advocacy agenda. American Psychologist, 75(9), 1300–1311. Web.

Fagrell Trygg, N., Gustafsson, P. E., & Månsdotter, A. (2019). Languishing in the crossroad? A scoping review of intersectional inequalities in Mental Health. International Journal for Equity in Health, 18(1). Web.

Loeb, T. B., Ebor, M. T., Smith, A. M., Chin, D., Novacek, D. M., Hampton-Anderson, J. N., Norwood-Scott, E., Hamilton, A. B., Brown, A. F., & Wyatt, G. E. (2021). How mental health professionals can address disparities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Traumatology, 27(1), 60–69. Web.

Morales, D. A., Barksdale, C. L., & Beckel-Mitchener, A. C. (2020). A call to action to address rural mental health disparities. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 4(5), 463–467. Web.

Pinedo, M. (2019). A current re-examination of racial/ethnic disparities in the use of substance abuse treatment: Do disparities persist?Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 202, 162–167. Web.

Tran Smith, B., Seaton, K., Andrews, C., Grogan, C. M., Abraham, A., Pollack, H., Friedmann, P., & Humphreys, K. (2017). Benefit requirements for substance use disorder treatment in state health insurance exchanges. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 44(4), 426–430. Web.

Yang, K. G., Rodgers, C. R., Lee, E., & Lê Cook, B. (2020). Disparities in mental health care utilization and perceived need among Asian Americans: 2012–2016. Psychiatric Services, 71(1), 21–27. Web.

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