Addressing the needs of people with serious mental illnesses

As The Hill noted in its Feb. 11 article “GOP rep: HHS is failing millions of people with mental illnesses,” the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report calling for a more coordinated approach to care for people with serious mental illness at the federal level. We share the GAO’s interest in coordination; however, we believe the report paints an incomplete portrait of the federal government’s ongoing coordination and funding efforts. The report fails to account for the two largest government programs for treatment and services for persons with serious mental illness: Medicaid and Medicare. These programs outspend all other federal programs by more than 7-to-1 in mental health services for children, youth and adults. 

The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the lead federal agency working to reduce the impact of mental illnesses and substance abuse within our nation’s communities. Three-quarters of SAMHSA’s mental health budget is dedicated to serving people with serious mental illness. Every year, about one in five Americans experience a mental illness, and 4.2 percent experience a serious mental illness, such as bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia. 

SAMHSA’s Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, the Children’s Mental Health Initiative, and Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration programs provide medical treatment and recovery support services to millions of Americans with the most serious needs. SAMHSA’s federal leadership and coordination efforts ensure that people with serious mental illness receive vital services and supports for treatment and recovery.

We work closely with our partners across the federal government, state government and private industry to create and improve treatment and support throughout the U.S. Moreover, our work extends beyond government-funded programs. After decades of discriminatory health insurance coverage practices, SAMHSA is now helping to drive the largest expansion of behavioral health care in a generation through its work to implement the Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. 

We are continually seeking opportunities to better meet the complex needs of people with serious mental illnesses, including individual and system-wide coordination. Since 2009 we have made a great deal of progress in improving care coordination, but more work needs to be done.

The president has taken important steps to increase the capacity of the mental health system in the U.S. With the support of families personally impacted by this issue, SAMHSA can build on its leadership and success. We look forward to working with Congress to help all Americans — including those with serious mental illness — lead healthy, full, and productive lives in their communities.

From Pamela S. Hyde, administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, Md.

Fund the DHS already, Congress

It should be a no-brainer: We need to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Who in their right mind would argue otherwise? Now, President Obama shouldn’t have the right to implement executive privilege in dealing with illegal immigration. All he cares about are the votes the Democratic Party will garner at election time. If it weren’t for political correctness and expedience, sanity would prevail. 

Both issues should receive 535-0 votes to do the right thing. Two no-brainers, yet this is how they act in Washington. Virtue (doing what’s right) has become a lost art.

From Jim Black Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.