Most say not enough being done to ensure affordable mental health care: Survey

Nearly three-fourths of U.S. adults said the government is not doing enough to ensure access to affordable mental health care, a new West Health-Gallup Healthcare survey found.

The survey revealed that 73 percent of Americans said that the government was not doing enough to ensure affordable access to mental health care, compared to 12 percent who said that it was doing about the right amount. Seven percent said the government was doing too much, while another 7 percent said they didn’t know.

The poll, conducted Sept. 9 to 16, comes as the Biden administration released a rule last month requiring health insurers to cover mental health care and addiction services just as they cover other conditions.

The survey showed that most Americans, 79 percent, either strongly or somewhat support the law, compared to the 14 percent that either strongly or somewhat oppose it.

At the same time, 50 percent of adults said they slightly trust or do not trust at all that insurance companies would provide adequate access and coverage for mental health care services, even if the government increased efforts to follow the law.

The survey also showed that large majorities of Democrats, 87 percent, and independents, 73 percent, said that the government wasn’t doing enough to ensure access to affordable mental health care. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans said the government wasn’t doing enough.

The poll revealed that women were 10 percentage points more likely to think the government is not doing enough compared to men, 78 percent to 68 percent.

When asked how likely respondents thought access to affordable mental health care would be in the next five years, 60 percent said that it was either not very likely or not likely at all.

The survey also revealed that women, Black and Hispanic adults seemed more optimistic about future access to affordable mental health care.

The poll surveyed 3,660 U.S. adults. The margin of error is 2 percentage points for results based on the full sample at the 95 percent confidence level.