Mental Health Parity Should be Part of Health Care Debate

During its final weeks as a print edition newspaper, Michigan-based Ann Arbor News made an eloquent appeal on its editorial page for parity in mental health insurance with physical health insurance policies. The topic derived from state legislation being offered up that encourages parity along these lines. For those who don’t know, the News was the paper of record for 174 years in this city which is home to the University of Michigan. It recently ceased publication of its printed edition and has gone to a nearly exclusive online publication schedule. More important here, though, is the fact the U of M is known not only for its football team but also for producing highly trained doctors and having a world class research and health care facility. A message about supporting parity between mental health care and physical health care insurance was a powerful one coming from a newspaper that reports from this important health care community.

I found it a welcomed message as I have long been an advocate of this. We, as a country, are at a stage now where we are coming to accept the fact there is more than a causal link between mental health conditions and physical ones. And that mental health conditions are increasingly recognized as having both physical manifestations and physical causes. Evidence of this is found in research that indicates that hormonal and chemical imbalances play a large role in depression. The nature versus nurture discussion has come to be reconciled with understanding in many facets of society that, while environment and personal choices certainly play a role in some mental health conditions, a physical manifestation—and cause—can almost always be found to be contributing as well. This is most readily seen in conditions of various addictions such as alcohol and cocaine but also eating disorders as well.

As the larger debate rages on in Washington about how the health care behemoth is going to be brought under some sort of manageable control, the mental health aspect should not be forgotten. We can no longer leave mental health needs to the oversimplification of a person merely needing to “man up” or “move on” or “get a life”; while cute phrases, they are clearly archaic at best, and a hallmark of ignorance at worst.

The partisan wrangling over health care may get much worse before it gets better, but for certain this country must bring its health care costs in line, and part of that must include giving mental health care all the consideration it has long deserved as an equal in the health care equation.

In Times like These, We Need Commonsense…Not Mega Millions

In my home state of Michigan the most recent report from the labor statistics people is that we are somewhere near 15% unemployment. This gives us the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment in the nation.

Yet today, as I was on my way to my office I saw that the mega million lottery game is up to $106 million. I was thunderstruck by the contradiction of it all. Here we are in a state in the throes of hyper-unemployment and there are veritable millions available for some lucky winner or handful of winners, if the million to one odds lean in their favor should they buy a mega million ticket.

And, yes, my fuming becomes even whinier when the fact that the lottery is as much financed by the players as it is by the legislatively dedicated revenue that is overseen by a very above board, and transparent, lottery commission.

To be clear, I am not arguing the merits of the legitimacy of the lottery itself, but rather the perception created by this huge jackpot.

As my wife pointed out to me recently, no matter how it’s rationalized, given the number of families in Michigan struggling to make ends meet, a huge lottery jackpot is a glaring (disturbing) presence when juxtaposed with the dialogue about stimulus money and bailout packages. Yes, the commonsensical retort is that lottery programs represent the will of the majority of the people who voted to make this sort of thing legal. But like CEOs getting big fat severance packages, it just doesn’t look right in the times we living.

So maybe what I’m talking about means little. But maybe to someone who can only wish to have a million to one chance of staying the hand of foreclosure or keeping the utilities on for just one more day, maybe this means the world to that person. And it is to that person this blog entry is so dedicated.