Mental Health Reforms

[Date of Submission]Mental Health Reforms

Introduction

In the second half of the twentieth century, the government of the United States began focusing on the pressing issue of mental health care when it transferred the fiscal responsibility of individuals suffering from mental illness to the federal government. During that half, it became clearly evident that the system had failed to achieve the desired results, and it has resulted in inflicting excessive damage both in terms of money and the human lives. In the history of United States, no program, which has been initiated with such good intentions, had failed as badly as did the mental health program. Consequently, a great majority of those patients who have been deinstitutionalized from hospitals and those who fell mentally ill after the closure of hospital were rendered homeless, made to live in board-and-care homes or incarnated in prisons and jails, thereby further complicating the issue. There is a need for reforms in the health sector regarding mental health.

Background

The mental and behavioral disorders have considerable impact on individuals, families and communities, and currently it is estimated that 12% of the world population suffer from some mental illness, but the report of the World Health Organization, 2001, also points out that these disorders will be the second leading cause of illness in year is 2020. The mental health care policy instituted in the United States and is premised on the fundamental concept of deinstitutionalization and humanization. Experts in health care believe that health care reforms by the Obama Administration made sure, to some extent, that mental health services should form part of the services provided by the health law.

More than a quarter of U.S. adults have a diagnosable mental health problem, but less than half receive treatment. In the last three years the U.S. government has cut more than 4.35 billion dollars for the services (National Association of State Mental Health Program) and private care is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. In 2012, 85 percent of employers offered some form of benefit for mental health. In America, starting in 2014, insurance plans, will include mental health benefits as any other medical condition..

The national and state mental health guidelines point to the need for reorganization of mental health care at all levels of care, to ensure quality of life.

Mental Health Services as Basic Human Right

Health is a fundamental human right. Therefore the state must provide the conditions essential to its full realization, through social and economic actions and policies, that should be aimed at minimizing the risks of mental diseases and other hazards related to the mental health of a person and to establish conditions that ensure universal and equal access to actions and services for the promotion, protection and recovery of individual and collective health including both the mental and the physical health of the citizen.

Universality of Mental Health Services

The government should work in collaboration with nongovernmental institutions, communities, health care experts and other stakeholders for the provision of guaranteed access to health services ...