Perhaps it's no coincidence that at the end of covering back-to-back political conventions I'm thinking about mental illness.
With the Sarah Palin vetting process by the national media in full gear, I was glad to learn about one non-partisan effort to tackle a touchy problem—the nation's sanity. I never thought I'd be at the Republican National Convention thinking about sanity, er, mental health. But here I am, mainly because I heard a story yesterday that won't leave me. At a Creative Coalition lunch, the actor/director Giancarlo Esposito related a tale of 27-year-old man who had it all: A great job that earned him a sweet salary, a nice house, a wonderful family. "He just can't find a way to be happy," Esposito said. Now, this certainly wasn't the centerpiece of the speeches about mental health reform at that lunch. The speakers told of harrowing examples of mental illness like a mother, off her meds, coming at her son with a knife so he could join his sister, whom she had just sent "to heaven."
But the example of the young man who just couldn't find a way to be happy is the story that keeps ringing in my ears. This kind of subtle, unnoticed malaise masks the suffering of many. About 54 million Americans, I've learned, are plagued with various forms of various mental illnesses and depression. Some afflictions are out there and obvious, but many suffer silently, often not knowing what is wrong. They can't get help because insurance companies put mental illness in an entirely different category, as if it's plastic surgery or a Botox treatment.
Making it's way through Congress right now is a piece of legislation that would require health insurance companies to cover mental diseases as any other affliction. After a decade of wrangling with the House, Senate, and all interests groups, this bill is close to becoming law. If it does, health plans must make benefits for mental treatments the same as other medical surgical benefits. No higher copayments and deductibles. No higher out-of-pocket expenses. A Government Accountability Office report shows that 90 percent of health plans do impose such limits on mental health treatments. That would end.
Republican Minnesota Congressman Jim Ramstad made a little news when he told us the bill is about three weeks away from going to the president's desk for his signature (as soon as the House and Senate settle on an actual title of the bill! Of all the hold-ups...). Ramstad, a recovering alcoholic, co-sponsored the bill with Democrat Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who's battled his own addiction. Once law, Ramstad says, insurance companies will treat "diseases of the brain like diseases of the body."
Economically, this make a lot of sense. According to a Wall Street Journal and the National Institute of Mental Health, depression costs. It's annual toll on U.S. businesses amounts to about $70 billion between lost workdays, lack of productivity and other costs. Additionally, more than $11 billion in other costs accrue from decreased productivity due to symptoms that sap energy, affect work habits, cause problems with concentration, memory, and decision-making.
Way too many people who function half-way, or not at all, because of an unexplained gray cloud that has permanently gathered over their heads I think about people who exist in this state all the time who may not be getting help because their insurance companies don't consider this kind of problem worthy of the coverage they award a case of bronchitis, kidney stones, or high blood pressure. Perhaps the biggest message here is also a subtle one—total health includes what's happening in your head.