Max Tillett, a 21 year-old, sadly lost his battle to addiction and mental illness in 2015 two months after being released from the Beauterre Recovery Institute.
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Article Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/05/25/equal-mental-health-insurance-coverage-elusive-despite-legal-guarantee/
Max Tillett, a 21 year-old, sadly lost his battle to addiction and mental illness in 2015 two months after being released from the Beauterre Recovery Institute. Tillett was admitted due to his addiction to heroin, however, his drug abuse started when he was prescribed opioids from a high school football injury. Along with his battle, he suffered from head injuries, bipolar depression, and a sleeping disorder. Max was experiencing a lot of progress until United Behavioral Health cut off his benefits, only paying for 21 days out of the 45 days the institute recommended for his treatment. This forced Beauterre to release Tillett to outpatient care. After his overdose, United paid the full cost of the effort to revive him because it was a medical emergency. A major cause of the mental health crisis has been the coverage of unequal mental and physical health insurance. The reason is because mental health is not seen as a big health problem compared to physical conditions. For example, the article talks about the January report to Congress on how government revenue paid for nutritional counseling for medical conditions but never mentioned mental problems like eating disorders. It is hard for patients that are struggling with mental issues to find treatments that insurance might cover. In regard to analogous medical services, a 2019 report found that consumers are five times more likely to use out-of-network providers. They struggle with administrative roadblocks, network shortfalls, and more limiting benefits when pursuing psychotherapy and drug treatment than coverage for physical health.
If Max Tillett was provided the help he needed and was allowed to stay in the center longer, he would have been able to recover. It is unfair that United would not cover his full treatment but fully pay for the effort to revive him. Mental health benefits and coverage should be the same as physical benefits and coverage. The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 and the Mental Health Addiction and Equity Act of 2008 has helped with the equality and with these placed into action we should theoretically reach full parity. However, there are some challenges when trying to fully provide. Before the Covid pandemic 53 million adults admitted that they struggled with some type of mental illness and that number has tripled since then. There is no short-term fix as we face the shortage of mental health providers and inpatient psychiatric beds. Insurance reimbursement rates are lower for psychiatric services and providers do not make enough money as others so no one wants to work in this field. The use of telehealth visits has increased and people with lesser credentials are allowed to take the mental care workload to create more access.
The stakeholders are the people who struggle with mental issues that are trying to find help. There are many limitations when seeking any assistance as many people can not afford insurance or are not provided by their jobs. Although, someone who has insurance might not cover the treatment one needs. Standards need to be changed with insurance policies so they can fully or partially cover someone’s treatment. Policies should be made to make sure patients are fully protected and able to receive the care they need. Many people with mental illnesses and the people around them are affected by this. When those who struggle are not able to find help, it makes them feel alone because they think no one will understand. Like Max, he struggled with bipolar disorder and depression. People will depend on drugs to relieve the pain and in many cases it could lead to overdosing. The opioid epidemic has been a huge problem in the United States and the government can try to tighten down this issue by collaborating with law enforcement, health, and social services agencies.
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