ACA May Help On Mental Health
Hundreds of thousands of Californians currently falling through the cracks in terms of receiving mental health services are expected to benefit greatly from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
A new UCLA study concluded that as many as 500,000 residents could have access to mental health services they previously could not receive.
The presumption of the UCLA study is that those uninsured Californians will get mental health services once they receive healthcare coverage, either through the Cover California health insurance exchange or through the expansion of Medi-Cal.
That is primarily because the benefits mandated by the ACA are also governed by the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. That requires that coverage for many facets of mental health and substance services be equal to the healthcare services provided.
According to UCLA data from 2009, nearly 70% of adult Californians who lacked health insurance and had mental health needs didn’t receive the mental health treatment they needed in the past year. By comparison, 40% of adults with public insurance coverage and 46% with private insurance did not get the services the needed.
Overall, the study calculated that as many as 254,400 Californians who have mental health needs but lack insurance would pick up coverage through the expansion of Medi-Cal, while 228,500 would receive coverage through the health insurance exchange.
“Healthcare reform has the potential to dramatically increase the number of Californians who can access mental health services,” said Imelda Padilla-Frausto, a UCLA graduate student researcher who is also the study’s lead author. “Many people who are in desperate need of mental health services could finally be receiving the comprehensive and affordable treatment they need.”
Padilla-Frausto also urged providers and affiliated organizations attempt to address some of the current barriers that exist to obtaining mental health services, such as the fear of being stigmatized. Such anxieties are particularly high among the Asian and Latino communities, according to UCLA data. However, the study also concluded that
nearly 59,000 state residents with mental health needs – virtually all of whom are Latino – won't have access to insurance because citizenship issues preclude them from benefiting from the ACA.
“The full implementation of healthcare reform in 2014 is an opportunity to improve anti-stigma programs and to tailor mental health services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate to reach ethnically diverse populations,” Padilla-Frausto said.
