In the past week there has been an article in The Baltimore Sun by Meredith Cohn regarding health reform, but more importantly a change in provisions for the mentally ill. The article provides real-world examples of mentally ill people who have suffered from the lack of insurance. For example, Deneice Valentine suffered from stress and major depression, but after losing her health insurance she took a downward spiral. She lost her home in Baltimore, custody of her children, and the ability to care for herself. These types of stories provide an emotional appeal to the issue of mental health because these are everyday people just like us. While the reform for mental health care would be very beneficial for the mentally ill it is also very costly. According to Cohn, "the bill for health care reform is expected to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars." In terms of how it would affect people individually, there would be a 1 to 3 percent raise in premiums for everyone. While the idea seems great for raising money so that stories like Deneice Valentine's don't occur again it also puts a serious toll on others. For example, if a person only makes $9 dollars an hour then this 1 to 3 percent mandate for health reform is quite costly for that person, but they will be forced to pay it. Numerous statistics are provided to reinforce the seriousness of the issue. Some statistics include the fact that an estimated one in four uninsured Americans suffer from a mental health condition. With those kind of statistics, shouldn't there be a urgency to change the current mental health policy? Even more so, shouldn't there be a reform that helps the mentally ill, but also isn't too costly for those who aren't making as much?
This brings us back to the impromptu debate we had about anorexics and bulimic patients and how we should deal with them. Some may argue that depression is a self-inflicted symptom and can be cured by those closest to them without medical attention. I'm sure policy makers are in the process of working out the kinks with everything about health care, including mental health. Personally, if I was on the higher end of financial status, I wouldn't mind paying some extra accordingly in aiding the lower class. But I can also see why some people can be upset about being penalized by paying a bigger percentage of their income for working hard to get to where they are. It is difficult to have a nonpartisan point of view about money in a money-revolving world.
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