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Access to Mental Health

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Access to Mental Health
Access to Health Care: The Mental Health Population
Mental health services ended up being far from reached by patients with primary psychiatric disorders. Mental health care means not only improving access but also improving clinical quality and ensuring cultural competence. It is the ability to treat and support programs to encounter individuals on personal terms and in methods that are customarily aware.
Access to mental health care is not as good as than other forms of medical services. Some Americans have reduced access to mental health care amenities because they are living in a countryside setting. Others cannot get to treatment for the reason of shortage of transportation or vast work and household tasks. In some areas, when a mental health professional is accessible, however inpatient psychiatric hospitalization is not. Urban health centers may have such time-consuming waiting lists that mentally ill persons give up on getting care.
Population Affected
Neighborhood segregation leads to unequal access to mental health care. The lack of professionals in minority communities means that looking a mental health practitioner may be a challenge. Moreover, among Asians and Hispanics, the shortage of providers who can communicate the language can be an additional barrier to mental health care. The expansion of Medicaid qualification to about all low-income grown-ups is a critical segment of the scope in the 2010 Affordable Care Act (The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation [KFF], 2014). The Medicaid expansion offers a connection between new private coverage options obtainable through either Health Insurance Marketplaces or companies and the prevailing Medicaid program, which formerly had numerous gaps in coverage for adults. Medicaid eligibility typically was restricted to low-income persons in a specified group, such as children, parents, elderly, or persons with disabilities. In some states, low-income adults without dependent children were not eligible for



References: Abood, S. (2007). Influencing health care in the legislative arena. OJIN, 12(1). doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol12No01Man02 American Nurses Association Amidei, N. (2002). So you want to make a difference. Advocacy is the key. (14th ed.). Washington, D.C.: OMB Watch. Carolla, B. (2013). What has your state done to improve mental health care? Retrieved from http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Top_Story/What_Has_Your_State_Done_to_Improve_Mental_Health_Care_.htm Ensign, J Gable, L. (2011). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, public health, and the elusive target of human rights. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 39(3), 340-354. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2011.00604.x Grace, P., & Willis, D Kaye, H. J. (2011). FDR’s Second Bill of Rights: Necessitous men are not free men. Retrieved from http://www.nextnewdeal.net/fdrs-second-bill-rights-necessitous-men-are-not-free-men NAMI O’Donnell, M., Proberts, M., & Parker, G. (1998). Development of a consumer advocacy program. Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Psychiatry, 32(6), 873-879. Sommers, B. D., Baicker, K., & Epstein, A. M. (2012). Mortality and access to care among adults after state Medicaid expansions. New England Journal of Medicine, 367, 1025-1034. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa1202099 Sorrell, J

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