Post by Logan on Jul 8, 2016 7:01:21 GMT -6
Uninsured mentally ill rarely get critical follow-up care in Idaho
As the mental health coordinator at the Boise Police Department, I see the devastating effects Idaho’s health care coverage gap has on our most vulnerable citizens. I work daily with Idahoans suffering from serious and persistent mental health illness, including veterans and people experiencing homelessness.
Sadly, most of these people do not have health insurance and can’t afford medical care. They are a part of the 78,000 Idahoans in the “coverage gap” who do not qualify for traditional Medicaid and earn too little to get assistance purchasing coverage on Idaho’s insurance exchange.
When people without insurance suffer from a mental health crisis, the burden of care falls on the emergency system: police, paramedics, emergency rooms, state hospitals and, all too often, jails. People in this situation typically get little follow-up treatment after their release. Repeatedly, they end up back in an ambulance or police car. I have seen too many people enter this turnstile and never truly receive the care they need. Too often their conditions worsen — a chronic cycle that for some ends in death.
Our health care system in Idaho is set up to treat these people in the most inefficient and expensive way possible, unduly straining the county and state indigent funds. If these Idahoans could get preventive and primary medical and mental health treatment instead, they would be able to escape the chronic cycle they are revolving through. We cannot continue to respond to these issues by defaulting to law enforcement and emergency treatment. We need to address problems before they reach a crisis point through mental health care delivered in a medical setting on a regular basis.
Read more here: www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article88328932.html
As the mental health coordinator at the Boise Police Department, I see the devastating effects Idaho’s health care coverage gap has on our most vulnerable citizens. I work daily with Idahoans suffering from serious and persistent mental health illness, including veterans and people experiencing homelessness.
Sadly, most of these people do not have health insurance and can’t afford medical care. They are a part of the 78,000 Idahoans in the “coverage gap” who do not qualify for traditional Medicaid and earn too little to get assistance purchasing coverage on Idaho’s insurance exchange.
When people without insurance suffer from a mental health crisis, the burden of care falls on the emergency system: police, paramedics, emergency rooms, state hospitals and, all too often, jails. People in this situation typically get little follow-up treatment after their release. Repeatedly, they end up back in an ambulance or police car. I have seen too many people enter this turnstile and never truly receive the care they need. Too often their conditions worsen — a chronic cycle that for some ends in death.
Our health care system in Idaho is set up to treat these people in the most inefficient and expensive way possible, unduly straining the county and state indigent funds. If these Idahoans could get preventive and primary medical and mental health treatment instead, they would be able to escape the chronic cycle they are revolving through. We cannot continue to respond to these issues by defaulting to law enforcement and emergency treatment. We need to address problems before they reach a crisis point through mental health care delivered in a medical setting on a regular basis.
Read more here: www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article88328932.html