Tipper Gore: 25 years after the Mental Health Parity Act, we have more work to do
Gaps persist in our treatment of Americans with mental health conditions. No child should be ripped away from their family’s care to get better.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had dramatic effects on the health and wellness of all Americans. Just as disruptive – and more often overlooked – is the effect the pandemic has had on Americans’ mental health.
We are experiencing a national collective trauma on the scale of hundreds of thousands of deaths, widespread illness, lockdowns, significant disruption in employment, and difficulty raising families and caring for loved ones. During this extremely challenging time, people with mental health conditions have faced reduced access to health care providers, in-person counseling and community support networks.
The fight to improve mental health
Improving the state of mental health in America has been my life’s calling. I got to know the parents of a 7-year-old girl with a severe mental illness. The family had used all of their health care insurance coverage, mortgaged their home to provide continued financial support for care, and were eventually faced with granting custody of their daughter to the state in order to continue her treatment.