![]() Our American Rescue Plan delivered nearly $5 billion to expand Federal and State mental health and substance use services. Since I took office, my Administration has been fighting to make that a reality. Health insurers should cover mental health crises the same way they would cover treatment for a broken bone or any other physical health condition. This sense of helplessness strips families of their confidence and dignity. ![]() I have heard the despair from families everywhere, watching their spouse’s, child’s, or loved one’s light dim, knowing they need help but lacking the means to get it. Under this plan, insurers would have to measure how often they require prior authorization for mental health care treatment and how often they deny those requests. Recently, my Administration proposed new steps to meaningfully expand access to mental health care in America, including requiring health insurance plans to identify gaps in the mental health care that they provide and to fix them. ![]() With too few mental health providers in their plan’s network, patients with private insurance are often forced to seek out-of-network care at significantly higher costs, if they can find it. But insurers still make it far too difficult to get mental health care. Parents, teachers, school nurses, and counselors are telling us there is a serious youth mental health crisis happening right now in this country. Nearly 70 percent of our kids who seek care for mental health or substance use cannot get it. For children, the numbers are even worse. In 2021, less than half of all adults with mental illness received care for it. Yet despite the fact that so many Americans struggle with their mental health, treatment is often too expensive or inaccessible. And the suicide rate for veterans was more than 50 percent greater than for non-veteran adults. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24 years old. In 2021, more than 48,000 Americans were lost to suicide, over 12.3 million adults seriously considered suicide, and 1.7 million people attempted suicide. Our goals are to strengthen the mental health system’s capacity, connect more Americans to care, and create healthy environments that strengthen mental health. ![]() We have laid out a strategy to transform how mental health is understood, accessed, treated, and integrated in and out of health care settings. My Administration is working to tackle the mental health crisis, including by addressing the many risk factors associated with suicide - it is a core pillar of my Unity Agenda and one of the big challenges we as a society can overcome together. My Administration remains committed to expanding suicide prevention programs to reach every community in our Nation and ensuring all Americans can receive the care and support they deserve. Though we recognize there is no single cause or single solution to suicide, we know that access to support and treatment can save lives. On World Suicide Prevention Day, we hold all those affected by suicide close in our hearts - the Americans we have lost to this public health problem, the loved ones who mourn their heart-wrenching losses, and all the families and professionals working to support those in crisis.
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