WASHINGTON TIMES: Medicare and mental health
People who receive Social Security Disability Insurance for two years become eligible for Medicare. Many of these people have mental illnesses. Over the past 12 years, Medicare has improved its coverage for people with mental illnesses by covering most antipsychotic and antidepressant medications. The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicare's coverage to include important therapies to keep people with mental illnesses from needing in-patient treatment. However, there are many problems with Medicare's coverage for people with mental illnesses. In 2008, Congress passed the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. This made insurance companies provide the same level of care for mental illnesses as all health issues, but Medicare does not have to follow this law. It limits in-patient psychiatric care to 190 days for an individual's lifetime but does not set this limit on other hospital stays. Plus, it does not cover most long-term treatments for people with mental illnesses.
