A recent article in the Los Angeles Times discussed some of the barriers that may confront people seeking mental health and substance abuse treatment. 

One, of course, is the availability of insurance coverage. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 was designed to raise the coverage of mental health and substance abuse treatment services to be on parity with the coverage of other medical conditions. And under the Affordable Care Act, adopted in 2010, the coverage of mental health and substance abuse services is considered to be an essential element of a qualified health plan. Taking these two pieces of legislation together, one would expect the obstacles to obtaining insurance coverage for these services to now be rapidly falling away.

But real change is often slow in coming. "Just because the law changed not everything goes into effect,” observed Kita Curry, CEO of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services in Los Angeles, who was interviewed by Los Angeles Times reporter Lisa Zamosky. “It's a big ship; you can't just turn it around overnight.” 

One other issue is that it can also be difficult for patients to find a substance abuse program that offers quality care, at least according to Thomas McLellan, the chief executive of a nonprofit substance abuse research organization in Philadelphia. "Unrealistic claims are made by organizations, and there's not much solid information," he is quoted as saying. No doubt some organizations provide high-quality care while others perhaps do not.  

The full text of the Los Angeles Times story can be found here.

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