Project Access: a small group effort to improve access to mental health care in the U.S.

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 2008, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act became law in the United States. This law affirms that all people in America should have a right to health-care benefits, including needed mental health and substance use services. The law demands that the federal and state government ensure that public and private health plans make certain that people have access to needed behavioral health care and treatment on the same terms and conditions as care and treatment for any other illness, without regard to diagnosis, severity, or cause. The reality, more than 10 years later, is that health plans do not fully comply with the law and government does not adequately enforce it. The author tells the story of organizing a small group of mental health providers, consumers, social work researchers, attorneys and advocates who got together to launch an action research project aimed at addressing this issue and improving access to care.