The Long, Long Wait for Mental Health Care

Insurance companies routinely balk at paying for such treatment, passing the cost of illness on to families, schools and the children themselves, who without treatment will continue to suffer, often for years. Effective treatment for childhood psychiatric illness could reverse this course and cut costs in the long run, if our policy makers could ensure that every child has access to the right treatment at the right time. The article states that "There is often little accepted medical evidence to support the range of treatments for many mental illnesses, like schizophrenia and severe depression." But evidence-based treatments for these two diseases are some of the longest and best established in medicine. Of course, treating mental illness is different than treating a heart bypass or hip replacement, but that doesn't justify paying for one and not the other.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/business/the-long-long-wait-for-mental-health-care.html?partner=rss&emc=rss