The chief Republican champion for mental health reform says a new proposal from Hillary Clinton advances some major goals but falls short in a few places, too.
Rep. Tim Murphy, the Pennsylvania Republican whose bipartisan mental health bill was passed by the House last month, said he’s glad the plan released Monday by the Clinton campaign heavily emphasizes integrating patients’ physician and mental healthcare.
That’s also an aim in his bill, as Americans are often treated in silos without doctors coordinating on all their health needs to ensure comprehensive, effective treatment.
“The part of this that I think is very helpful is integrating physical and mental health,” Murphy told the Washington Examiner. “It is supremely important to have these work together.”
Clinton’s plan shares some other goals with Murphy’s bill, too, like ensuring insurers are complying with an existing law requiring them to cover mental healthcare on par with how they cover physical healthcare and prioritizing treatment over punishment for non-violent, mentally ill offenders.
“Her goal is that within her time in office, Americans will no longer separate mental health from physical health when it comes to access to care or quality of treatment,” said a statement from the Clinton campaign Monday.
Both the Murphy and Clinton plans also focus on suicide prevention, improving access to community-based treatment and early identification of children with mental health struggles.
Clinton also promised that, as president, she would hold a White House meeting on mental health during her first year in the White House.
Murphy’s bill is much more detailed than Clinton’s set of broad, sweeping ideas to improve how millions of Americans get treated for mental illnesses, but they could represent a starting point for GOP legislators to work with the White House on the issue next year, should Clinton win.
Murphy said the Clinton plan “absolutely” gives him hope of Democrats and Republicans working together on mental health reform — although he’s hoping that will happen before the election. Ideally, the Senate would pass its own version once Congress returns to session in September and then merge it with his own plan, Murphy said.
The window for mental health reform is quickly closing, as lawmakers are planning another long recess after a brief fall session to campaign before the November election.
“We have to get it done by the end of September because my fear is if we don’t, the whole thing dies and we have to start all over again,” Murphy said.
Policymakers almost uniformly agree that the U.S. needs mental health reform, as patients struggle to access to the treatments they need, lack coordination between their physical and mental healthcare, and are incarcerated at disproportionately high rates.
But lawmakers also have differences over how to address the problems with policy changes. Murphy said he’s disappointed that in her plan Clinton didn’t voice support for changes to medical privacy laws to make it easier for family members to get information about their severely ill loved one or assisted outpatient treatment programs where a judge can mandate treatment for someone before they ever commit a crime.
Clinton’s plan also emphasizes help for suicidal youth, but Murphy feels Americans of all ages need to be addressed, as the suicide rate is highest among the elderly. And he said the Clinton plan encourages peer support for the mentally ill, but doesn’t do enough to ensure they get care from medical professionals.
“Her bill emphasizes peer support, and that is okay, but those aren’t treatment providers,” Murphy said.
Murphy was forced to tone down some of those ideas in his own bill to win support from Democrats.
He had wanted to loosen medical privacy laws to give family members of the severely mentally ill access to their care information more easily, but the final bill instead directs the Department of Health and Human Services to explore making that change through the rule-making process to allow for public input.
Murphy’s bill also contains a stripped-down provision that originally had required states to set up a court-mandated treatment program, which the Clinton plan doesn’t mention.
Several leading mental health groups applauded Clinton’s proposal Monday. The American Psychiatric Association, which also supports the Murphy bill, said it’s glad Clinton is addressing mental health during the 2016 election and said her plan would “greatly improve the nation’s mental healthcare system.”
“[Clinton’s] plan promotes early intervention and prevention, stronger enforcement of parity laws so psychiatric conditions are treated the same as other illnesses, and investments in brain and behavioral research,” group President Maria Oquendo said. “All of these measures are huge steps in the right direction.”
Mental Health America President Paul Gionfriddo said he is pleased the Clinton proposal focuses on treating mental health as a part of overall health and focuses on earlier interventions.
“It is a solid, comprehensive plan,” Gionfriddo said.
