Where Do The Presidential Candidates Stand On Mental Health- Democrats
Joe Biden-
As Vice President, Biden was a champion for implementing the federal mental health parity law. He wanted to improve access to mental health care, and eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness. As President, he vows to redouble these efforts to ensure enforcement of the mental health parity laws and expand funding for mental health services.
Michael Bennet-
Bennet has worked in the past to provide additional resources for mental health services. He promotes Medicare X, which is his answer to the Affordable Care Act. This plan would use the same network of doctors as Medicare, ensure reimbursement rates, and guarantee the essential health benefits that were established in the Affordable Care Act, like mental health services.
Cory Booker-
Booker thinks that those struggling with mental health issues should be connected to support professionals or drug treatment centers, and not thrown in jail or hospitals. As President, he vows to combat the mental health epidemic by using the power of the entire Federal government. He also wants to implement a plan of set proposals around gun access and storage that have been proven to significantly lower the rate of suicide. Booker wants to expand education and training for health care professionals on suicide prevention. He wants to appoint a federal coordinator who will be tasked with the single goal of reducing the suicide rate. He is a co-sponsor of Medicare for All which ensures that everyone who needs mental health care can get it. He wants to help end the stigma, and will ask the Department of Health and Human Services to launch a campaign to fight the stigma. He believes that all schools should have more mental health services available to teachers and students. Booker is a co-sponsor of the Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act which works to ensure that insurance companies are held accountable and are more transparent in their actions.
Steve Bullock-
I wasn't able to find any information specific to mental health care regarding his campaign, but I was able to figure out his stance on general health care. Bullok is striving for for more affordable health care, and wants to make it more accessible to every American. In 2015. he made $1 million dollars in funding available over a two year period to reimburse health facilities that provide short-term voluntary inpatient care for those in mental health crisis.
Pete Buttigieg
In August 2019, Buttigieg released a plan to combat addiction and provide mental health services. The proposal aims to reduce the stigma around mental health and penalizes insurance companies that do not offer mental health coverage. The plan also allocates $10 billion dollars in annual grants to communities to address mental health issues. He is aiming to prevent 1 million deaths by drugs, alcohol or suicide. He also guarantees that 75% of people who need mental health services will receive them by the end of his first term as President. Buttigieg believes in the power of education, and will implement training and education programs for the mental health workforce. He would require every school in America to teach mental health first aid courses. Buttigieg also has a vision of launching a national campaign to end social isolation and loneliness.
Julian Castro-
I wasn't able to find any specific information regarding mental health issues and his campaign. For general health care, he endorses Medicare for All. Regarding gun reform he said,
"I support things like gun buy backs, and things like mental health that touch on what leads people to use guns in a bad way".
John Delaney
"The cost of doing nothing is not nothing, the cost of doing nothing in mental health is despair, depression, anxiety, addiction, and lives".
In May of 2019, Delaney released a plan to address the current mental health crisis. The plan aims to increase access to mental health treatment for every single American. He has long supported mental health, and was a big supporter of the Affordable Care Act. He would work to require and enforce mental health parity in the health care system to ensure that those who need mental health care have the same coverage and access to services as those who need physical health services. Expanding access to mental health care for at-risk populations is very important to him, and he also wants to expand behavioral health options in rural and underserved communities.
Tulsi Gabbard-
She is a big supporter of making mental health care services more accessible for veterans. Her general stance on health care can be summed up with this quote,
"Too many people in this country are getting sick without the care that they need. As President, I will work to ensure all Americans have quality health care and prevent and heal disease".
Kamala Harris-
Harris is a proponent of Medicare for All, and believes that there needs to be more mental health treatment facilities. She is calling for the health care system to be reconstructed so that mental health and substance abuse treatment can be received on demand.
"I believe we should have mental health care on demand, substance abuse treatment on demand, and by that I mean, that like you can go into an emergency room. You should be able to go into a treatment facility and get mental health care and substance abuse treatment on demand".
Amy Klobuchar-
In may 2019, she released a new policy that focuses on treating and preventing substance abuse and mental illness. Her plan also included funding for early intervention of mental disorders and drug use, a national suicide prevention campaign, better access to opioid addiction and other types of treatment, and recruitment of health care workers to underserved rural areas and cities with the highest need. As President, she will commit to prioritizing mental health and substance abuse treatment over incarceration for non-violent offenders.
"The one thing I hear over and over again across the county is people's stories of battling with mental health and addiction-people need help, but they just can't get it, I believe everyone should have the same opportunity my dad had to be pursued by grace and get the treatment and help they need".
Klobuchar has a personal connection with substance abuse due to her father being an alcoholic. Her father sought and completed treatment after his third arrest for driving while intoxicated. He has remained sober ever since.
Wayne Messam-
He believes that if you have certain mental health conditions that you should not have access to a gun. He did not elaborate on what "certain mental health conditions" meant specifically. He is very vague on his general health care stance, and I couldn't find anything specific to his campaign and mental health except for what he thinks about mental illness and guns. On health care he said this,
"I think a common sense approach that provides health care coverage to all Americans is the best way forward".
Beto O'Rourke-
He supports a single payer health care system for all Americans. O'Rourke once told the Texas Tribune that one of his top legislative accomplishments during the Trump era was a bill signed into law that works to expand mental health care to veterans. He thinks that everyone should easily have access to mental health care without worrying about co-pay costs for primary visits and medication. He frequently speaks about Texas County Justice being the number one provider of mental health care in his home state of Texas and the negative impact that it is making.
Tim Ryan-
Ryan wants there to be a mental health counselor in every school in America. He practices daily meditation and is a huge promoter of its benefits. He thinks that children, veterans, CEOs, those serving our country and teachers can benefit from daily meditation and he thinks that it will save the government money in the process. I couldn't find out exactly how he thinks the government will save money though. In September 2019, he introduced the "Teacher Health and Wellness Act" which aims to reduce teacher stress and increase their health which Ryan believes would help boost student achievement.
Bernie Sanders-
He believes that health care is a human right and should be guaranteed to every American without them having to worry about how much it will cost. Sanders thinks that mental health care should be available to all Americans regardless of their income. He believes that there is an extreme mental health crisis currently in the United States. He is a big supporter of universal health care which taxpayers would pay into and would cover health, dental and mental health.
Joe Sestak-
He wants to improve access to drug addiction treatment and boost reimbursement to addiction treatment providers. He believes that the mental health system is failing. Sestak strongly disagrees with mental health professionals who refuse to accept Medicare, Medicaid, and even private insurance because they prefer customers who pay with cash only. He wants policymakers at the state and local level to provide incentives for mental health care providers so that they will take on all patients. Sestak would like to increase the number of hospital beds available for inpatient psychiatric treatment which he claims is currently at the same level that is was in the 1850s. He wants to extend mental health parity protections so that Medicare and Medicaid patients can also access mental health and substance abuse treatment. Currently, mental health parity laws do not apply to Medicare and Medicaid.
Tom Steyer-
I wasn't able to find any information specific to his campaign and mental health. His general health care stance is that he supports a single payer health care system and thinks that there should be a crackdown on pharmaceutical companies. His single payer health care vision is similar to the one of Bernie Sanders. He has been critical of pharmaceutical companies for profiting off of drug sales which he believes created the opioid crisis.
Elizabeth Warren-
Warren believes that the Affordable Care Act really helped to expand access to health care insurance coverage but think that more can be done. She supports Medicare for All and believes that affordable, high quality mental health care should be prioritized. As President, she would pass the "Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act" which would hold insurers accountable for providing mental health benefits and ensure that Americans receive the protections that they are guaranteed by law. She has worked with the Department of Health and Human Services to improve insurers compliance with the mental health parity laws through an online consumer portal.
Marianne Williamson-
Due to statements that she has made in the past, critics say that her views on depression , antidepressants and other treatments could be dangerous, hurt public health efforts and further the stigma that is associated with mental health. She has repeatedly publicly doubted that clinical depression exists and has attacked the use of antidepressants. Williamson recently apologized for calling depression "such a scam" while on a podcast. After a tense interview on CNN, in which Anderson Cooper addressed these problems, her campaign released a statement on "Mental health and antidepressants".
"Williamson has worked with many , many thousands of people in crisis. Some have medical conditions that require and are helped by mental health medications. Williamson is speaking as a concerned American citizen and Presidential candidate; she stays in her lane and does not weigh in on the diagnosis of any individual regarding their medical or mental health condition".
On her website her stance on general health care is confusing, and seems to revolve around environmental policies and cheaper prescription costs. She does support a universal health care system. Here is something from her website regarding mental health,
"We need to find non-pharmacological ways to treat mental health issues, and to take all mental health issues as serious as physical issues, and reduce the stigma of mental health illnesses so that more will seek and receive treatment".
Andrew Yang-
Yang agrees with those who think that there is a mental health crisis in America right now.According to his website, he says that as President he will start a national campaign to address the stigma around mental health, encourage health care systems to integrate mental health professionals into their primary care, inititate mandatory coverage for screenings of new mothers for postpartum depression, increase resources and incentives for mental health professionals in rural communities, and provide incentives to health care systems to improve mental health outcomes and preventative care holistically. He is also a big supporter or AI counselors and counseling and of Medicare for All.
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