Insurance Coverage tagged posts

Illinois Advocates Unite to Tackle High Costs of Treatments

Naoki Nakamura
Chair, DBSA IL Grassroots Organization

Karen was finalizing the dissolution of an 18-year marriage while managing increasing expectations at her demanding job. In order to cope with depression coupled with her Premenstrual Dysmorphic Disorder (PMDD), her psychiatrist prescribed a medication that is unavailable in generic form. As a result, Karen’s monthly prescription cost was well over $100, on an insurance plan that had a $2,000 deductible.

Karen was overwhelmed: “I felt I had to keep working and making more money just to pay for my medication. It was a vicious circle.”

Read More

Time to Stop Punishing the Chronically Ill: Why I Support Capping Out-of-Pocket Drug Costs

Care for Your Mind kicks off a new series on state-level issues of access to quality mental health care. This post focuses on activities in just one state, but advocacy around this topic is happening across the country.

Representative Laura Fine (Illinois 17th District)

I am a proud co-sponsor of legislation (IL HB 3605) that seeks to shield patients and their families from the exorbitant out-of-pocket drug co-payments increasingly being imposed by health insurers...

Read More

Care for Your Mind’s 2013 Best Of List: Mental Health Policy Advancements

It’s that time of year again when the “Best Lists” come out. The mission at CFYM is to facilitate discussion by sharing the views of experts in the community. In that spirit, we are summarizing the “Ten Best” list from the National Institute of Mental Health to create our own “Five Best List.” We want to hear from you. Read the post and tell us what you believe are the best advances in policy and advocacy during 2013.

Mental Health Advocacy Begins with Science

Director Thomas Insel of the National Institute of Mental Health makes the argument that science leads to better policy. We are encouraged that scientific advances shift the conversation towards more self-directed treatment plans. It is the empowerment of treatment ownership that fosters advocacy and ultimately leads to a life of thriving, not just surviving.  We’ve compiled our top five list below, with the corresponding NIMH rank in parenthesis.

5. (10 on the NIMH List):  “Nobel Prize—This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (and Lasker Award) recognized NIMH grantee Thomas Südhof for his discoveries of how neurotransmitters are released from the pre-synaptic terminal.”

This research includes better understanding on how neurons in the brain communicate. We don’t know where the research will lead, but better knowledge about how molecules translate bio-chemical messages, give us reason to hope for advances in treatment options.

4. (9 on the NIMH List): “Beyond Magic Bullets—Several important new trends emerged this year in non-pharmacological treatments, sometimes from pharmaceutical companies. In April, a Nature commentary that included authors from the pharmaceutical giant GSK described “electroceuticals,” heralding a new era in treatment development focusing on devices to deliver electric signals rather than drugs to alter the activity of neurotransmitters in the brain.”

Many peers have reported successful outcomes with this type treatment. We are encouraged that pharmaceuticals are exploring options outside of strict pharmacology protocols.

Read More