Mental Illness in America

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WebMD Live Events Transcript

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has spent the last 30 years speaking out for a greater understanding of mental health issues. She joined WebMD Live, along with The Carter Center's mental health program director, Thomas Bornemann, EdD, on May 5, 2004 to discuss efforts to erase the stigma of mental illness.

The opinions expressed herein are the guests' alone and have not been reviewed by a WebMD physician. If you have questions about your health, you should consult your personal physician. This event is meant for informational purposes only.

MODERATOR:
Welcome to WebMD Live, Mrs. Carter.

CARTER:
Good morning. I'm happy to be with you.

MODERATOR:
And we also would like to welcome Dr. Thomas Bornemann from The Carter Center.

BORNEMANN:
Thank you.

MODERATOR:
What is The Carter Center doing to help erase the stigma of mental illness ?

CARTER:
We have many initiatives. One that I think is so important is our mental health fellowships for journalists. Because the media has such an impact on the way people make their decisions about some issues, we thought that if we brought journalists to The Carter Center, learned the facts about mental illnesses, and could write accurately about them, it could do more to overcome stigma than almost anything.

We're in our sixth year of these fellowships. It has been a very successful program. This year, for instance, we have a journalist from The Washington Post , one from 60 Minutes , one from U.S. News and World Report , one from The Los Angeles Times , and one freelance.

The other thing that I think that helps overcome stigma is to pass parity and insurance through congress. I've always believed that if insurance covered mental illnesses the same as they cover other illnesses that people would think it would be all right to have the illnesses. It would make them acceptable. And I believe the stigma would disappear.

I need everyone reading this to write to his or her Congress members and tell them to pass the parity bill. They will all know what it is; they don't have to have the number of a bill because we've called a lot of attention to this issue already. We have enough legislators and senators in congress to pass this bill that is stuck in committee. If we can get it to the floor of the house and to the floor of the senate it will pass.

MODERATOR:
Who on the committee is holding this up?

CARTER:
The leadership, the republican leadership, is holding it up. We've had enough members of Congress, 268, and 65 members of the Senate who are sponsoring it, but it's stuck. The WebMD users can call the National Mental Health Association, and there is a form letter that can be written to Congress people about this issue.

MODERATOR:
Why are they holding it up?

CARTER:
In my mind the insurance lobby is against it, and thinks it will break the bank. It will not. Because we in the mental health field have enough statistics to show that when employers provide overall health insurance coverage for their employees, which includes mental health as well as other insurances, over a year or so the total health costs go up a little, but after that the overall costs go down.

When people are mentally ill they often go to their primary care doctor with a stomachache or with other problems, not realizing they have a mental illness. When they begin to access the mental health coverage then they make much fewer visits for health problems. So the overall costs of coverage for employees will come down.

BORNEMANN:
Mrs. Carter is absolutely right. There is a great deal of misinformation on the overall impact of parity. There are studies available of large examples where parity has been applied, such as the Federal Employees Health Plan, and in the state of Vermont, which suggest that the increase in costs are minimal. The overall health return is great.