Policy measures ensure that structural systems are in place to solve health issues. Therefore, mental health, like other health issues, has recently been targeted with bills that aim to improve care, albeit in vain. One bill passed is the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022, which became law on December 29, 2022. The law has a wide coverage of various mental health services and the resources required. Understanding the law is necessary to understand the potential effects that it may have on various targeted populations and its limitations. In a nutshell, the law was created to improve mental healthcare accessibility to several disadvantaged groups in the US.
Summary of the Legislation
The legislation is part of the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022. Even though the legislation had been passed in the House of Representatives, it did not pass in the Senate independently. Rather, before it was passed, it was included in the finance bill, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023,. Therefore, it is found under Division FF, Title I of the law. The bill was first introduced to the House on May 6th, 2020 Rep. Frank Pallone and cosponsored by Rep. McMorris Rodgers and Rep. Trone, David J(Congress, 2022). Therefore, it was bipartisan and passed in the House in June.
The bill is important for mental health because it reauthorizes and increases allocations for programs, grants, and initiatives that aim to solve mental health issues. Some of the programs and grants covered in the bill include the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant and the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Grant (Congress, 2022). It also supported the establishment of grants that would focus on suicide and behavioral health prevention among the workforce like law enforcement. The bill also covers maternal health and veteran mental health issues through its various provisions. Several amendments were suggested and passed in the House before the bill was passed. One amendment required the HHS to create best practices for creating behavioral intervention teams. Another change that was made is the addition of legislation that would help assess mental health issues in law enforcement.
The Problem, Population, And Context
The problem that the legislation aimed to solve is the high rates of mental health issues and the expiry of allocations for various programs in the HHS. For instance, increasing the funding for maternal depression from $5 million to 24 million between 2023 and 2027 was aimed to ensure that the public health measure continues until 2027 (Congress, 2022). The provision had expired in 2018, and the budgeting was less than needed. Therefore, there was a need to improve the funding. Also, there are language corrections that aim to make the law more specific and, therefore, practical in reducing mental health. For instance, replacing depression with mental health disorder in the provision expanded the services to be covered by the law and funding (Congress, 2022). Section 112 also authorized five million to administer the maternal health hotline.
The legislation covers several groups that have greater risks of mental health issues. For instance, the bill aims to help women during pregnancy. Women are vulnerable, especially during pregnancy. Chapter II of the title focuses on women’s need to make mental health accessible to women around pregnancy and labor time (Congress, 2022). Another group that the bill aims to improve on is the veterans. Post-traumatic stress disorder is very common among veterans. Usually, they struggle when back home and need help to access mental health (McGuffin et al., 2021). Additionally, they lack access to employment and funds and, therefore, need prevention and treatment support. Therefore, section 1422 aims to make care more available to veterans by funding projects that target them. The legislation also covers students in higher education settings (Schulenberg et al., 2021). Higher educational settings expose people to pressures that promote drug abuse and addiction. Hence, the law reauthorizes funding for outreach programs that target universities in section 1424 (Congress, 2022). Another at-risk group that is explicitly covered in the legislation is children. Youths are acknowledged to be prone to suicide, depression, and drug abuse. Section 1423 reauthorizes funding and increases the resource allocation to expand the outreaches to reduce the risk to the group (Reynolds, 2023). The law also covers opioid abusers. The law reduces the restriction that one must have used opioids to be admitted to treatment programs in the country (Congress, 2022). by reducing the limitation, the law makes treatment more accessible to potential addicts. Therefore, it reduces the chances of addiction.
Concerning context, the law was enacted after the pandemic ended in 2022. Therefore, at-risk groups faced heightened risks because of the economic burdens and mental pressures caused by the pandemic (Kupcova et al., 2023). Also, the expiration of earlier authorizations made it urgent to reauthorize program funding for the next years or risk allowing various at-risk groups to access the care they needed.
The bill helps reduce mental health discrepancies affecting various groups because of accessibility concerns. The bill mostly authorized the financing of programs between 2022 and 2027 (Congress, 2022). Therefore, its various provisions mostly solve the resource availability aspect that limits access to mental healthcare for the targeted populations. Also, by authorizing reporting and research, the bill improves care quality for the groups.
Values Discussion
The legislation’s provisions align with social work values. One social work value is service (Amadasun, 2020). Professionals in the field must aim to serve by solving people’s needs. The reauthorization of the funding for the various programs enables service delivery. For instance, the funding for mental health among students enables health education for the target students. The finding will also ensure enough professionals and adequate resources to enable care. Without resources, most of the services cannot be achieved. Social justice is another important value that the legislation enables (Farkas & Romaniuk, 2020). By providing funds for programs that target at-risk groups, the legislation aims to equalize care access. For instance, women and children face higher poverty levels than men. Hence, they face mental health disparities. Enabling funding and expanding services for them ensures that they are covered. For instance, enabling them to access care for all mental health issues rather than just depression improves their care access.
The legislation also supports dignity. Mental health affects people’s reasoning. Hence, it impacts their life quality. Ensuring that at-risk groups like opioid addicts access treatments enables them to return to their respectable selves. It also enables them to choose to seek care early before illnesses progress (Banks et al., 2020). The legislation’s consideration for the people’s need to access care even when they cannot afford it shows that the US healthcare system values all people despite their mental health issues and minority status.
Political Analysis and Feasibility
The legislation will affect various stakeholders differently. Therefore, while some people will win, a few may lose. Several groups will win. For instance, the various disadvantaged groups like the Indian Tribal settlements will win. Women and families facing poverty will also win (Mullen et al., 2023). The bill reauthorized funding and increased the availability of resources for services targeting various minority groups. For instance, by expanding services to address all mental health issues for women and increasing the annual funding, the legislation will benefit women’s health. State and local governments will win (Congress, 2022). They will receive more funds from the federal government to run the project. Public health is under the various states. Hence, the states will receive funds for more staff and infrastructure. However, the federal government will spend more money. Hence, it will lose money.
Several people advocated for the bill. The American Psychiatric Association (APA)and other professional organizations supported the bill. The organization supported the bill because it reduced differences among various groups in mental access. It also encourages collaboration and prepares mental healthcare for disasters like COVID-19 (Kupcova et al., 2023). Non-profit mental health organizations like Partnership to End Addiction also supported the bill. The bill covered opioid addiction treatment and maternal and student substance abuse. Therefore, the organization supported the bill to ensure improvements in care delivery concerning addiction. The groups leverage huge memberships against politicians to push for the desired changes.
Conclusion
the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022 is among the most significant laws passed recently that affect mental health. The legislature was relevant and necessary at the time because several programs that targeted at-risk groups like pregnant women, addicts, and Indian settlement dwellers were expiring. The reauthorization of the funding for the various programs enables them to continue running until 2027. It also ensures that social workers and related organizations achieve their goals of ensuring equitable mental healthcare for everyone. The legislation directly affects social work by enabling resource availability and program expansion.
References
Amadasun, S. (2020). Social work and COVID-19 pandemic: An action call. International Social Work, 63(6), 753-756.https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872820959357
Banks, S., Cai, T., De Jonge, E., Shears, J., Shum, M., Sobočan, A. M., … & Weinberg, M. (2020). Ethical challenges for social workers during Covid-19: A global perspective.https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1628616
Congress. (2022). Public Law 117–328. https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ328/PLAW-117publ328.pdf
Farkas, K. J., & Romaniuk, J. R. (2020). Social work, ethics and vulnerable groups in the time of coronavirus and Covid-19. Society register, 4(2), 67-82.DOI 10.14746/sr.2020.4.2.05
Kupcova, I., Danisovic, L., Klein, M., & Harsanyi, S. (2023). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, anxiety, and depression. BMC psychology, 11(1), 108.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01130-5
McGuffin, J. J., Riggs, S. A., Raiche, E. M., & Romero, D. H. (2021). Military and Veteran help-seeking behaviors: Role of mental health stigma and leadership. Military Psychology, 33(5), 332-340.https://doi.org/10.1080/08995605.2021.1962181
Mullen, L. M., Bistany, B. R., Kim, J. J., Joseph, R. A., Akers, S. W., Harvey, J. R., & Houghton, A. (2023). Facilitation of forgiveness: Impact on health and well-being. Holistic Nursing Practice, 37(1), 15-23.https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.502
Reynolds, S. (2023). Improving Youth Access to Mental Health: An Intervention for Rural Non-Profit Organizations (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).https://www.proquest.com/openview/b91dc5a17d883e2510dee6c0ef64ba45/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Schulenberg, J. E., Patrick, M. E., Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Miech, R. A. (2021). Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2020. Volume II, College Students & Adults Ages 19-60. Institute for Social Research.https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED615085
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