A report released in April by the Department of Health and Human Services found that more than 5 million American adults will receive mental health treatment in state-supervised mental health facilities in 2022, up from last year.
But access to treatment depends heavily on where you live and the type of insurance you have, and more than half of adults receiving treatment live in just 10 states, leaving many Americans without access to mental health care.
This year, as the Biden administration works to combat the mental health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has expanded Medicare access to behavioral health services.
Wysa analyzed data collected by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to determine which states have the highest percentage of adults receiving mental health treatment. Each state’s mental health department reports the data separately. Maine was excluded from this report because it did not report sufficient data.
States and territories have taken a patchwork approach to treatment.
Nationwide, 15 out of 1,000 people received mental health treatment in 2022. However, disparities between states vary widely: in New Mexico, for example, 7 out of 100 people received mental health treatment; in Illinois, meanwhile, only 2 out of 1,000 residents received mental health treatment.
People living in rural states are more likely to receive mental health services in state-supervised facilities. Isolation, poor economic prospects, and stigma surrounding mental illness can lead to higher rates of depression in rural communities. In Iowa, where roughly one-third of the population lives in rural areas, an estimated 473,000 people live with a mental illness. Yet Iowa ranks last in psychiatric bed availability, with just two available beds per 100,000 residents.
Beyond access to care, states also operate their own mental health administration differently, including the types of facilities they oversee. For example, Wisconsin regulates private facilities and private practitioners, while Connecticut only regulates mental health treatment in what are called private intermediate care facilities, or facilities dedicated to mental health treatment that do not require hospital-level care. There is wide variation in the quality of care, with some facilities receiving more rigorous oversight than others, leading to further tiering of mental health care across the country.
However you measure it, the mental health crisis affects millions of Americans. In addition to federal grants and initiatives, states and community organizations are also taking individual steps to increase access to treatment.
In Montana, where 5 in 100 residents receive mental health treatment, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill last year allocating $300 million to improve and expand access to behavioral health care. Last month, the state’s Behavioral Health Care Commission presented recommendations for distributing the funds, including improving case management, expanding services and recruiting and retaining mental health care professionals.
Story editor: Alizah Salario; copy editor: Tim Bruns.
This story originally appeared on Wysa , produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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