Friends:

It was my privilege to be at the White House this afternoon for the President's Health Summit.

The President opened the Summit by talking about the Report on Health Care Community Discussions that was distributed to participants and then introducing a firefighter/EMT from Indiana who talked about his experiences dealing with so many people with inadequate or no health coverage.

Following the opening session with the President, the Summit moved to five breakout sessions. I can only speak to the one I was in, which was moderated by VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and OMB Director Peter Orszag.

When I had my opportunity to speak, I made the point that we should not fall into the trap of believing that mental health had been taken care of with the passage of parity in the last Congress. I said that any health reform effort that doesn't use an integrated approach to mental health and substance abuse would fail because it would miss the opportunity to "bend the cost curve," as the phrase goes. I made reference to the NASMHPD findings that people in the public mental health system die 25 years earlier than people in the general population. I was able to make the point that failure to address depression in people with a range of conditions - diabetes, heart disease, respiratory illnesses - results in higher costs and worse outcomes. This was underscored in remarks by Mr. Orszag, who recounted a visit to a clinic involved in a demonstration project that clearly showed the savings derived from treating depression concurrently with co-occurring conditions.

I also was able to point out that half of mental disorders are manifest by age 14, which appeared to catch the attention of a number of people in the room, as did the fact that approximately 50% of cigarettes smoked in this country are consumed by people with mental health diagnoses.

It was a brief opportunity before a highly influential audience, but I think I was successful in raising awareness about the need to fully incorporate and integrate mental health in the health reform effort. We were told that all comments would be included in the report of the Summit. Our task now is to continue to build on that awareness on Capitol Hill as the health reform effort moves forward.

More later,
Bill

William Emmet
Director
Campaign for Mental Health Reform
703-836-3066
bill.emmet@mhreform.org
www.mhreform.org