Writing for Health Affairs, Ben Miller and Emma Sandoe:

“A pervasive history of health care fragmentation in the United States has led to policies that are often archaic, nonsensical, and harmful. Life expectancy has dropped for a third year in a row, and the US still spends more money on—while getting less value in—health care than any other country in the world.

Nowhere is this more evident than in mental health and addiction. In current policy discourse, Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMDs) in the Medicaid program follow this fragmented history and are often looked at as an answer for our multiple mental health and addiction crises. However, without thoughtful and more comprehensive policy solutions to address these crises, simply repealing the IMD may not be the answer we seek and could risk furthering the fragmentation in health care.”

Read the full article, There Is No “Silver Bullet” For Mental Health: The Problem Of The IMD Exclusion, here.