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Medicare expands mental health coverage

Dec 25, 2023
Loosened restrictions on who can bill the program for mental health services mean more options for Americans, especially in rural areas.
The Jan 1. change to Medicare will make some 400,000 providers, or 40% of the mental health workforce, eligible to bill the program.  
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty IMages

What's the economic cost of untreated mental illness? One state did the math.

Dec 19, 2023
Indiana lost over $4 billion in 2019 from the condition, research shows. Effects include a smaller workforce and premature deaths.
Willie Frazier, an Indiana resident who has no health insurance, is suffering from untreated mental illness. “Depression is real,” he says. “And it can hit you anywhere."
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Biden administration proposes new mental health care parity rule

Jul 25, 2023
The rule would force insurance companies to follow laws stating mental health care must be covered like physical health care.
President Biden's administration announced the new rule today, but it will need to go through a comment and review process before going into effect.
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Less than 1% of therapists are Native American. One Texas center is working to fill the gap

Jul 20, 2023
Indigenous communities in the United States experience higher rates of mental health issues, but have a harder time accessing care. One Texas group is working to expand services and train staff to address mental health issues before they become a crisis.
Dr. Iftekhar Amin with the University of North Texas at Dallas instructs during a mental health first aid training course on June 9 at Texas Native Health in Dallas.
Yfat Yossifor for Marketplace

Mental illness plays a complicated role in the homelessness crisis

May 30, 2023
Though the affordable housing shortage is key, mental illness increases the risk of losing a home and makes it harder to regain one.
Being unhoused often limits access to treatment for people with mental illnesses.
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Schools on front lines as Surgeon General warns about social media use

May 26, 2023
Educators are grappling with the consequences of "almost constant" social media usage by a significant number of teenagers.
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Career prospects suffer after bouts of mental illness, research shows

Apr 12, 2023
For younger workers, an episode of depression is linked to 24% lower earnings more than a decade later.
More companies are taking mental health seriously, and not just because it's the right thing to do. "There is always a business part of it, for attraction, retention, absenteeism, presenteeism," said Tina Thornton of Nationwide Insurance.
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Loneliness is an epidemic — social media may not always help

Mar 2, 2023
Social media platforms that bring people together IRL can help. Those that privilege one-way communication from influencers to followers may make matters worse.
Social media can be a tool for human connection, but some experts say some follower-type platforms can instead exacerbate loneliness.
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The cost of loneliness: Social isolation holds back workers and costs employers billions

Mar 1, 2023
An 'epidemic of loneliness' in recent decades causes stress-related absenteeism, job turnover, and lost productivity.
In addition to affecting employees' mental health, researchers at Cigna found that employers could be losing up to $154 billion a year because of loneliness.
Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images

What the pandemic taught companies about mental health support

"You can't have a healthy economy without a healthy population," says Marketplace's senior economics contributor.
Health improvements can lead to economic improvements.
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