OPINION:
From my nearly three decades in the Air Force, I carry many memories of people and places, and all the lessons that come along with them. Closest to my heart, I hold a simple, yet hard-learned precept: the first step to solving any problem is to identify the core issue and take action.
We know mental illness is a real problem, and that we’ve dangerously underfunded mental healthcare for decades. Like many Americans, I have personally seen the devastating impacts of mental illness, particularly when left untreated.
I saw mental illness firsthand. When I was 15, my father married my stepmother, who struggled with bipolar disorder. We saw no evidence of her symptoms while they were dating until she turned violent the day we returned home from their wedding. From heaven to hell every week, she would be wonderful for two days, then display that same violence on the third. She had four children of her own, all of whom suffered from similar mental health issues. One of my brothers died from a drug overdose, one from alcohol abuse and one from suicide. They were all younger than me.
During my time in the Air Force, I saw mental illness up close as a five-time commander. I once worked with a woman whose untreated mental illness led her to live in a world of deception. She made troubling claims; first of sexual assault, then of having cancer. At first, we believed her. But over time, it became clear that none of it was real.
I also saw fellow airmen struggling silently. Some were consumed by delusions caused by untreated illness. Others, great men and women, suffered from post-traumatic stress after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
My story, like that of so many others, is a start to identifying the problem of untreated and neglected mental healthcare in our nation. The issue is rooted not just in stigma, but in partisan complexities, political gridlock, a lack of funding and waning initiative from the highest offices in the country.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Building a healthier America: From mental health to medical coverage
To begin to solve such an important and prevalent issue across our country, I, along with my fellow representatives Jennifer McClellan, R-Va., Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., introduced the Mental Health Infrastructure Improvement Act.
This bipartisan legislation seeks to address mental health and substance use disorder facility shortages. The bill establishes a new loan and loan guarantee program within the Department of Health and Human Services to build and renovate mental health and substance use disorder treatment facilities, while reserving at least a quarter of the funding for pediatric and adolescent-serving facilities and prioritizing facilities located in high-need and rural areas to provide integrated care for patients with complex needs.
Currently, approximately one in five adults in the United States lives with some form of mental illness, with data suggesting that almost half of American teenagers are affected. Meanwhile, 17% of Americans above the age of 12 struggle with some form of substance abuse and nearly half of the adults who sought substance abuse treatment in the past year were unable to receive their much-needed care.
Due to the burdens that underfunded and overwhelmed facilities face, many patients are left without care, placed in holding rooms or left to wait in emergency departments until the proper psychiatric care beds become available. Such a delay in care can have disastrous impacts on the patient in crisis. That’s why a key goal of our legislation is to ensure that alongside providing quality mental healthcare, the weight and cost of treatment for hospitals and law enforcement are mitigated.
We’ve also learned that many who incarcerated in our prisons and jails are there because of mental illness. If given access to care, many would not be imprisoned. Those who suffer from mental health illness in our prisons are often given better care and regain their health. When released, most lose that healthcare access, relapse and then end back in prison. This is why I support putting those who are being released from jail on Medicaid so they can continue to have access to needed medicines.
As we strive to improve our country’s future quality of life and health standards, investment in mental healthcare should focus squarely on bridging the gaps in treatment options and improving accessibility for patients.
Mental health is not a partisan issue, and mental illness does not discriminate in selecting its victims. Its devastating effects have spread across our communities, reaching millions of Americans everywhere, and requiring a united and multi-perspective approach in resolving it. Mental illness can only be remedied when a united, bipartisan coalition of caring Americans stand together to defeat it through cooperation and strong legislation.
We know the problem. Now it’s time to act.
• Don Bacon represents the 2nd District of Nebraska in the U.S. House of Representatives. A Member of the Armed Services Committee, he serves as Chairman of the Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation Subcommittee. He previously spent nearly 30 Years serving in the U.S. Air Force, retiring in 2014 as a Brigadier General.
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