Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief

Agenda Comparison Grid Template

Healthcare Issue	insurance coverage for mental health treatment Substance use disorders
Description	Today the concept of health is augmented with the idea of well-being. However, there has been discrepancy between general medical health care and mental health care (Hart, 2016). This discrepancy has made it difficult for people suffering from mental health to receive care as the cost for care mental health care has continually been more expensive than medical heath care. Mental health has also not been easily accessible to the patients who the patients with mental health problems. This is a clear illustration that there are very many barriers that faces people who are suffering from mental health. Despite the efforts that have been made to ensure that this problem is solved, there has been little success. This is because even the people who are covered by health plan both private and public ones continue to face significant barriers.
President Name	President Obama	President Trump	President Joe Biden
administrative agenda focus related to this issue	President Obama was very passionate about mental health and he wanted to do everything to break the barrier that was experienced by people living with mental illness.	Trump’s first assignment was to revoke the obamacare and to come up with his own healthcare plans.	As a vice president, Joe Biden was very instrumental in championing the efforts of implementing MHPAEA and the obamacare that defined mental health treatment as an essential health benefit.
Allocation of financial and other resources to this issue	A good example that can illustrate president Obama’s effort in improving mental healthcare is in the 2009 budget where $97 million were allocated to this docket with the aim of expanding mental health capacity. He did not stop at this because in, 2016 his projected budget allocated $500 million that was aimed at improving mental healthcare access (Tuck, & Smith, 2019)	The American Health Care Act was established with an aim of increasing funding for the community health centers. As a result, this will see mental healthcare improve. This act was also making it mandatory for every person to be insured, which in turn would help in covering the people with various diseases.	During his campaign, he vowed to redouble these efforts to ensure that the enforcement o mental health parity law as well as expanding mental health services funding. He promised to re-introduce obamacare to ensure universal health coverage.
Notes on Administration’s approach to the issue	“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” that was signed in 2010 were aimed at expanding Medicaid managed care plans. Parity Task Force was created in 2016 that was aimed at expanding the treatment of people who had substance use disorders and mental health problems. This would help the administration to build momentum in helping improve access to mental healthcare.	President Trump’s administration did not take mental health care with the same weigh that president Obama had taken. This can be elaborated by the fact that the American Health Care Act was proposed by Trump’s administration, aiming at eliminating “Affordable Care Act funding” which would decrease Medicaid funding which is the main source of funding (Rosenbaum, 2017).	Though still fresh in the office, he has promised to publish a comprehensive public health and across sector approach that will address suicide in veterans, service members and their families within the first 200 days in office. He also promised facilitating immediate access to mental health services

Part 2 

Qn. 1

Health and Human Services department is the most significant agency that can help me address the issue of bettering mental health and substance abuse healthcare. This is the department that is responsible for protecting the healthcare of all American people. The department also helps in offering essential services to the people who are affected. The Medicaid department is also very significant because it helps in offering to fund for mental health and substance abuse disorders.

Qn. 2

Mental healthcare is crucial for a person as it affects our thinking, feelings, and actions as we cope with our daily lives. This also affects our relationship with others, how we handle stress, and how we make important choices. Depression and anxiety are some of the mental conditions that often emerge for the first time during youth. For instance, adolescence is considered a vital period when mental illnesses have the probability of manifesting themselves, something that may lead to higher risks of chronic mental illness in the future. Besides its significant morbidity, these conditions affect the students' performance. one of the ideal environments to deliver depression and anxiety programs is the school environment. This is one way of keeping people talking about it and eventually giving an opportunity of getting on the agenda. 

Qn. 3

· Health and Human Services Department

· National Institute of Mental Health Department

Part 3 

Healthcare is the right of every citizen and not a privilege. However, it is devastating to see that people suffering from mental health not been given the required attention. They, therefore, have continued to suffer in silence which means that this is an issue that should be addressed with urgency. This is a problem that affects every group in the United States, including children. For instance, “it is estimated that more than approximately 20% of children aged between 4 to 17 years old experience a mental health problem each year In the united states,” (Russo, et al., 2020). This is because adolescence is a significant time of social, emotional, and development domains. Approximately 50 percent of the mental illnesses experienced have their root in the adolescence stage.

A nurse is a critical healthcare program implementation since they help in performing services and interventions and screening and assessing the patients. The roles that nurse play vary depending on the design and the implementation of each healthcare program. For example, some programs require that the nurses have knowledge and expertise on those particular programs in design only. In contrast, others will require that the nurses perform services or teachings. They are, therefore, critical in helping the doctors during the implementation phase of the program. Other examples include educating the participants, performing interventions, and checks

References

Bohnenkamp, J. H., Stephan, S. H., & Bobo, N. (2015). Supporting student mental health: The role of the school nurse in coordinated school mental health care. Psychology in the Schools, 52(7), 714-727. Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pits.21851

Hart, J.W., (2016). How presidents have shaped mental health care. Retrieved from https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/February-2016/How-Presidents-Have-Shaped-Mental-Health-Care

McDermott, E., Bohnenkamp, J. H., Freedland, M., Baker, D., & Palmer, K. (2018). The School Nurse's Role in Behavioral/Mental Health of Students. Position Statement. National Association of School Nurses. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED595195

Rosenbaum, S. (2017). The American Health Care Act and Medicaid: changing a half-century federal-state partnership. Health Affairs Blog. Retrieved from: https://www.healthaffairs.org/

Russo, J., Culver, Y., & Henry, J. (2020). Mental Health in Our Schools. Retrieved from: http://cognella-titles-sneakpreviews.s3.amazonaws.com/82729-1A-URT/82729-1A_SP.pdf

Tuck, L., & Smith, E. (2019). Behavioral health coverage in Medicaid managed care. Institute for Medicaid Innovation. Retrieved from: https://www.medicaidinnovation.org/_images/content/2019-IMI-Behavioral_Health_in_Medicaid-Report.pdf