Title: Hillary’s Mental-Illness Mistake | National Review
Headings: Hillary’s Mental-Illness Mistake
Hillary’s Mental-Illness Mistake
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RELATED: Federal Mental-Health Policy Needs Reform Now

Content: It is the seriously ill, not the worried-well, who are overcrowding our jails and shelters and living a hellish existence encased in psychotic delusions. RELATED: Federal Mental-Health Policy Needs Reform Now
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The working group rounded up all the usual mental-health trade associations and naturally concluded that the national plan should cover all mental-health services for everyone. This bloated the cost and increased projected premiums for Hillary’s proposed health-care plan by $275 a year per person. That stopped the idea of including expansive mental-health coverage in its tracks. Rather than exercise control and include benefits for only the most seriously ill, Hillary jettisoned virtually all mental-health coverage from the plan, thereby losing the opportunity to reduce homelessness and incarceration. Her plan never passed Congress, but even if it had, the seriously ill would still be left to fend for themselves. This issue of whether government should try to improve the mental health of everyone or focus its limited resources on the truly needy is a leitmotif. It came up again later in the 1990s, when Congress was considering what to do about private insurers. Democrats throw money at mental health but fail to understand it’s not helping the seriously ill.