Health Affairs June 24, 2020
The personal and societal costs of behavioral health disorders, including mental health and substance use, are well documented, significant, and growing in the United States. The coronavirus pandemic is only exacerbating the problem. Even before the pandemic, the effects were dire—rising suicide rates, dramatic increases in drug overdose deaths, and substantially lower life expectancy among people with serious mental illness. These grim statistics paint a portrait of a behavioral health care system in crisis, and one that is grossly inadequate to meet the national demand that is only growing in the wake of COVID-19.
Access to behavioral health care is limited by several system-level factors. Nationally, there is a shortage of behavioral health providers that is unlikely to improve within...
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