Pharmaceuticals and Behavioral Health

Week 6 Discussion 1: Pharmaceuticals and Behavioral Health

Select one topic below to write about in your initial post. Please make it clearly which topic you chose to write about in your initial post. Write 500 to 750 words related to:

• Pharmaceuticals: What two public policies have been recently proposed or adopted to support proper access to medications for all consumers, fair pricing, and reasonable regulation of new drugs coming to market? Who are the private and public stakeholders? Name some organizations advocating for policy changes.
• Behavioral Health: What two public policies have been recently proposed or adopted to improve access to behavioral health services and treatment? Who are the private and public stakeholders? Name some organizations pushing for policy changes.

Cite additional sources beyond the Learning Materials for this week.

Required Resources

Behavioral Health

• Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cms.gov/cciio/programs-and-initiatives/other-insurance-protections/mhpaea_factsheet.html.
• Cowell, A., Prakesh, S., & Jones, E., (2018). Behavioral Health Coverage in the Individual Market. Health Affairs, 37(7). Retrieved from https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1517.
• Priority Policies. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Public-Policy.
• Koons, C., & Tozzi, J., (2019). As Suicides Rise, Insurers Find Ways to Deny Mental Health Care. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-05-16/insurance-covers-mental-health-but-good-luck-using-it.

Pharmaceuticals and Drug Treatment

• Luthra, S. (January 2019). Drug-Pricing Policies Find New Momentum As “A 2020 Thing.” Kaiser Health News. Retrieved from https://khn.org/news/drug-pricing-policies-find-new-momentum-as-a-2020-thing/.
• Seeley, E., & Kesselheim, A., (2019). Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Practices, Controversies, and What Lies Ahead. Retrieved from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2019/mar/pharmacy-benefit-managers-practices-controversies-what-lies-ahead.
• Waxman, H. et al. (July 2017). Getting to the root of high prescription drug prices: Drivers and potential solutions (PDF). Commonwealth Fund. Retrieved from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/documents/___media_files_publications_fund_report_2017_jul_waxman_high_drug_prices_drivers_solutions_report.pdf