Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate Sen. Roy Blunt R-MO On Coronavirus Mental Health 20240713

Economic costs of flattening the curve was pretty great. On the other side of that equation, the impact on hospitals was significant in that many of them have been waiting for whatever they needed to do and because we find the curve the worstcase scenarios didnt occur and in most cases they were prevented and we had plenty of hospital beds and before was over with we had ventilators and all those things we will have later but the crisis, because of flattening the curve has certainly lasted longer and will last longer than it would have otherwise. Im not saying that is a bad thing, just measures like closing businesses and sending people home from work, practicing social distancing, putting people on the unemployment rolls have really created Serious Problems for people that have cause to have challenges to their mental wellbeing. The impact is nearly half of the adults in the United States say the coronavirus has impacted their Mental Health on top of the statistic we traditionally believe the National Institute of health, 5 of 12 americans have diagnosable, i hesitate, wouldnt hesitate to add always treatable Behavioral Health problems, Mental Health problem but coming through the coronavirus, one half of all adults say their Mental Health has been impacted whether it was social distancing, and other places at home maybe it was economic uncertainty, that along with the isolation can create depression and anxiety, in almost all cases likely to be worse for people with a prior Mental Health problem or prior Mental Health diagnosis but those arent the only people that have been affected. Addiction issues, a bigger problem than they were six months ago. People who dont have access to their support system, people that were moving with great focus on the part of the federal government and many state governments away from opioid addiction are in a situation where they are isolated, depressed, concerned about job or family or health and beginning to think, what was that one thing that really made me feel good . Maybe i can just do that one more time and have that great feeling and wouldnt get addicted again, turns out addiction doesnt work that way, so we see people with unprecedented challenges as this almost perfect storm impacting Mental Health hits us. Last month the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported nearly 900 , 900 increase in the number of calls to its disaster distress hotline over this time last year. Nine times as many people calling that distress helpline, the disaster distress hotline than were calling a year ago. Practitioners in Behavioral Health issues see the impact every day. They are certainly warning that this a whole second wave of impact that lasts will be on the time we have treatment for coronavirus because people even if they had the vaccine, even if they stopped worrying about the coronavirus, have found themselves in a place with their Mental Health issues that they dont want to be but might not be able to figure out how to get out. If we dont respond quickly and dont respond forcefully we could certainly lose more lives to this pandemic. The new study estimates 75,000 more people will die from things like suicide and Substance Abuse because of the pandemic. We are already seeing evidence that my hometown newspaper, the springfield news leader reported this week that greene county, my home county, the first place i was elected as a county official has already received a 25 uptick in suicide and Overdose Deaths in the last couple months. Mister president , may is Mental Health awareness month. It is appropriate to talk about the ways coronavirus has widened the gap in the medical system between access to physical Health Issues and access to Mental Health issues. This is the month and the time we need to realize you cant separate those issues. We need to realize those issues are of equal concern and need to be treated equally. As i mentioned before the estimate generally is somewhere in the neighborhood of one in the four americans have a diagnosable Mental Health issue but the other estimate is less than half of them seek any help for the care they need. As that number has grown out, one in two say they have concerns about their Mental Health or their Mental Health is not where it was before this all started. We see a coming together factors here that weve got to figure out how to deal with, we need to take steps on how we address it, we need to realize that more needs to be done. We need to continue to work towards the normalization of treating all health the same in the cares that congress did provide 425 million for Substance Abuse and Mental Health services. That includes more than half a, 250 million to Certified Community Behavioral Health clinics, 50 million for suicide prevention, 100 million for Emergency Response grants to address substance and Mental Health disorders. Federal resources are critical but most of the response and most of the important work will be done at the local level. The Congress Also unanimously agreed in the cares act to extend the excellence in Mental Health and addictive Treatment Demonstration Program through november 30th. We added two state. I talked to cms about moving forward and adding the next two states, the 19 states that originally applied. We expanded the Program First authorized in 2014 and some legislation of senator stabinnow of michigan, it established Certified Community Behavioral Health clinics that care for patients regardless of where they live or their ability to pay. 24 hour, 7 day a week access that was necessary if youre going to be part of that program. You can get preventative screening, care coordination with your other Healthcare Providers and by the way if youve got a Behavioral Health issue it clearly has impact on what other Health Issues you might have and if you are dealing with that Behavioral Health issue in the right way, you will save a lot of money and a lot of caregiver time in most cases as you deal with your other issues, if you are doing what you should be doing, if you feel better about yourself, if you are taking your medicine, eating better, sleeping better, showing up for appointments, your other health costs are going to go down so not only is this the right thing to do but it also in my view will turn out to be a moneysaving thing to do, to invest money where it needs to be invested. In the eight states that have these Certified Centers under the excellence act, those patients have reported a 62 reduction in hospitalization and emergency room visits. Probably that one statistic on its own may have offset whatever investment we made in this Mental Health program. People not going to Emergency Rooms means you are less likely to coming contact with people that have covid19 or some other virus. We need to be sure using telehealth to connect you with your Healthcare Provider whether that is a Mental Health provider or another provider critically important, people struggling with Mental Health or addiction are particularly challenged. Wed