The outcome of the 2020 presidential election could affect how health care providers supply mental health support to youth. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), put in place during Barack Obama’s presidency, was aimed towards covering medical treatments, services and medications. The ACA benefited people with mental illnesses because it covered behavioral health treatment, inpatient services, and substance use and abuse treatments according to Healthcare. gov. This election will decide if the Affordable Care Act is repealed by the republicans, or saved by the democrats. “If we look at the top reasons why people do not seek mental health support, one of the biggest reasons is that it can be really expensive, and some insurance plans do not give full coverage to it.” IVC student Franz Kievet said. “So I think it is really important that we make health insurance affordable and that we cover as many people as possible. If we look at what the two parties are doing, Democrats are trying to protect the Affordable Care Act, with plans to expand it.” Furthermore, repealing the ACA will prevent young adults up till age 26 from being covered under their parent’s health care plans. According to USAtoday, these healthcare eligibility extensions are helpful for students who already have lots of college and job debt leading into adulthood. Taking away a young adult’s access to health care for their mental health would correlate with an increase of the fatal or physically harmful psychological disorder effects. “Honestly there is so much that needs to be done. We need a really diverse set of mental health professionals from a variety of backgrounds because it is really hard to connect and be open with someone who does not understand your culture,” said Kievet. “We also need to keep having a conversation about mental health. Needing mental health support should never be seen as a sign of weakness, and we as a soci ety need to help each other.”
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