Assignment on We need a mental-illness system in which care for the sickest of the sick is a priority. Provide your reasoned opinions of what policies should be initiated to more effectively deal with the “problem-ridden” system regarding the care of the most severely mentally ill.

 It is important to understand for all the stakeholders in the United States that mental illness is not something, which can be ignored anymore, and if adequate policy measures will not be taken in time, then things can get difficult to handle in the future. Everyone knows about the issue of mass shootings, which has been prevalent in the United States, and regardless of so much human progress in modern times, the issue of mass shootings is still there with its severity. It clearly shows that the mental state of people is having trouble in so many ways, and that’s why things are not getting to the root cause of the problem. Certainly, there is some problem with regard to mental health in the United States. It has been revealed that people living in prison or jail are having mental illness issues, and facts have been horrifying with these people (Daniels & Sabin, 2008). It has been observed that mentally ill prisoners are more vulnerable, and they may commit suicidal attempts more than the people, who are mentally stable. It has also been observed that the majority of people having any kind of mental problem can be dangerous for people living around them (Zun, 2016). Such people are also a constant threat to society, and mass shootings are one good example to see how devastating mental illness can be. It is important to identify relevant reasons so that things can be got in control, otherwise facts & figures will be shocking in a few years time (Satel & Torrey, 2016)

               Looking at the above-mentioned problem associated with mental illness, it is quite evident that the problem is getting serious in so many ways, and it is time for policymakers to look at it more seriously than ever before. It is critical for the stakeholders to realize that things are getting out of control, so they need to focus on the issue of the mental health of people. If mental health issues are treated earlier in the process, then mental illness with severe conditions can be prevented from happening, but if there is no concern shown for mental health, then a normal mental illness can develop into a severe one, and this is where the situation gets worrisome and dangerous. The people having a severe mental illness should be taken care of by the government so that their families can also remain at ease. If no one would care about them, then those people will lead to nowhere (Sally, 2016). The policy has to make viable changes, and it was good to see the realization from the government, as “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2016” was developed in 2016. After that in 2017, the public health emergency was declared from the department of health and human services of United States to find the relation of opioid epidemic. The national data collected in the analysis indicate increase and rise in the emergency department visits for the causes related to the opioid over the past few decades. The data explain magnitude of epidemic nationally offered to find the impact of adverse events, opioid abuse, poisoning, and emergency conditions. The emergency services are provided to the individuals who purchased health insurance under the affordable care act of central Texas with the maintenance of community under health care providing organization (Litaker, Tamez, Durkalski, & Taylor, 2019).

The act is a great beginning to deal with the severity of the problem, as it would help the families of mentally ill people. It is important to understand that mental illness is not an easy thing to manage for families. So, the government should consider more such kind of acts to facilitate families and patients of mental illness so that the United States can improve its numbers in mental health (Rosenberg, 2016)

Assignment 3: Provide your reasoned opinion concerning what you believe would be effective policy measures in dealing with the opioid epidemic.

               The opioid epidemic should be understood with all its relevant elements so that viable measures can be identified to deal with the issue. It was identified during the 1990s that opioid medications can be very addictive in nature, so when such medications are prescribed, things can lead to a severe condition, where it ends in the shape of the opioid epidemic. It is essential to mention here that in 2017, a public health emergency was declared from the U.S Department of Health & Human Services in relation to the opioid epidemic. Before knowing why it is essential to come up with effective policy measures, it is vital to realize the severity of the opioid epidemic. According to HHS statistics, the opioid prescription was misused by around 10.3m people in 2018. More than 47000 people died just because of an overdose of opioid medications. A estimation was made that concluded 130+ people are dying due to the opioid epidemic on a per day basis, which shows, how dangerous the situation is, and why an effective and well-planned strategy is needed at the moment. The good thing is that the U.S government realized the seriousness of the issue so a strategy was developed with 5 points so that opioid epidemic can be dealt with accordingly (HHS, 2019)

               A lot of focus has been made by the policymakers in the United States and many health experts have also been looking to find viable solutions to deal with the opioid epidemic, as it is causing so many problems for American society. It is also essential to come up with a dedicated strategy so that the mortality rate can be brought down, which is too dangerous at the moment. One of the best ways to deal with the opioid epidemic is that opioid’s supply should be limited as much as possible. However, the care for the patients who need opioids should not face any issues due to this limitation, but this limitation should be managed more effectively. The government can consider programs such as Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, which can be effective in handling the supply, and it can also come up with viable restrictions to be applied. The less quantity of available opioids will help to get rid of the problem. Moreover, strategies should be based on harm-reduction policy so that people dealing with the issue can get the required help (Doleac, Mukherjee, & Schnell, 2018)

Part 1: Affordable Care Act

Point d:

               It is critical to understand that any large scale policy or program should not be fully changes, because it is not easy for the government to manage things when a whole set up is mitigated, and the new one is started, rather it is viable to move forward with things by making recommended changes. The same is the recommendation for ACA that it should not be completely changed or finished, rather few changes should be made to make it more useful and considerable. The first thing to improve ACA is that employed parents working in different industries should be offered complete health insurance coverage, and employers should be facilitated as much as possible in this regard. The facilities provided to the workers include incentives, paid leaves, paternity leaves, maternity leaves, and rewards. Moreover, it is recommended that new federal assisters should be enrolled to help people using Medicaid. The people over the age of 60 should be offered early converge of Medicare so that they can benefit as much as possible (POLLACK, 2015)

References of We need a mental-illness system in which care for the sickest of the sick is a priority.

Daniels, N., & Sabin, J. E. (2008). Setting Limits Fairly: Learning to Share Resources for Health. Oxford University Press.

Doleac, J. L., Mukherjee, A., & Schnell, M. (2018). Research roundup: What does the evidence say about how to fight the opioid epidemic? Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/12/07/research-roundup-what-does-the-evidence-say-about-how-to-fight-the-opioid-epidemic/

HHS. (2019). What is the U.S. Opioid Epidemic? Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html

POLLACK, H. (2015). Improve and Repair: Three Ideas to Strengthen the ACA. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/38/improve-and-repair/

Rosenberg, L. (2016). The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act: a good start. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/ceos-corner-office/2016/07/helping-families-mental-health-crisis-act-good-start/

Sally, S. (2016). Mental Health Reform Desperately Needed To Pass House And Senate. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sallysatel/2016/06/08/mental-health-reform-desperately-needed-to-pass-house-and-senate/#5dca85d77bcf

Satel, S., & Torrey, E. F. (2016). A prescription for mental-health policy. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://www.aei.org/articles/a-prescription-for-mental-health-policy/

Zun, L. (2016). Care of Psychiatric Patients: The Challenge to Emergency Physicians. West J Emerg Med., 17(02), 173-176.