Biden calls for reform, prioritization of mental health in U.S.

In his recent State of the Union address, President Joe Biden emphasized the reality of mental health in the U.S., the opioid epidemic, veteran suicide rates and cancer treatment with an overall theme of unity and bipartisan cooperation.

Biden called the four-part plan focusing on mental health the “Unity Agenda,” according to a press release from the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

Biden outlined specifics of the agenda including:

supporting the health care workforce by launching a campaign to provide mental health resources for health care organizations;

strengthening parity enforcement by ensuring insurers do not impose inequitable barriers to care;

investing in crisis services and 988 and developing best practices in crisis response;

expanding access to telehealth services and the BRAVE program, a 24/7 virtual health center;

recruiting a more diverse mental health workforce specifically from historically Black colleges and universities;

fighting the opioid epidemic by launching a national campaign to educate young people and the dangers of fentanyl; and

supporting veterans and reducing veteran suicide rates by improving suicide risk identification and ensuring safe storage of firearms and lethal medications.

The APA released a statement applauding “the continued emphasis on mental health in the Biden administration’s Unity Agenda. While the nation faces the opioid epidemic, an ongoing crisis in youth mental health and barriers to access, mental health is truly an issue where bipartisan progress can and must be made.”