Global Health Must Include Mental Health | craig And Marc Kielburger

We’ve seen the traumatized eyes and weeks-long silence of a freed child slave still trapped in his years of confinement. We’ve read newspaper headlines of rising suicide rates in both cities and countryside. And we’ve met people suffering silently whose languages don’t have a word for depression because it “doesn’t exist.” Mental health challenges are a significant barrier to economic and social development around the world. Resources and expertise are extremely limited, creating a huge gap between the need and the ability to treat. But with focused efforts using well-known, simple and cost-effective interventions, communities and countries can turn mental health into a source of strength and a way out of poverty. Mental disorders flourish in developing countries where war, disaster and mass urbanization are unsettling traditional social support networks and creating a constant state of uncertainty for huge numbers of people. Depression alone is predicted to be the world’s leading cause of disease by the year 2030. Developing countries are home to 86 percent of the world’s 900,000 annual suicides but just one psychiatrist for every two million people, so the mental-illness drag on development will only get worse. Mental disorders hamper contributions to household chores and income; they increase risk for other costly health problems like HIV, cardiovascular disease and diabetes; and they drain productivity and human capital from societies in desperate need of both. Fortunately, in the root causes of mental illness are the seeds of stronger mental health.
Global Health Must Include Mental Health | Craig and Marc Kielburger

Sources: UnitedHealth to enter Illinois exchange – chicagotribune.com

Its absence on the exchanges run by the federal government at HealthCare.gov left a significant hole in the competitive landscape in Illinois and other states, leading to higher prices for consumers, according to a recent study co-written by Dafny. In the study, released as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper this week, researchers estimate that monthly premiums for the second-lowest-priced silver plans would have been 5.4 percent lower, on average, had United participated in the federally run marketplaces. The study found that health insurance premiums, on average, are “responsive to competition” and the success of the exchanges is largely dependent on attracting both consumers and insurers. United held just more than 6 percent of the market for individual plans in Illinois in 2012, but it walked away from a majority of that business for 2014, saying it was evaluating the exchanges in Illinois and other markets. It continues to offer a handful of health plans in Illinois that don’t comply with new regulations set forth under the health law, often called Obamacare, under a subsidiary called Golden Rule Insurance Co. United’s intent to submit 2015 policies for the Illinois exchange was outlined by two sources familiar with the company’s learn the facts here now plans who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. Both sources noted that the plans are not final and could be subject to change. The company’s apparent renewed interest in the market does not come as a surprise, particularly because Illinois is a large market where United already has a footprint and existing contracts and relationships with health care providers and consumers, Dafny said.
Sources: UnitedHealth to enter Illinois exchange – chicagotribune.com