TAMPA, Fla. — According to a 2020 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, just over 1 in 5 American adults are dealing with mental illness.
According to Mental Health America, In 2022, there were over 2.9 million adults dealing with a mental illness here and over a million with a substance use disorder.
"For me, it's a win," Natasha Pierre said. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder more than 20 years ago.
Pierre said she often fell through the cracks between insurance companies and getting the mental health help she needs.
"I've experienced where I was only able to see my therapist and psychiatrists once per week, and if you are in crisis, if you're in need of that extra support, mental health providers shouldn't have their hands tied with how much care they're able to provide," Pierre added.
But Sandra Seeger, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, said her hands are tied. She said she was forced to stop accepting patients with insurance.
"I stopped taking it because we would not get paid. I would submit a bill, and because I didn't do something specific, they wouldn't pay me. So, I might be out five to six hundred bucks and I'd never get it back," Seeger explained.
Tuesday, President Biden announced plans to push insurers to increase their mental health coverage and to treat mental health care like physical health care.
"If insurance companies are getting better about paying, and are paying more reasonable rates, and getting better about paying on time, I think there's a lot of us who would reconsider taking on insurance again so people could use their benefits," Seeger explained.
We reached out to U.S. Representative Kathy Castor. She's a member of the subcommittee on health who told us her office plans to work with agencies enforcing this. Castor said she's introduced a bill to put more mental health counselors in schools.
"Children are six times more likely to get the mental health care that they need in the school setting. That way, you're not having to fight to find that psychologist in your neighborhood or work through your primary care doctor or pediatrician," Castor added.
Meanwhile, Pierre said she was able to find a psychiatrist to work with, and she hopes these new rules will make mental health help more accessible for others.
"I don't want to be the exception. My experience should be the rule. Me being able to have access to three and a half months of a program that changed my life. I shouldn't be the exception," Pierre said.
