A Fundamental Flaw: What About Our Mental Health?

Michelle Obama once said, “At the root of this dilemma is the way we view mental illness… Whether an illness affects your heart, your leg, or your brain, it’s still an illness, and there should be no distinction.” When reading the first several chapters of The Healing of America by T.R. Reid where he discusses other, superior, healthcare systems around the world, my first thoughts were about how great these other healthcare systems seemed, before I realized that something very important had not been mentioned in the description of any of these models. Looking at other systems of health care such as the Japanese and French models, I felt envious of the people who benefit from those systems, and with good reason. Imagine what it’s like to feel sick and not have to worry about going to the doctor because of outrageous costs. While T.R. Reid makes a lot of important points about how healthcare systems around the world are more accessible to the citizens of other countries, he leaves out a very important aspect of health: mental health.

One of the healthcare systems that Reid talks about that I found particularly intriguing is the French healthcare system, which boasts its “carte vitale” a green card that is issued to every French citizen and holds all of his/her medical information. Reid explains how France provides exceptional health care to its citizens by giving a choice of doctors as well as providing free ambulance rides to any doctor or hospital, to name a few examples. What Reid doesn’t talk about is the high rates of mental illness in France, with a 2007 study showing that 8.5% of the population suffers from depression and 12% suffer from an anxiety disorder, which is the second highest rate in the world. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that a country like France, which takes so much pride in its health care system, has such high rates of mental illness. It seems that if their system were as inclusive as Reid says they claim it to be, there would be better access to mental health care, so that those suffering from mental illness could be included in the system too.

Although France has its flaws, the U.S. healthcare system is not perfect either, as is evident by our high rates of mental illness (the country that France is second to on its high rates of mental illness is the U.S.) While France’s high rates of mental illness despite this “all inclusive” healthcare system don’t make a lot of sense, it also doesn’t make a lot of sense that in the United States people like Nikki White die of preventable illnesses because they fall into a socioeconomic status that prevents them from getting health insurance that will cover treatments, but don't qualify for healthcare under welfare. How can a healthcare system like that be seen as even remotely functional, when it leaves some of it’s nations people without the coverage that they need that ultimately results in death? Nikki White died of lupus, a disease that killed her, but only her. This is not meant to delegitimize her experience and the grief of those who loved her, but to look at it on a bigger scale is well. Maybe if the U.S. had a healthcare system that allowed people access to affordable mental health treatments and medications, then mass shootings would not be so common in the U.S., because the perpetrators of those crimes would be getting the help they need long before it could escalate to that point. Providing affordable access to mental health treatment could potentially save millions of lives, not just for those who suffer but also for those who are affected by the rash actions of the sufferers. If that isn’t preventative medicine, then I don’t know what is.

While Reid talks about the positive of the French health care system, such as that your coverage can’t be terminated because of job loss and that there are no deductibles (Reid, 51) he fails to mention a problem that seems to be plaguing France- mental illness. Reid talks about all the negatives of the United States healthcare system and also leaves out mental illness. I would argue that mental health is just as important as physical health, yet Reid does not address the topic. And clearly in both France and the United States it is a topic that needs to be addressed, as the high rates of mental illness suggest. This leads me to believe that the French healthcare system is not as perfect as Reid makes it out to be. I would agree that it is still better than the United States healthcare system, in that all people are covered by insurance and pay very little out of pocket, but France is not doing so much better than the U.S. when it comes to mental health. This begs the question of if France puts any focus on those services. Over the last two decades the number of French psychiatrists has been reduced by 30%. Clearly France pays far more attention to physical health than it does mental health. Reid makes the French system seem so much better than the U.S. system, but without talking about how citizens of both countries have significant struggles with mental health. And critiquing a healthcare system without including mental health is like critiquing coffee without including its flavor. It can’t-and shouldn’t-be done.