Despite public awareness campaigns highlighting the problems facing people with mental health problems and the fact that no one is immune to the development of mental illness, people with mental health problems continue to face discrimination, prejudice and stigma every day of their lives, not only from Members of the public, but also from companies, banks, employers, and even when it comes to taking out an insurance policy.
The truth is, any of us can develop a mental illness, regardless of age, gender, place, occupation or social status. In fact, statistics show that at least one in four of us will experience some sort of mental health problem in the area of any given year. Mental health problems can be extremely varied in nature and can vary from mild cases of depression and anxiety to more serious cases of bipolar depression and schizophrenia with the types of symptoms and degree of intensity of these symptoms vary from person to person. However, there are problems to face in the outside world too.
Probably one of the most distressing aspects of mental illness is isolation and social exclusion often experienced only suffer as a result of ignorance and misunderstanding of other people and that it should be changed. If we take into account insurance, for example, something that most people take for granted, but not if you had a mental illness in the past or are suffering from mental health problems at this time.
results in the main report on the discrimination of mentally ill showed that insurance companies will often refuse insurance or exemption in place an insurance policy when there is a history of mental health problems, even if these problems existed many years ago and is no longer a problem. This applies to any type of insurance, not just life insurance or travel insurance, mortgage insurance, employment insurance, payment protection insurance, everything becomes harder to get if you have a mental health problem or a history of mental illness.
This would suggest that insurance companies, as well as many others still do not understand the problems or the fact that mental illness or the information just is not getting through. For example, mental health problems can occur as an isolated case in relation to a specific set of circumstances, and when treated, it will never happen again, some types of mental illnesses are episodic in nature, and most people who seek help for mental health problems to go on the water full and a normal life. Probably the most important thing is that just because someone is suffering from a mental health problem does not automatically mean that they pose a greater risk than anyone else. Insurance companies calculate their premiums at the level of perceived risk, which is allegedly based on medical evidence. Perhaps this is an area that should be addressed.
So what can you do about it? Of course, if there is a case of discrimination then it is possible to sue under the Disability Discrimination Act, but in accordance with the mind, a leading UK charity for mental health, only a small number of cases were taken out under this Act and of these, few are ever successful. Similarly, the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) report that the majority of claims from payment protection insurance than when mental illness is included as is a common exclusion in many insurance policies.
It's not all doom and gloom though, people seem to be awakening to the fact that something went wrong, and somewhere that people with mental illness deserve the same rights as anyone else. Over in the U.S., for example, the study of mental health Association of America found that most Americans believe that people with mental health problems should no longer be subjected to discrimination by insurance companies. In fact, some 96% of Americans believe that health insurance should cover mental health. Here in the UK government are aware of issues surrounding mental health and exclusion and tightening up legislation to protect people from discrimination.
In the meantime, we all would be good to keep in mind that mental health problems are not only common, they are treatable, and may affect some of us at any time. Do we insist that people with mental health problems get the same rights in society as everyone else, the problem will persist.
No comments:
Post a Comment