The recent changes in private mental health insurance may offer lower rates and shorter waiting periods. However, the extent of these benefits is disputed. People from remote and rural areas will be able to get mental health treatment with the help of travel and accommodation assistance. The vast bulk of private mental hospital services are only provided in urban areas.

The changes that will be implemented in 2018 and 2019 are welcomed. These changes go a long way in addressing concerns over the value-for-money private mental-health coverage. These concerns include limitations on the number or types of treatments and programs covered, gaps in payments for those on disability pensions, and waiting periods.

Read more: Changes to lure young people into private health insurance won’t slow increase in premiums.

But the changes also risk reinforcing unwanted models of care. In particular, they could perpetuate Australia’s focus on hospitals as the key location for mental health care.

The hospitals are expensive and are generally designed to treat those with the most severe mental illness. Hospitals are an important part of mental health care, but they should only be used as a last resort if other services cannot help.

In order for hospitals to fulfill this role in Australia, there needs to be a vibrant network of community mental health services that provides a mixture of clinical, psychological, and social services to those with mild, moderate, and severe mental illnesses. If your mental illness is not sufficiently complex to be managed by ten sessiof ons cognitbehavioriour therapy (offered as part of mental health care plans), but you aren’t a threat to yourself or others, then your options for service are limited.

Australia’s investment in community mental healthcare services is subordinated to our foons of hospital and ambulathealthcarecare provided by both public and private hospitals. The evidence suggests that community services are essential to a holistic approach to modern mental health care.

Private hospital mental health care

Around 60 private hospitals in Australia provide mental health services. In 2015-16, despite the larger public mental healthcare system, private hospitals accounted for nearly one-quarter (or a quarter of all overnight hospital stays) of mental healthcare. Private hospitals are a common place for people with mental illnesses. Depression and mental health issues associated with alcohol is a common problem.

Mental health services are also available in private hospitals on the same day. Around two thirds of all patients suffer from depression, anxiety, and alcohol.

Private hospitals provide a variety of group therapy options, including acceptance and commitment therapy and addiction therapy. Some services offer transcranial magnet stimulation (TMS), which is also used to treat these conditions.

Private hospitals provide a variety of group therapy sessions to treat various conditions. Shutterstock.com

In 2015-16, 18585 people received 242,563 same-day hospital services from private hospitals. In 2015-16, private hospitals provided 242,563 of these same-day services to 18,585 people. In order to access these therapies, patients are required to be admitted the same day. Private hospitals charge up to hundreds of dollars per admission.

On one level, any increase is good. Access to public mental health services in states and territories is low, and hovers around 1.5%. The federal government is able to point to a recent rise in access to mental healthcare due to the A$15 million a week investment it makes in the better Access Program.

In 2015-16, 2.3 million Australians were eligible for Medicare-subsidised services in mental health (mostly mental care plans and sessions of psychological therapy). What we receive for this investment is not clear.

Unbalanced System

The National Mental Health Commission concluded in 2014 that Australia’s system of mental health was imbalanced. The government has rejected the call for a re-prioritisation of community mental health over hospitals.

Community mental health services provide clinical, psychological, and social services. They are usually provided by a team of mental health professionals including case managers, psychiatrists and social workers.

These teams are able to help with housing, employment, early intervention, and social inclusion in addition to managing the clinical needs. These teams are few and becoming fewer. The National Disability Insurance Scheme has taken over funding for psychosocial support organizations. is losing valuable staff and skills

Greg Hunt, federal health minister , was asked why patients had to wait to be sick enough to require hospitalization before they received any help. It’s a crucial question. Waiting until cancer is advanced enough to receive care is like waiting for your cancer to spread. It is both inefficient and poor healthcare. The opportunity to intervene sooner (and cheaper) is lost.

The Minister’s response was that the government had promised to invest A$80 Million in psychological and social services.

Hunt’s predecessor Sussan Lee , however, , made it clear that the goal of government’s reforms in mental health was a new step-by-step care approach, which is a hierarchy, ranging from the least intensive to the most intense, tailored to each individual’s need. It would allow people with severe and complex mental illnesses to receive the care they need within the community.