The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a report showing that states can improve access to behavioral health services for residents by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. “Substance use disorders and mental illness are prevalent and serious public health problems in American communities,” the HHS says in a press release.
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According to the report, in 2014, the most recent year for which data are available, an estimated 1.9 million uninsured people with a mental illness or substance use disorder lived in states that have not yet expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and had incomes that could qualify them for coverage.