By S&PAA
Submitted by David E. Geiger, MEE, PE (RET.)
June 23, 2022
Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed groundbreaking legislation designed to produce pioneering, fact-based data that will support improved public policies and better care for people living with schizophrenia. The bill secured overwhelmingly bipartisan support, with a vote of 402-20.
The Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act (HR 7666) authorizes a study of the costs of serious mental illness on U.S. families, hospitals, nursing homes, and the penal system, as well as a method designed to provide more accurate prevalence data for people living with schizophrenia.
The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate, where S&PAA is seeking to work with Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and others to include it as an amendment to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s mental health package, with action expected later this summer.
We will be reaching out again soon for your help in urging your U.S. Senators to support the Senate version of the bill.
We thank all of you who took the time to reach out to your local U.S. Representatives as part of our advocacy efforts to support the bill. We also thank U.S. Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) and David Trone (D-MD), without whom this could not have been achieved.
The House passage is an important step toward giving people living with schizophrenia the dignity of being acknowledged and treated properly. When we raise visibility of the prevalence and burden of this brain disease, we move closer to our vision of earlier diagnosis and successful treatment.
On to the Senate!
About schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a spectrum of serious neuropsychiatric brain diseases in which people experience periods during which they interpret reality abnormally. Symptoms of schizophrenia may include a combination of hallucinations, delusions, cognitive impairments, anosognosia (lack of awareness of their illness), and disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily life.
Schizophrenia is thought to be a progressive neurodevelopmental disorder, with the earliest signs appearing during adolescence as the brain is developing. Eventual diagnosis typically occurs during young adulthood. While approximately half of those with schizophrenia improve or achieve remission, others remain untreated or experience periods without treatment. It is estimated that about 50% of people with schizophrenia do not take their prescribed medications, most commonly because of anosognosia. Lack of treatment leads to severe negative health outcomes, including a life expectancy shortened by an average of 28.5 years.