Rep. Trone: Candid COVID Conversations on Mental Health w/ Rep. Joe Kennedy

One of today welcome Congressman Joe Kennedy who's been a National leader on mental health and addiction for Massachusetts today is one of our series of candid Covered conversations with different leaders around the country in areas that have been affected by Coven as a great resource guide for folks that are struggling struggling Joe. Joe Joe. Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks for. for for for being being being here here here today. today today. today. as as you you well. and I know we've. had had a a. serious man. Health crisis in this country and the lack of mental health parity an annoying going basis, and then on top of that, and we drop cover and on top of that we dropped the economic collapse. we're seeing statistically across the country. a lot of long term mental challenges are gonna continue to only to get worse and worse and worse cuz this is gonna linger for a long time. a lot of uncertainty that that we we all all feel feel the. the. How hotline the National Distress Hotline is up like eight 900 percent in March suicide rates, you know, we know that pegged up point eight for every one percentage of unemployment and we're looking at employment, golf and three and a half probably 20 percent. so it's absolutely mind boggling. and as we both know last year, we lost 40 - 7000 folks to suicide so so that that all all Americans Americans are are concerned concerned The depression and right now, the polling shows 40 -, eight percent of Americans are feeling depressed over 70 percent or 40 some anxiety nervousness. So we've really got a a National crisis and I wanna talk about today was you know what we need to be doing right now to help our fellow Americans as we navigate through covered and the subsequent you know Off with health insurance plans and you've done a lot of work on health insurance parity and what actions do you think we need to build on the landmark Mental Health Parity Act of 2008. so did first off just thanks for having me thanks for doing this thanks for having me series of conversations and thank you for doing having one on the impact of mental health, particularly at this moment. Look what we've seen here and what we're experiencing is is obviously obviously obviously the the the virus virus virus is is is is having having. having having an. an an an enormous enormous enormous impact impact impact on on on every every every. American American family. family are gonna feel. Differently the anxiety you have people happy cuz the fear of infection a loved one, perhaps being infected or somewhere alone without particularly maybe sick or very sick and the anxiety that comes with that. the anxiety is whether you might get sick or or somebody get close family might get sick and then obviously economic fallout. you've lost a job. you might have a job. How do you make that mortgage payment Red payment? it's extremely extremely dangerous time for so many Americans it become. It becomes even more discount when you've got additional circumstances so for folks that are suffering already from anxiety, depression or any number of mental bailable challenges. the isolation that comes with the social distancing requirements and so for people that are already struggling this crisis has gotten a whole lot worse very very quickly. there's a whole lot of stuff that needs to be done with that. so but immediately, I think it is just as you said increasing awareness of. Available Resources Hotline National Hotline, Whatever resources are available locally, we can get into some of those but systemically and systematically what needs to be addressed or things like ensuring that people actually have access to mental health care and certainly the challenge that we face with the words when insurance industry actually complying with existence of the law right mental mental health parity is already along the boats yet audits have shown that the most insurance companies aren't income clients with that federal federal law. law. There's There's just just no no one one fortunately, fortunately so so. but it's. Bigger and focused mind. I know you are as well but trying to increase enforcement when we actually Congress pass this long to actually telling insurance companies. When we passed it, we were serious about it. You better comply with it and to try to force that compliance cuz if you do this upstream, you're gonna have enormous savings in the expansion of services that have an option based enormous savings of both in cost, but also dignity decency and health care downstream as well. Now, those are great points. It's pretty sad day. We can't enforce the law of the land. Let's talk a second about kids. I mean I'm on the Education Labor Committee and you know you've got two young kids at home with you and I've got four older children and you know I I think about what their scene, especially you know at home now with mom and dad struggling with the paycheck mom and dad they get certainty of the virus. I mean this is really devastating for young people and I think it has potential for long lasting mental health. Challenges and we recently wrote a letter to leadership asking for more evidence based trauma trauma informed care, and this is something we've been on for some time and any particular thoughts about our children and what we need to do to try and help them there. It's a great question. I was actually I was on with Ross shedding one of the foremost economists in our country looking at systemic inequity and inequality in the research that he's done with the past. several years has been not on the pioneering, but I think deeply influence. Policy circles about trying to restore America to its roots ones of of effort Albert mobility In this this idea that no matter what that you can, in fact, get ahead and that the systems need to be set up so that people can can work hard play by the rules and actually succeed. is when I asked him what his made concerns from the long-term concern from this virus was he actually said what you just said children because we know that one when kids are. Well, they might not have the words for it look for it when they are in homes that are now filled with anxiety tension uncertainty. They feel it. They manifest it. They Harbor they they they will demonstrate it, but it had a potentially in ways for their downstream and years later, when you look at the consequence, what's gonna happen on federal should be state and local budgets as they're going through Massachusetts already exhausted most of its unemployment assistance federal state funds in the past month alone. The massive update we've seen that's gonna lead to a tightening of budgets at the local and state level, which means a lot of those enrichment programs, particularly for youth or with fewer resources. those programs aren't gonna be there unless the federal government steps in what this means for long-term access to mental and behavioral health care deeply again for younger people and then also particularly in minority and underserved communities, where there's an additional not just blockages and challenges. but stigma also. We have to be deliberate and intentional when trying to address these barriers and breaking them down and I do think that this is one thing where a lot of us actually can do an awful lot of work. It's where for professional athletes for them to be able to step out as we've seen and say, hey, we struggle with this too for actors and actresses to be able to step out and say hey we struggle with this too for when 20 percent of the American population will struggle with some sort of mental or behavioral illness on the course of their lifetime to have family members be able to step. And say hey, one of my family members struggle with this too. That's okay. We expect it cuz you know what the number is eight one in every family will, but yet we don't talk about it that way. so we need to address this and we need to be intentional about the way. In fact for children, I think that's such an important point the stigma and the lack of willingness to say, hey my family struggle with this. I'm anxious right now. I'm anxious every day it just so crucial to admit that and move on another area. Joe that we've our office is really full. Besides mental health is the co-curator of addiction and when I look at and talk to my addiction centers around the district, I mean they're all saying. Hey these folks really we lost a hundred and 40000 people in the last two years to addiction 70000 a year. It's my boggling and yet they're voiceless and no one stands for them and it's very stumbled to our efforts that we've been doing on mental health and what I did is. Thought you think we should be looking at now because this community is disproportionately suffering and just getting lost in the catastrophe of Covenant and you're a hundred percent right now lost in a catastrophe of Coven and again the I think the most important thing here is that when we understand it to we actually try to put forth the reforms reforms that that are are necessary necessary to to actually actually to to make make sure. sure that people are gonna be key. Able to gain access to that assistance and care that they need when they needed one thing David as you well know that we have seen a massive change in rapidly here isn't the advance of telemedicine where for a number of us activists and activate and and advocates have been trying to preach the the benefits of telemedicine, particularly in mental behavior, health space with 50 - five percent of the country at 50 - five percent of the counties in the country does not have a single practice and hydrate College of social work. None zero if you're gonna try to increase taxes. You need to be able to do this remotely. well, we confront a major boxes of that all of a sudden this pandemic we've seen a massive increase in an access to telemedicine. There's still structural limitations on that insurance across state lines for embarrassment, federal government programs, etcetera and broadband access along with tablets and technology. but if we're able to expand to actually keep some of these reforms in and expand access through telemedicine, fermented labor health and even addiction services, where yes for office. Medical assisted treatment and what not you need to be able to be present and to be able to to receive that treatment from a medical professional, but at least for some of those counseling, sessions or peer groups to be able to use some of that remotely would be a huge help in a Sea change for many people across this country. I think you hit on another major major obstacle that we're seeing right now to help those at the lower end of the economic spectrum the divide between the haves and the have have knots knots that that just just just getting getting getting wider wider wider wider and and and and wider, wider. wider, wider. I I I talked talked talked to to to my. my my five five school school. superintendents last. and and they they were were just just so. so clear. On broadband and the lack of broadband 40 - two percent of the low income folks in the country don't have fast efficient broadband. It's our urban deserts and it's our rural folks and 20 percent of the folks haven't even logged on our students haven't even logged on since public schools were dismissed. so they've done nothing so those folks are falling further and further behind and there's a bill that Jim Clyburn has out that we strongly support and I spoke to the Speaker about It's an 86 billion dollar bill on broadband. You know, it's a shame that this country we we built the roads, but we need to build the digital highway and we only the government can build that otherwise, we're gonna keep leaving these people behind farther and father and that economic divide that just gonna expand. Yeah a whole heartedly agree, and this is something that I do hope is gonna be part of that recovery package not just rescued, but we're covering is ensuring that it's probably the same for you and. Certainly your kids power goes out in my House. That's a problem. Internet goes out. That's a crisis right I think this has become as reliable as necessary for daily function as any other as water electricity or anything else. We need our society depends on it and the idea that today that there are parts of this country that still don't have it we should be able to to mirror what we did do in what he was able to do in a Green area, excuse me a new deal and rural electrification. Process, which we're still grieving the dividends of all these years later, the idea that we're not gonna have treat people equally when it comes to a digital divide is to our detriment. Absolutely last question. I wanna talk a little bit about just the frontline workers. they talk about our health care professionals. We talk about our our police and our EMS people, but we forget about the grocery clerks and the folks at Costco that are right out there being exposed day after day to thousands of folks and you know keeping America moving moving forward. forward. you you know. know. Yes, we gotta thank them and recognize them and celebrate the work they're doing. but what should we be doing a mental health behavior health area to try and directly address this because they see so much distressed more than more than a week than you and I will see you in a year. It's a great point that I think we gotta be clear that we cannot allow those folks to fall through the cracks look when I was now about a month ago when I was driving back down for that vote that we're supposed to have to to ensure that the care package actually passed right Delete Boston about. 430 in the morning stopped at a rest stop and on the Mass Pike here to get a Cup of coffee cuz it was the only place that was open and the only person there was a paramedic who said that they've just been doing covered calls all night and it's stuck with me still to this day because you think of the impact of our frontline workers that are curious here, but they are still not used to be on more time footing seeing the level of devastation and despair. you hear those stories from our nurses that are holding up FaceTime People can say their last words to a loved one cuz they can't be there in person you think about what that means for the risks and anxiety that those grocery store clerks are post folks that are delivering the mail. What that must mean for for them and it means that we have to surge that response that we have to acknowledge that this is going to be just like we wanna make sure that they've got PPE and masks and and and swabs and protective equipment that our health care sector can can function through this is going to be part of it and that that's gotta be the case and again getting back to the impact on our young people, you've got folks that have been taken out of school that aren't gonna go back in Massachusetts schools are canceled for the rest of the year. We don't know yet what's gonna happen in the fall semester that this location. Disruption of that daily routine of that support system of friends of socialization, there's gonna be a long-term impact here that we don't know exactly what that is yet, but we gotta be ready for it and I think the long-term impact is a lot longer than a lot of us really recognize I was on a foreign Affairs called yesterday and they had three great experts and they were talking vaccine, not necessarily 2020 - one, but it could even be close closer to 2020. - two but time we roll out the massive infrastructure we need cuz Supply the world, I mean, we've gotta be there for Africa and Asia and the countries that can't do it on their own. That's on us. I mean we gotta if that happen and if we don't, it's gonna come back to us. So that's that's no. it's. it's the right thing to do, but it's also in our self interest. No question about it. So I wanna appreciate your help and I I really love having your help on mental health addiction broadband. I mean these are things that really help folks that are stuck and. Suffering and if we continually reach out for the most vulnerable people in our society, you know, we're all be better off for it. Your input on this stuff is fantastic and I think it should be so bipartisan too. You know this is I mean think about broadband. I mean, I've got a bunch of rural districts very Republican districts in counties in my in my district and you know they have no broadband. Yeah. We've got to make this happen also great they. Thank you for having me. Thank you for your incredible advocacy on this really grateful to have the chance to partner with you and thanks for leading the way. So thanks, thanks again and be safe. Take care you too. stay well. thanks you too.