Medical doctors and psychiatrists say it’s dangerous to let non-medically trained psychologists prescribe mental health medications.
mental health coverage
Posted inHealth, News
Colorado will be first in the U.S. to require comprehensive health coverage for gender-affirming services
Colorado will become the first state in the country to require certain health care plans to cover comprehensive health services for transgender people, the state and federal governments announced Tuesday. The state will also add two more required benefits for those plans: an annual mental health wellness exam and prescription coverage for treatments that are […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
For war-weary veterans, a dose of “adventure therapy” can help them ski off the war
RIDGWAY — It’s nearly dark when the team arrives at the Blue Lakes Hut. After slogging nearly eight miles through melting snow, they celebrate their arrival with steaming bowls of mashed potatoes. With socks and boot liners dangling from the rafters, the team of former Green Berets rib and tease each other. They poke fun […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: How hard it can be for Colorado families to get the mental health treatment they need
Tears always flow at some point. It’s inevitable. We are sitting with a father whose coffee grows cold and whose exhaustion is shared by his wife, who is wary of telling her story as she fully expects to be told, yet again, “We can’t help you now.” She carries this rejection from meeting to meeting while […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Here are the big ideas that Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado lawmakers pitched for the 2020 session
By Erica Breunlin, Jennifer Brown, Moe Clark, John Ingold and Jesse PaulThe Colorado Sun From mental health to teacher pay, Colorado’s leaders are exploring innovative ideas to tackle the state’s biggest challenges. Gov. Jared Polis and four state lawmakers pitched their ideas Tuesday at the Big Ideas Forum hosted by The Colorado Sun, CBS4 and […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
As the teen mental health epidemic escalates, emergency rooms get innovative and a for-profit hospital sees an opening
Colorado for decades has struggled with a shortage of mental health treatment options, but care for one age group in particular is most dire: teenagers. The adolescent mental health epidemic is escalating — suicide is now the leading cause of death for Colorado teens — and the state’s emergency departments are inundated with young patients […]
Posted inHealth, News
How a “warm handoff” is making mental health care a regular part of doctor visits in Boulder
Gina Manchego worried she had some rare disease. She slept only two hours each night. Her heartbeat thundered in her chest, and more days than not, her head pounded in pain. The stay-at-home mom went to see her doctor about 20 times in one year to try to figure out what was wrong with her. […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
As mountain suicides soar, Vail Health is committing $60 million to mental care in Eagle County
EDWARDS — She was a few days past her 13th birthday when she took her life in February 2018. The shockwaves of the seventh-grader’s suicide reverberated across Eagle County, with counselors, therapists and mental health advocates scrambling to prevent the dreaded cluster that too often follows teen suicides. A year later, they are still scrambling, […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
By law, mental health benefits are supposed to be as good as medical coverage. In practice, that’s not happening.
Like most dads, John Cooke would have done anything to save his daughter. He was lucky he had the money. To make her well, to make his teenager want to live and stop planning her suicide, Cooke and his wife would end up paying $150,000. With each denial from the family’s insurance company, the Cookes […]