Medicare and Mental Illness
ARTHUR E. HESS 1
1 Director, Bureau of Health Insurance, Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Md.
Although limitations on psychiatric care under Medicare provisions are significant, the 1965 legislation represents an extension beyond expected coverage and toward broad insurance-type benefits for the treatment of mental illness among the elderly. Furthermore, as a departure from the traditional federal policy of viewing the care of the mentally ill as a state and local responsibility, the Medicare legislation constitutes a decisive innovation and a good omen for the future.
