Opinion: The looming threat for mental illness

View in [Browser] | Add [nytdirect@nytimes.com] to your address book. Monday, December 12, 2016 [The New York Times] [NYTimes.com/Opinion »] [Opinion] Monday, December 12, 2016 When most people think about the dangers of not having health insurance, they think about life-threatening physical illnesses like cancer and heart disease. And if Donald Trump does indeed take insurance away from millions of people, it will create serious problems for many people with such illnesses. But it may also create a crisis for people with mental illnesses. Trump, of course, has vowed to repeal Obamacare. He has also talked vaguely of replacing Obamacare with a better law and of ensuring that people don't, in fact, lose their insurance. Much of this talk resembles a [fantasy]: Repealing Obamacare without taking away people's health insurance would be [extremely difficult] to do. At some point, Trump will have to choose between keeping the law in some form and hurting a lot of people. In [an Op-Ed today], Richard A. Friedman -- a clinical psychiatrist at Cornell -- explains the stakes for people with mental illness. “Until this law was passed, people with mental illness and substance abuse problems were subject to capricious annual or lifetime limits on coverage, higher deductibles or no coverage at all,” Friedman writes. “If President-elect Trump makes good on his promise to repeal the law, he will effectively strip millions of Americans with mental illness overnight of the most medically rational and humane benefits they have ever had — without giving them any indication of what, if anything, will replace them.” The full Opinion from The Times report follows, including Charles Blow [on how protesting Trump is patriotic] and Paul Krugman [on Russian interference in the election]. David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist  ADVERTISEMENT  Editorial [Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last month.] [Russia’s Hand in America’s Election] By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Why would President-elect Trump object to a thorough, bipartisan probe into Russian meddling?  Op-Ed Columnist [People voicing their opinion in an anti-Donald J. Trump rally in New York in November.] [Patriotic Opposition to Donald Trump] By CHARLES M. BLOW You may have been on the losing side of the election, but you are on the right side of history. Op-Ed Columnist [Donald Trump at a campaign event in Florida the Saturday before election day.] [The Tainted Election] By PAUL KRUGMAN Coming to grips with illegitimacy.  [An art exhibit in Boston consists of large posters of nearly three dozen people, some ordinary, some famous, who have struggled with mental illness.] An art exhibit in Boston consists of large posters of nearly three dozen people, some ordinary, some famous, who have struggled with mental illness. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press [Contributing Op-Ed Writer] [The Mental Health Crisis in Trump’s America] By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN What will happen to my patients with depression or psychosis if they lose their health insurance?  Editorial [An Antidote to Donald Trump’s Secrecy on Taxes] By THE EDITORIAL BOARD States could make disclosure of tax returns a requirement for getting on the ballot. Editorial [Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey during a news conference in Trenton.] [Chris Christie’s Defense of Solitary Confinement] By THE EDITORIAL BOARD By vetoing a reform bill, the New Jersey governor supports abuses of prisoners that hide behind euphemisms like “restrictive housing units.”  Selman Design [Op-Ed Contributors] [All the President’s Propaganda] By JOHN MAXWELL HAMILTON AND KEVIN R. KOSAR Trump is about to take over a $1 billion government P.R. machine. Here’s how to check him.  The Stone [Can Evolution Have a ‘Higher Purpose’?] By ROBERT WRIGHT The biologist William D. Hamilton entertained the notion. So can we. On Campus [Will Campus Criticism of Israel Violate Federal Law?] By KENNETH S. STERN A bill passed by the Senate would make schools and universities consider some of that opposition anti-Semitic, and take action to stop it. Room for Debate [Can Trump and His Team Fix Obamacare?] Are Republican plans to repeal and replace, or simply delay, health care law the right approach? Contributing Op-Ed Writer [A rally in suburban Quezon near Manila, on Nov. 30, to protest the re-burial of the late Ferdinand Marcos at the Heroes’ Cemetery.




] [Standing Up to a Strongman] By MIGUEL SYJUCO The people of the Philippines are taking to the streets to protest their brutal new president. Op-Ed Contributor [A demonstration in Istanbul last month against a proposed bill that would overturn convictions for sexual assault in Turkey.] [How Islam Can Fight the Patriarchy] By RIADA ASIMOVIC AKYOL The Turkish government thought it could get a regressive law pardoning statutory rape on the books. Islam was the solution.  [The author’s photograph of a demonstration by Cypriot refugees in Melbourne, Australia in 1995.] The author’s photograph of a demonstration by Cypriot refugees in Melbourne, Australia in 1995. Ashley Gilbertson/VII [Dispatch] [I Am Ashamed to Be Australian] By ASHLEY GILBERTSON After 20 years of photographing asylum seekers around the world, I have never seen anything as bad as this.  ADVERTISEMENT  From Sunday Review Opinion [What Women Really Think of Men] By IRIN CARMON Grousing about female superiority lets everyone off the hook. Opinion [His Sign Said ‘Please Help.’ So I Tried.] By JEAN THOMPSON Jesus never said to love the poor as long as they didn’t make bad lifestyle choices.  From The Blogs Paul Krugman [Fast Food Damnation] By PAUL KRUGMAN Chewing over the cultural divide.  Letters to the Editor Letters [Race and the Broken Prisons of New York State] Readers discuss reform and the inquiry opened by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.  A NEW ELECTION PODCAST Listen to Opinion columnists and contributors on The Run-Up, a new podcast from The New York Times covering the final three months of the election. [Available on iTunes].  FOLLOW OPINION [Facebook] [FACEBOOK] [Twitter] [@nytopinion] [Pinterest] [Pinterest] Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »] | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »] ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe] | [Manage Subscriptions] | [Change Your Email] | [Privacy Policy] | [Contact] | [Advertise] Copyright 2016 The New York Times Company | 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018