We all know the more political backing there is, the more attention, the more funds, and the more patient-protection legislation. Yes, you guessed it. I am unable to assign a number to the mental health category. If I have to judge by the coverage in the popular press, this category is close to the bottom of the food-chain. But no matter where we may rank in the food-chain, information is our key to climbing out of our predicament.
Lobbyists are great.
They may even be able to move some funds out of the prostate cancer category to the breast cancer category. I don't want to play a zero-sum game. HMO's and other managed care organizations have an incentive in withholding, not just treatments and diagnostic tests, but more importantly, information from patients. An informed patient is a pesky patient. Put yourself in the shoes of a managed care gate-keeper.