A Dad reflects on his own mental health policies

The Washington Post excerpted an incredible article by a former legislator whose own son suffers from schizophrenia. It's well worth reading in its entirety here. A key quote:

Mental illnesses cost as much as cancers to treat each year, and the National Institute for Mental Health notes that serious mental illnesses can reduce life expectancy by more than 25 years. That reduction is almost twice the 13 years of life lost, on average, to all cancers combined. When Tim needed hospitalization, an insurer sent him to drug rehab. Imagine the outcry if the insurer had tried to send a smoker with lung cancer who needed hospitalization to drug rehab.