Behavioral Health Implications Abound in Biden’s Recent Address

President Joe Biden’s recent address to the nation is a prologue to the priorities that will be focused upon by his administration going forward: COVID-19 first, then infrastructure, then families. Within this policy context, several things of great importance to behavioral health literally jumped out of his comments. I would like to highlight these gems for further reflection and action.

Not since President Franklin Roosevelt included it in his “Second Bill of Rights” in 1944 has another American president given voice the fundamental principle that good health ought to be enshrined as a basic human right for all Americans. If implemented, this landmark concept would revolutionize our health and behavioral health care.

The seeds for this right are included in both our Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The Declaration defines life as an inalienable right, and the Constitution’s Preamble includes promotion of the general welfare as a core reason for the founding of the United States.

Internationally, as early as 1946, this right was recognized in the Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization. Later, in 1948, it was recognized in Article 25 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, in 1966, in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The U.N. high commissioner on human rights has prepared a fact sheet that provides a more detailed background.

Envision an America in which all people with behavioral health conditions have equal access to needed care that is appropriate and acceptable; one in which one’s ZIP code does not make a difference in length of life or cause of death; one in which health promotion and care are accorded equal importance. This is the meaning of full implementation of good health as a basic human right.  

Biden went on to express another very thought-provoking idea. Just as the Department of Defense has the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) to spearhead cutting-edge research and demonstrations to improve our military capability, the president advocated that the National Institutes of Health should have a Health Advanced Research Project Agency (HARPA) to improve our health capability and to address cutting-edge problems in health, such as mental illness, substance use and cancer. Such an entity could bring together all fields of expertise relevant to each particular area of concern.

What an interesting proposal! Envision a HARPA project that would bring together the full range of expertise on depression or opioid use with the goal of prevention—consumers and family members, behavioral health, health and public health providers, and researchers with expertise from genetics to services, to social context. Imagine another project with the goal of full well-being, or another with the goal of full self-determination. The human potential is almost endless. What HARPA would bring is a focus on real world issues that require real world solutions, and it would be nimble to take these actions quickly.

Finally, the president told the LGBTQ community that he “has their back.” I interpret that to mean that Biden has the back of all groups who have faced discrimination. Such support is particularly important because many with behavioral health and I/DD conditions also have been excluded and vilified.

Our course of action is very clear. We must raise up these three goals as worthy aspirations. Every behavioral health and I/DD client would benefit dramatically by their implementation.

Ron Manderscheid, PhD, is president and CEO of NACBHDD and NARMH.