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Report: Access To Mental Healthcare Particularly Lacking Near Petoskey, Ludington

Alan Cleaver/Flickr

A new report shows the Ludington and Petoskey areas are among some of the hardest areas in the state to get help with mental health problems – including anxiety and depression.

The report highlights problems with access to mental healthcare providers, even as mental health insurance coverage is expected to improve at the start of the year with the Affordable care Act.

Marianne Udow-Phillips, with the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation based in Ann Arbor, says the new coverage won’t help if Michigan doesn’t also solve this problem of access to providers.

“As all these hundreds-of-thousands of people get coverage, there’s going to be a huge demand,” she says. “People who are lower income, who are today uninsured, more of them have mental health issues than those who are higher income.”

The report shows one in four Michiganders suffer depression or anxiety.

At the Tip of the Mitt, 77 percent of doctors reported inadequate adult mental health services. The numbers were worse for an area including Muskegon and Ludington.

Read the full report.