(The Center Square) – A brand new invoice presented by way of U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., will require a federal study on mental and behavioral health care access for farmers and ranchers, who’ve a better fee of suicide than the overall inhabitants.
According to the law, which is known as the Agricultural Access to Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Mental Health Care Act, the Government Accountability Office must “conduct a study on the accessibility of substance use disorder treatment and mental health care providers and services for farmers and ranchers.”
The lawmakers in a news free up cited the National Rural Health Association, which says farmers have a suicide fee that is 3.5 instances above that of the overall inhabitants.
“Colorado’s farmers and ranchers face uncertainty from forces beyond their control, and Congress needs to do more to help them access the mental and behavioral health care they need,” Bennet said in a commentary. “This bill will help us understand the barriers they face and improve access to care for Americans in rural communities across the country.”
Lummis stated the important paintings of Wyoming’s farmers and ranchers “often comes at a great personal cost.”
“We have a responsibility to improve accessibility for mental health care services for our nation’s producers, and I’m excited to identify ways we can improve access to these services throughout rural America,” she stated.
Colorado Farm Bureau President Carlyle Currier stated that “limited resources available in our rural areas is statistically evident and profoundly felt among rural communities.”
“We believe the study proposed in this legislation would further raise awareness and embolden the work of mental health initiatives like Colorado Agricultural Addiction and Mental Health Program (CAAMHP),” Currier added.
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