Fifth GOP presidential primary debate: on Health Care

Nikki Haley: Mental health crisis is a cancer; need services & insurance

HALEY: Well, I think we saw it exacerbated by COVID. One in three people right now suffer from mental health issues, but if treated, they can live a perfectly normal life. The problem is we don't have enough mental health therapists. We don't have enough mental health treatment centers. We don't have enough addiction centers. And if you happen to be lucky enough to get one of those three, insurance doesn't cover it.

Q: What would you do to fix it?

HALEY: We need to have more Telehealth, so that people can get the mental health care they need right when they need it. We need to have mental health counselors in schools so they can identify when a child has a problem. But right now, we've got to get access to care. And that's why I want to move those federal programs down to the state level, because states know they need more mental health support.

Ron DeSantis: Make all of Medicaid into block grants

HALEY: Medicaid needs to be sent down as block grants. Governors can best decide how to do that. Whether they need to use it towards mental health, whether they need to use it towards support services. Right now, I would send all of that down to the states. The problem is they're only sending a small portion of it.

DESANTIS: I think what you do is you block-grant the program and then let states run the way they see fit to do. But I can tell you this, expanding Medicaid leads to less private coverage. It doesn't necessarily increase access to quality care. I want to actually get people good health care. It's not just about a sheet of paper if you don't get any good doctors that get you entitled for that.

Ron DeSantis: More mental health institutions; more veteran PTSD services

DESANTIS: Yes, we need more people in institutionalized settings, unfortunately. I think we have a significant problem with veterans, particularly the post-9-11 veterans, and we know the stats on suicide. We can't keep turning a blind eye to what's happening to our vets. It's not going to be done just through the VA. And it can't be done just by pumping people with pharmaceuticals. If a veteran has post- traumatic stress, you need more than just that. For example, in Florida, we have an organization that trains service dogs to be paired with veterans with post-traumatic stress. They understand the symptoms; they mitigate it; and the suicide rate is close to zero as a result. We got to think bigger than these bureaucracies, and we've got to be there for our vets and their mental health.