they don't even transmit the data. maybe it is just saved on the laptop, just an image for the laptop. but you are right, these photos are saved somewhere. they are indexed into a database somewhere along the line. whether they are the servers owned by large companies. as we've seen in a number of cases, this data can travel very quickly without our knowledge. there are worries from people saying, look at these huge databases being created every day around the country. who can look at those photos, what can be done with them? all of those are good questions ont lawmakers have waited and that will be in the question as we consider the technology rollout. harwellu can find drew

on twitter.com. thanks so much for your time. at theve look now brookings institution in washington where in just a few minutes, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff will be eating about threats to national security. you can watch his remarks live over on our companion and online at c-span.org. here on c-span, we plan to bring you at 11 a.m. eastern, the comments from robert mueller, the special counsel, a statement at 11 a.m. eastern, reports from the washington post national security group orders say that it will be a "substantial statement of under 10 minutes." whatever it is, we will have it for you live. host: as we come to the end of mental health awareness month, especially with the state of american mental health, we are joined by the acting ceo of the national alliance on mental illness. remind viewers who the alliance

is and what your mission is. guest: thanks for having me. the national alliance for mental illness is the nation's largest grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of people who live with mental health conditions and their families. frankly, we are a community that cares. organization that provides education, support, and advocacy around mental health care in this country. host: and as we have this discussion, we should note our phone lines are split of regionally. eastern or central time zones, it's (202) 748-8000. mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. in, someare calling statistics on the state of america's mental health from nami's latest shoot. 43.8 million adults experience mental illness in a given year and nearly 60% of adults with a mental illness receive mental health services in previous years. but those numbers in

perspective. how bad or good is that compared with previous years? guest: actually, those statistics have remained fairly constant through the years. if wes really shocking is think about comparison to cancer, half of all people living with cancer had no treatment in the previous year, we would be outraged. the fact that over half of the country is living with those health conditions, going without treatment, when treatment should fromailable to help people having a worsened condition, that is truly outrageous. host: when we talk about people getting access to care, one issue playing out now is continued funding for what is called the certified community behavioral health clinics. explain what those are. guest: i'm glad you brought that up. they are mental health clinics that are in the community and that particular model is a model

designed to finance clinics in a way that actually pays for their cost. the great thing about them is that they are able, because of the financing, to actually increase the number of providers in those communities and they are responsible for recording ofa and providing an array services that are really meeting needs, particularly in rural communities. we are really concerned because the funding for those community mental health clinics expires in june of this year. the senators have reach reduced that bill that would extend that funding and provide more of those pilot sites. host: you think these are working? guest: absolutely. host: so why is funding running out? guest: frankly, it was a pilot project and it has been successful. thankfully, congress is recognizing that it has been

successful and we expect them to fully fund and expanded because really, this is something nami believes ought to be available in every state. host: another issue, federal lawmakers are looking at mental health coverage and what is being provided by insurers. this is just a headline from bloomberg businessweek. as suicides rise, insurers find ways to deny mental health coverage. can you talk about how to ensure mental health as part of health coverage? guest: it is interesting because the affordable care act was one of the primary ways that the country started moving to coverage of mental health conditions. individual with s did notlan necessarily have the governmental help at all. there's also a federal parity

law passed in 2008 that brought mental health coverage parity to large group plans. coverages is expanded for a lot of people, we find that plans are still discriminating against mental health care. recently, there was a finding by a court in the case of united behavioral health which found that that health plan actually was using their own criteria, made up criteria, to deny claims for mental health care rather than generally accepted medical criteria providing mental health treatment. host: plywood insurers want to do that? is this particularly expensive? guest: health plans want to make money. frankly, denying care is one way to do it. would we accept that for a cancer patient? heart disease? why would we allow that for mental health care? host: what are the focus is in

the building over my shoulder doing about that issue? guest: we are hoping they will do far more. right now we have parity in law but we don't have oversight or in respect of it. warren andre and -- joe kennedy who have introduced legislation that would enhance the parity laws and frankly, i think americans and employers need to simply demand it from health insurance plans. host: nami is the national alliance on mental illness. if you have questions, comments about some of these issues during mental health awareness month, you can call in in this segment. we will be having this conversation until the bottom of the hour. how long have you been acting ceo? guest: it has been about a month. before that, i let our advocacy and public policy team. host: what happened to the

previous ceo? guest: she resigned, she spent a long five years and took our organization to new heights. host: what do you plan to do as the new leader? guest: i'm very excited for what we have ahead of us. we are about to launch a new strategic plan and frankly, we are going to be focusing on clear goals. one is, we want everybody to get mental health treatment early in life. we want people to get access to the best possible mental health care, and we want to make sure that people with mental health conditions are kept out of our jails and prisons. that's the goal. host: taking your call. .egional lines, (202) 748-8000 central, (202) 748-8001. go ahead, josh. caller: i want to say that i'm a

recovering addict of about four years and one of the main issues that i see is that mental health and addiction have a pretty big stigma around them. that it's one of the things that can be looked at and fixed maybe with outreach or other things along those lines to help out people that have mental health issues so they don't turn to addiction like i and have to go through a vicious cycle before i figured everything out. go, do you mind talking about figuring everything out and helped? still with us, josh? caller: i'm here. host: go ahead. saying,like she was before the aca, i didn't have any insurance and it was hard to get anything taken care of. i goti got insurance and

a drug that i was on for a couple years. when you are on it, you have to go through treatment and psychologist and counselors. just for being on that program, it has helped me realize the underlying issues i've always the programaned off and it helped me to realize why i started to use and what the problems were. host: thanks for sharing your story. guest: thanks so much, that is so powerful. sharing your story like that, that is what is breaking down the stigma in this country. i think when we heard about the death of anthony bourdain and kate spade, that struck a chord with so many people. what we are realizing in this country is that mental health conditions are common. in five adults with

experience mental health conditions at some point in their lives, and some people throughout their lives. as you said, it's very common. and when people don't get the right treatment at the right time, it makes it harder to treat. it's really important for people to reach out. has a campaign this mental health month, it is and we are encouraging people to share their stories as helped, sharing what has you or how you have helped others in your life is so powerful. that is what is breaking down stigma and changing attitudes and changing the halls of congress across the way. host: do you have a sense of how many people have used that hashtag? know how many people have, but we are encouraging as many people as possible. nami'sore numbers from

fact sheet, you talk about mental health and addiction disorders. 10.2 million americans have that cooccuring-- disorder. michelle is next at a pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i'm going to agree with josh. this is really getting out of hand. militaryd was in the and he has ptsd and he committed suicide because he wasn't receiving the mental health that he needed. you have a lot of guys in the military that are desperately in need of mental health coverage and they are not getting it. me, i didn't have coverage in 2007 and by the grace of god i went to a clinic and they got me coverage. i'm doing well today. i'm still in therapy.

i'm still in therapy and i'm doing well. but i still have my bad days. if it wasn't for the insurance idorage that i get now, don't know where i would be right now. trump is talking about cutting all these programs. we can't let that happen. it's not about being a democrat or republican. we have to stand up for what is right in this country. if we don't, this country is going to fall. we are going to be gone. michelle, thank you so much. some of the things you said resonated with me so strongly and i am so sorry for the loss of your husband to suicide. unfortunately, that is a tragedy and a crisis in our country. we have well over 40,000 people per year who are dying by

suicide. the vast majority who have lived with mental health conditions. that is just not something we should accept. i'm so glad you brought up our nation's service members and veterans and their families. because those who are serving our country are not only entering service often at a time of mentalajority health conditions begin naturally in life, 75% of all lifetime mental health conditions occur by age 24. our military is young and are service members are very naturally getting mental health conditions as they are arriving. in addition, the very fact of service to our country should have great mental health conditions. when people undergo things in their life that they can't unseat, the impact is profound.

we need to do more. we are losing too many of our service members and veterans to suicide and mental health conditions that are not well treated. i'm very grateful that you have gotten the treatment that has helped you and it is so important, as you said, for a nation to recognize this is not a partisan issue, this is a bipartisan issue that affects virtually every american. host: michelle said she was concerned about trump cutting all these programs. are there specific funding streams or mental health programs on the chopping block right now? guest: there have been some programs on the chopping block. i'm thankful for the fact that congress is actually seeing the value of mental health care. we have been seeing some good increases. there are areas in the administration that are very much focused on improving mental health care and that is very

gratifying. at the same time, we know that last year, the administration put forth a rule that would expand health care plans that actually don't have to offer anti-mental health subsidies at all. short-term or limited duration insurance plans. that is something we strongly and i think that would harm our country. host: what is going to happen with that proposed rule. guest: it is in the courtroom while we speak and we will see what happens. host: mark is next. caller: i worked for an insurance company for almost four years and in 2007, i was diagnosed as being bipolar. the disability coverage that i have long-term only covered for four years because it was a mental nervous disorder and my employer had the resign and gave

the insurance for six months but i was hospitalized for seven months and was disabled or in a manic state for almost a year. it was to the point where i was out of my disability coverage and i was applying for social purity. i got it a month before my disability coverage ended, so i was lucky to get social security disability, but it was kind of disheartening to realize looking for an insurance company for all those years, the disability program only paid for mental nervous disorders for two years. they paid for lower back pain for life, they paid for cancer for life, they pay for everything else, but they don't understand the importance of mental disorders. host: thanks for the call. guest: you bring up such a great

point. that we see in this country around mental health conditions is actually shocking. the fact that lower back pain could be covered by disability for life and a two-year limit for a lasting mental health condition that is very profound in its effects on many people -- unconscionable. it is one of the reasons we are working to change social security practices and insurance practices. these disparities need to end. i feel like they are something decades,a vestige of even centuries of discrimination and misunderstandings about the very nature of mental health conditions. twitter,uestion on what are some important treatments for mental illness, which drugs are making a difference and are most useful? guest: that is a great question.

the interesting thing is that improvements vary. what we are finding is that certain air of these, particularly therapies like cognitive behavioral therapies have a strong evidence base for helping people with a range of mental health conditions. peoplesame time, some respond very well to medication and often times, a combination. bit further, often times people really get a lot of support by finding other people like them, learning more about the condition, learning how to manage it themselves. as for what works best, that is often something that is very unique to the individual. one of the things we are working diagnostics, so we can actually get the right treatment to the right person at the right time. host: a discussion on mental

health in the united states. guest.campbell is our about 10 minutes or so left your questions or comments. riverside, california. caller: good morning. raised in a large family such as i was, when i distress ofmental some kind, at school or something, my strong-willed father would often just respond with "go suffer quietly." terms, how doal you respond to what i think is, too often times, that term is just brushing problems off the

table? they don't know how to handle it, so they respond to the child or the young adult, suffer quietly. guest: suffer quietly. that is just heartbreaking. but you know, i grew up in a time when, like you, mental health conditions just were not talked about. when people were afraid and if you think about it, that also is true of cancer. there was a time when it was referred to as the c word and people did not talk about it out loud and people thought it was a death sentence and did not want to acknowledge it. today, we have races for the cure. we talk about breast cancer in every form of cancer and we believe that treatment is possible and that people can recover. fortunately, the same is starting to happen with mental health. people are starting to a knowledge, mental health

conditions are real. they are conditions of the brain just like anything else. sometimes it's easy for people to start to think about the fact that epilepsy is a health condition of the brain. parkinson's disease is a condition of the brand. dementia is a condition of the brain. there's a multitude of conditions of the brain including traditional mental illnesses. the more we understand about them, the easier it is for us to a knowledge the pain, acknowledge the gift as well, and help people by simply saying i care. host: south carolina, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: how're you doing? host: doing well, what is your question or comment? caller: i just wanted to say that this country has never had a great health care system.

par.s fallen way below seem to bey they able to address mental health is by either putting them in jail and locking them up or just letting people roam the streets. have caused a lot of the major health care facilities in south carolina where i live, they have a few small places that cannot accommodate the amount of mental health care places that we have. i have a brother that is bipolar, i have a grandson that is bipolar. my daughter was an officer. i'm just wondering, when are they going to wake up? we have the problems been discussing, criminal and otherwise, it's because of them.

there are underlying mental health problems, but they can't seem to get the health care that they need because there's always not enough money or they can't go through the complete and total treatment that they need. icon on myself have suffered with depression since i was five years old, and i get you have to go through a system of health care for a time in order to get the results. you have to change medicines here and there. this country is willing to spend $5 billion to keep drugs out of the country, but they are doing nothing to curtail the demand for the drugs. upt: thanks for bringing those issues and sharing your story. i want to give angela a chance to respond. guest: thank you so much. i think you bring up some

incredibly important point. the fact that our countries jails and prisons have become the new mental health institutions in our country is atrocious. that is not something we should accept. host: is that new? guest: that is not new, that has been going on for decades. and it is grossly unfair. we need mental health providers in this country and we need access to treatment. the reality is, half the counties in our country don't have mental health profession als. programo, there was a to teach america to bring up the number of teachers in this country. frankly, i feel like congress needs to have that same impetus to increase the number of health insurance providers in this country. no family should have to suffer like that. host: arlington, virginia is

next. caller: good morning. i am feeling everything everybody is saying. 23, she is as registered nurse, last july she had a psychotic reaction to prednisone. we have kaiser permanente and despite that fact, the mental health treatment that they were allowed was not appropriate for her. so she just got worse and worse been ony, she has long-term disability for almost a year now. it got so bad that it affected her health. she is physically sick, she's not taking care of herself. her immune system is down to nothing. money to literally borrow from credit cards, borrow money from family to put her into the actual treatment that was appropriate for her.

sadly, even though we have kaiser permanente, medical they don't cover the type of treatment that she needs. because the type of treatment they were willing to cover did not work and she just got worse and worse, it was like, they actually did more harm than good in some ways because it was not appropriate. i feel like even with insurance, it is inadequate. to -- the proper care needs to be available to each patient because like you were saying, it's not one-size-fits-all. all the medicines weren't right. she really needed different types of therapy and like i said, we are paying out-of-pocket. now, but we are really in debt because our debt

paid for all of it. it's worth it because she is our daughter and we love her, but other families, they don't have that option. host: thanks for sharing yours and her story as well. guest: thank you for sharing that. i admire your dedication to your daughter. one of the things this points out -- look how much families are losing when people don't get the right treatment at the right time, but society. your daughter had a bright future in front of her. now, she's on disability and struggling in her recovery because the insurance plan denied her. >> thank you for being here. two years ago, the acting attorney general asked me to serve as a special counsel. he created the special counsel's office. th