There are an excessive number of people with untreated mental illness walking around in the USA. This may not be obvious if you haven’t lived elsewhere or can’t tell the difference between psychosis and alternative lifestyle choices. Untreated psychosis is dangerous, delusional people do harm others and themselves.
It’s relevant because it is a real medical problem that the US fails to deal with, as opposed to a less well defined cultural issue.
We used to deal with it, but it was considered inhumane (forced care). A social worker I know does her best to get homeless people into mental health care, but most refuse either out of fear of being locked up, or fear of having to quit their addictions.
Regan made it illegal to address this in California while he was governor, but the voters keep passing more mandatory spending on it, so we're in this screwed up situation where overfunded programs have stranded resources, and the problem keeps tailspinning, leading to more stranded resources.
It’s relevant because it is a real medical problem that the US fails to deal with, as opposed to a less well defined cultural issue.