If you — or someone you love — is struggling with mental illness, you already know the health care system is broken. At its best: disjointed and inadequate. At its worst: inaccessible to folks desperate for an appropriate diagnosis and treatment. The majority of individuals needing help fall between the cracks of long established requirements around age, income and insurance coverage.
Will Health Care Reform change all that?
In reality, there are very few provisions directly addressing mental health in the legislation recently approved by the House and the Senate.
But don’t be discouraged. There’s actually some good news. According to the American Psychiatric Association, the approved legislation extends mental health parity to individual and group policies purchased through government-sponsored health exchanges.
In basic terms, this legislation . . .
- Mandates that these policies provide equal coverage for mental and medical conditions; they cannot differentiate between the two in establishing coverage limits. This is major! The original (2008) mental health parity legislation applied only to large employer plans in the private marketplace.
- Bans companies from denying health insurance based on pre-existing conditions, including mental health diagnoses.
- Eliminates lifetime limits on coverage.
- Prohibits insurers from varying premiums based on an individual’s health status, one of the most frustrating issues faced by people with mental health diagnoses.
These provisions alone have the potential to extend health insurance coverage, including mental health, to approximately 30 million currently uninsured individuals and families.
Now that’s a good start. But it’s not perfect.
Like anything destined to change the way we think and do business, health care reform requires continued insight, input and evaluation. As health care advocates, we support this process and champion the inclusion of enriched mental health benefits as part of our re-designed system.
What do you think? We invite you to post comments; join the conversation on this critical issue.