GWB Mental Health Policy

This is a blog for the Mental Health Policy Class at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

February 6, 2006

Mental Health Parity

"Parity legislation attempts to make insurance companies treat mental health care needs with the same standards as general health care needs. Currently, Busch said, some insurance plans allot different amounts of coverage for general and mental health care, including the number of times a patient may visit a doctor. Some insurance companies, she said, also require higher cost-sharing for mental health care expenses."
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2 comments:

Sickly Person said...

When I studied the mental health parity policy currently in existence, I discovered that it was barely about parity. All it does is equalize lifetime limits in medical coverage--employers, by way of their insurance companies, have to provide the same lifetime limits for health coverage AND mental health coverage. But the exceptions were many! The law does not apply to companies with less than 50 employees, or to employers who can prove that the provision increases their health coverage costs by more than 1%. It's a "meatless" act, and I would be surprised whether the new efforts will "beef it up." Call me a skeptic, but I believe the insurance companies and big business carry much more weight than those with mental health needs...

10:09 AM
Danny Wedding said...

Leslie, thanks for your posting. You're absolutely right; that said, the first step is half the journey (i.e, numerous compromises were made to enact the policies that are now on the books).

Thanks for posting your comments; this is what everybody in the class is supposed to do.

Best wishes,

Danny

1:42 PM

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