The State of Parity

Several of our hard-working affiliates in the field share what this historic event means to their communities.

Congress Catches Up With Hoosiers

By Stephen C McCaffrey, JD, President & CEO, Mental Health America of Indiana, Inc.

The enactment of a federal mental health and substance abuse parity law by Congress this month will broadly outlaw insurance discrimination against people with mental illness and substance use disorders. Indiana’s Congressional delegation should be applauded for their support of this important legislation, which will benefit over 113 million Americans.

Even though the Indiana General Assembly has passed parity legislation, the law only applied to those policies regulated by state law. In the federal legislation, strong state parity and consumer protection laws are preserved while parity protection is extended to 82 million more people who are not protected by state laws and 31 million in plans that are subject to state regulation. The legislation also establishes an important oversight mechanism to identify any patterns of discrimination by diagnosis.

Mental Health America of Indiana in coalition with other mental health and addiction advocates have worked to secure legislation calling for health insurance policies that provide coverage for treatment of mental illnesses and to also provide coverage for the treatment of substance abuse or chemical addictions. But a state law provides only a partial solution and many Hoosiers have been left out because their coverage was not governed by state law.

Mental Health America of Indiana was involved at the inception of this legislation. Mental Health America has worked tirelessly in a two-decade long fight for its enactment, marshalling resources to enact the strongest possible bill and giving power to the ideas that brought business to the table and put it front and center in the halls of Congress.

The American people are the beneficiaries. Finally.

Passage makes a strong statement

By Shel Gross,Director of Public Policy, Mental Health America of Wisconsin

This legislation makes a strong statement about the legitimacy of mental health conditions and the effectiveness of treatment. It also tells me that employers have now come to recognize the value in providing adequate treatment for mental health conditions. We know that for employers, mental health and substance abuse disorders are major causes of lost productivity, short term disability costs and long term disability costs. This legislation reflects an understanding that an investment in treatment will reap huge payoffs for businesses and for our society.

In Wisconsin, state law is fairly weak: it requires plans to cover mental health and substance use services only up to $7,000 a year. So here the new law will have a real impact, at least with businesses of more than 50 employees.

Also, the staff of our Insurance Commission thinks that the new law will lead to a change in underwriting. There are likely to be more plans that include mental health and substance use services and this may also affect plans for smaller businesses. So there is likely to be a good ripple effect that goes beyond the letter of the law.

What Parity Means to Me!

By Paddy Kutz, Executive Director, Mental Health America of Licking County

The Brain won! Do you hear me cheering? I live in Newark, Ohio and have been working on the issue of mental health parity for my whole career at Mental Health America of Licking County. That totals over 27 years. Let me explain.

When I was a new staff person in 1981, I couldn’t believe that people were discriminated against because they had a no-fault brain disorder. “What? Insurance won’t cover mental health conditions the same as they cover other medical conditions?” I asked over and over again, “Why?” It’s not fair!

I finally found out that ignorance was behind such outrageous decisions to deny insurance coverage for treatment to recover from depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and other illnesses. People didn’t understand that the brain is the most important organ and it needs to get well too. People didn’t understand that all families have someone experiencing a mental health condition so we all should care.

Much of that has changed and Congress passed mental health parity in October. It will mean that the people I care so much about will be covered under insurance and won’t be limited in their recovery. The best news is that it will cost less to treat people than to put them in the hospital or jail, or have their lives fall apart so they can’t work and be productive.

Celebrate with me, if for no other reason, it is the right thing to do. Thank you to all who worked with me to pass parity: I appreciate you!