It’s Fair
- For too long, we have deemed those who suffer from mental and substance
abuse disorders unworthy of fair health insurance coverage. Comprehensive
parity legislation ends this discrimination by ensuring that mental
health and substance abuse disorders receive the same insurance coverage
as physical illnesses.
- According to the “Global Burden of Disease” Study, four of the ten
leading causes of disability for people older than age five are mental
disorders. In the United States, major depression is the leading
cause of disability.
- The success rate for treating clinical depression is over 80 percent,
and recent research done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse confirms
that substance abuse treatment reduces use by 40-60 percent and significantly
reduces criminal activity.
- Limiting parity coverage to “severe mental illnesses” discriminates
against children, adolescents and those whose illnesses fall outside
of these categories. Disorders often excluded include: substance
abuse disorders, post-traumatic stress syndrome, anorexia and bulimia,
multiple personality disorders, and children’s disorders, such as
serious mental and emotional disturbances. These disorders can be
just as debilitating as severe mental illnesses. All categories
of the DSM-IV should fall under Parity Legislation.
It’s Affordable
- Despite fears that parity would cause insurance premiums to skyrocket,
several studies in states with parity have found that mental health
parity only raises costs between one and four percent. According
to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Maryland’s comprehensive parity law resulted
in an increase of less than one percent in total premiums. The Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that
severe mental illnesses account for 90 percent of this cost increase.
- It is the lack of parity that truly costs the nation. The Surgeon
General (January 2000) found that indirect costs of mental illness
accounted for a $79 billion loss on the United States economy in 1990.
- A 2000 study by the RAND Corporation demonstrated that substance
abuse parity increased costs by as little as 0.7 percent.
- In 1998, SAMHSA found that adding children to parity legislation
would result in a cost increase of 0.8 percent in managed care settings.
- These minimal cost increases are more than offset by increased productivity
of workers, the overall reduction of medical costs, crime, and homelessness,
and the subsequent increase in the number of contributing taxpayers
with private insurance.
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It’s TIME
- Currently, 34 states have some form of health insurance parity.
- In 2000, the Surgeon General called for comprehensive mental health
parity in his report on mental health. This report gives added credibility
to public education parity to pass comprehensive insurance parity
laws.
- The Federal Mental Health Parity Act sunsets in September of 2001.
Therefore, in the upcoming year advocates need to send a clear message
to Congress that states want comprehensive parity, and are particularly
concerned about including children and substance abuse in parity laws.
For additional information, please contact the Advocacy
Resource Center at 1-800-969-NMHA (6642), option 6.
Updated April 2005
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