Parity Pushed for Mental Illness under Private Health Insurance.

For years providers of private heath insurance plans traditionally charged higher copays, and deductibles for mental health conditions than for other conditions, if they provided such coverage at all.

That will change with the passing of “The Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act" a bill recently enacted by Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), himself recovering from addiction to prescription drugs and Jim Ramstad (R-MN). The bill has also drawn wide support from top democratic leaders, including house speaker Nancy Pelosi. The bill has also been endorsed by Parity NOW a coalition that has fought hard for its passage, and some 200 other mental health and addiction recovery advocacy organizations nationwide.

Under the proposed legislation, private health insurance policies will no longer be able to impart on to their enrollees’ copayment rates that are higher, or various other restrictions such as the number or type of out-patient treatments, for mental and addictive disorders than the benefits provided for the care of physical conditions.

The Bill officially known as HR 1424, does not override existing mental health parity laws. Nor does it affect group health insurance policies. Private health insurance plans that offer coverage for mental health or addiction recovery will have to follow the coverage for such conditions under the guidelines of The Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, which does offer such medical coverages on par with non-mental conditions. Since FEHBP went into effect, studies have consistently shown that in the states that have adopted the FEHBP requirement; over and over again the impact on the cost of premiums was minimal. And experts expect that should hold true for private insurance plans as well.

The bill has overwhelming support and has gotten through one committee. It needs to get through several other committees before it can be brought to the floor for a vote. Several representatives have introduced similar legislation in the Senate.

Says Representative Ramstadt, one of the co-authors of HR 1424, “This is not just another public policy issue. This is a life-or-death issue for millions of Americans"