Parity update

The platforms of both political parties endorse some form of parity, though the Republican platform does not specifically include access to addiction treatment.


A parity law will be an important milestone, but it's clear that it does not mean that there will suddenly be easy access to care. Insurers will implement tight managed care protocols and, practically speaking, things may not be very different. Parity does not equal equity. This will be the next long struggle.    More...


Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Could mental health parity be in the offing?

 Lawmakers will try to move mental health parity legislation by attaching it to a tax bill that will be addressed by the Senate this week, CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 9/17).  Lawmakers reached anagreement in July that would combine the House and Senate mental health parity bills by removing a House mandate on coverage of specific mental health conditions in favor of one that would require that mental health benefits be equal to physical health benefits. No funding mechanism was included in the agreement (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 9/10).  The parity bill currently is being considered by theSenate Finance Committee, which has been charged with finding funding offsets. The House passed a similar bill this summer that would offset the cost by placing restrictions on physician-owned hospitals.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Mental Health Parity Needs your support

The National Eating Disorders Association has issued the following alert:

Call-in day for passing mental health parity is this Wednesday Sept. 10. The NEDA wants people to call their members of Congress.

From the NEDA:

Action: On Wednesday, Sept. 10th, you should call your U.S. Representative and Senators by using the toll-free Parity Hotline: 1-866-parity4 (1-866-727-4894). The Parity Hotline reaches the U.S. Capitol switchboard which can connect callers to the offices of their members.

If you don’t know who your senator is, you can simply tell them your state and they will connect you. For your representatives, go to www.house.gov and then enter your zip code – this will identify who your Representative is.


Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Update: Senate And House Reach Historic Agreement On Mental Health Parity

Image via Wikipedia

From the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Action Alert I received last night:

We are delighted to announce that the Senate and the House negotiators have reached a historic agreement on the Mental Health Parity compromise bill. Since early March, when the Senate passed its own version of the bill, S. 558, the House and Senate have been engaged in intense negotiations to reconcile differences between the two bills. (The House bill, H.R. 1424 - passed in early March).

Now the bill must go for one more, final vote in both chambers and then goes to the President for his signature.

You are all amazing! For many years, you have hung in there for the long haul - the mark of a true advocate. Now we need to rally once more so that the bill is passed quickly in the House and Senate.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Mental Health Parity Update: DBSA Advocacy Alert

The House of Representatives and the Senate have both passed their versions of Mental Health Parity (H.R. 1424 and S. 558, respectively); however, in a recent Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) Advocacy Alert, we’re reminded that the battle for Mental Health Parity isn’t quite finished, especially given the limited number of legislative days the House and the Senate have to come up with and agree on Mental Health Parity law that will benefit us all.

After seven years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, victory is finally within reach. We are so close to the enactment of Mental Health Parity, legislation that would end the discrimination in health coverage between mental illness and “physical” illnesses like diabetes or heart disease.

Thanks to the DBSA, you can easily send an email to your legislators asking them to do just that.

And honestly, after reading the determined and moving passage quoted above, how can you not?

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Congressional Negotiations Close on Mental Health Parity

U.S. Senate negotiators are in the midst of reviewing the latest House proposal to require parity between mental health coverage and traditional medical coverage, and could move toward a response "in the next few days," according to a senior legislative aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

According to Connie Garner, Kennedy's policy director for disability and special populations, legislative counsel for the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee chairman are completing their assessment of the latest tweaks to the Mental Health Parity Act. The act would prevent plans that offer any mental health benefits from placing more restrictive conditions on mental-health coverage than those for medical and surgical coverage.

"At that point, we'll bring our coalition back together, and we'll look at what they have to offer and hopefully, the dissonance between those bills will begin to get a little bit smaller," Garner said.

Separate versions of the legislation have cleared each chamber in the past year, including the House's 268-148 vote early last month to approve the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act (BestWire, March 6, 2008). That bill, H.R. 1424, would require employers and group health plans that offer mental health benefits would need to extend equitable coverage to all conditions listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Unlike a related Senate bill -- S. 558, which cleared that chamber unanimously in late September -- the House measure does not enjoy broad support from the employer and insurer community, which have complained the House bill includes provisions that could impinge on flexibility in benefit plan design and management of mental-health benefits. The Senate bill, by contrast, has been endorsed by America's Health Insurance Plans, the National Association of Health Underwriters, the American Benefits Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the bill's primary Senate sponsor, expressed gratitude to Kennedy for leading the charge for updated parity legislation. Kennedy's son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., is co-sponsor of H.R. 1424.

"We have worked together for a number of years on mental health issues and we now have an opportunity to get mental health parity for the mentally ill in the United States. We're just within earshot of getting that done, and I look forward to that being done before I leave the Senate," Domenici said during a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by AHIP, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness.

Resources on Parity

Resources on the mental health parity bills from the Congressional Budget Office:

CBO score on H.R. 1424 (Commerce), 11-21-07: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/88xx/doc8837/hr1424e&c.pdf

CBO score on H.R. 1424 (Ways & Means), 10-4-07: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/86xx/doc8679/hr1424w&m.pdf

CBO score on H.R. 1424 (Ed & Labor) 9-7-07: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/86xx/doc8608/hr1424.pdf

CBO score on S. 558, 3-20-07:

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/78xx/doc7894/s558.pdf

Mental Health Parity: Why it’s not a hot political topic

Before I was diagnosed with depression and realized that I suffered from a mental illness, in my mind the most vital issue in terms of health insurance was whether I had it or not. I think you’d find that’s the case for nearly everyone in America. If you have good health insurance, for the most part it’s not something you think about, and you’re pretty darn thankful that’s the case.

However, once I started treatment for depression I became aware of one of the ugly aspects of the health insurance coverage I had thought was so complete. Not only were there limits on my mental health care in terms of number of visits allowed, both annually and for my lifetime, but my co-pay was higher for mental health visits than for other types of care. And I’m not just referring to talk therapy, which is always a 50 minute long appointment. Even a 5 minute medication check with my psychiatrist cost me more than a 45 minute long appointment with my gynecologist.

Retailers Lobby for Mental Health Parity

The National Retail Federation hired Washington Council Ernst & Young to lobby the federal government for equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses when policies include both, according to a disclosure form.

MENTAL HEALTH PARITY: Researchers Stress Importance Of Out-Of-Network Benefits

In a study published December 18 on the Health Affairs Web site, researchers say that passage of either the Senate or House version of this legislation would constitute a major improvement over the current 1996 Mental Health Parity Act, which only guaranteed equal annual and lifetime payment limits. However, the authors also warn that parity legislation could actually reduce access to MH treatment for some patients if it does not facilitate treatment by providers outside insurers’ networks.

Group urges Congress to pass mental health parity this year

More than 180 organizations, including the American Hospital Association, on Dec. 10 urged Congress to pass a “strong mental health and addiction parity law this year.”

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Mental Health Liaison Group said Congress is “poised to pass historic full parity legislation if policy differences can be resolved to produce one bill that is acceptable to both the Senate and House. We have appreciated your longtime support for this issue. Please work with committee chairs and parity sponsors to pass strong parity legislation and send it to the President before the end of this year.”

Mental health parity law will help get care to those who are in need

A sharply divided Congress apparently still can't agree on a farm bill. It lacks the votes to override presidential vetoes on key federal funding bills. It also has no single answer on how to get health-coverage for America's 47 million uninsured. The list of pressing issues that lack consensus and appear likely to be deferred to "next year."

With congressional leaders bogged down on divisive issues, they risk losing the opportunity to pass legislation on which there's widespread agreement. For example, Ohio stands to lose if Congress fails to pass legislation to end insurance-discrimination based on mental illness -- so-called "mental health parity."

Congressional Negotiators Hitting Roadblocks on Mental Health Parity Legislation

Sponsors of the House and Senate versions of legislation (HR 1424 and S 558) that would require most health insurers to provide equal levels of coverage for physical and mental illnesses are "bumping up against" conflicts in negotiations that could "thwart" the bill's passage this year, CongressDaily reports. Over the last month, House sponsors Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) have met with Senate sponsors Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to discuss possible compromises. "We are at a delicate point in the negotiations," Ramstad said (Johnson, CongressDaily, 11/19).

The House bill includes provisions not included in the Senate legislation, including a broader definition of medical conditions that insurers would have to cover. In addition, the Senate bill would take effect one year after the legislation becomes law, while the House bill would be implemented Jan. 1, 2008 (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/17).

Domenici said that the talks have been difficult.

R.I. Congressman Advocates for Mental Health Parity

Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy spent the weekend in Iowa stumping for U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, who is campaigning for president. He said while he was there he had an opportunity to speak with members of the International Fire Fighters Union who told him about 50 percent of the phone calls they receive from their membership are related to drug and alcohol addiction.

“Our health care system is ignoring two-thirds of its population,” by not covering many of these mental health and addiction issues, Kennedy told a group of mental health experts and advocates at the Legislative Office Building Monday. He said the health care system would save money if it addressed these issues because the suicide rate and the number of alcohol-related accidents would go down.

H.R.1424 - Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007

Heath Shuler has joined 39 Republicans and 230 Democrats in cosponsoring the Wellstone Mental Health Parity Act. Folks have been trying to get this bill passed for years, and it’s back for another day in the sun. This time it has broader support than ever before. The Act will require insurance companies to carry mental health coverage on their group insurance plans. The Act also orders a study to see how implementation of the Act affects costs across the health system.

Mental health parity can boost productivity and retention

Forging their own path, some employers are providing mental health parity in their employee benefits plans without it being required by law, while legislators in Congress and statehouses continue to debate mental health parity bills. What's more, companies are finding that parity improves productivity and retention.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., a Houston-based oil exploration and production company, has provided mental health parity for years - meaning that the mental health coverage is equivalent to the medical coverage when it comes to visit limits, deductibles, copayments, lifetime benefit limits and annual benefit limits.

Congressional Negotiators Hitting Roadblocks On Mental Health Parity Legislation

Sponsors of the House and Senate versions of legislation (HR 1424 and S 558) that would require most health insurers to provide equal levels of coverage for physical and mental illnesses are "bumping up against" conflicts in negotiations that could "thwart" the bill's passage this year, CongressDaily reports. Over the last month, House sponsors Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) have met with Senate sponsors Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to discuss possible compromises. "We are at a delicate point in the negotiations," Ramstad said (Johnson, CongressDaily, 11/19).