NASW Government Relations Action Alert - Pressure the House on Mental Health Parity
Action Needed
Join with NASW’s advocacy partners and call your Representative, using the toll-free Parity Hotline, 1-866-parity4 (1-866-727-4894), to urge cosponsorship of the new House mental health parity legislation, H.R. 1402. (The Parity Hotline reaches the Capitol switchboard, which can connect callers to their Members of Congress.) Targets : All members of the House of Representatives who have not cosponsored Mental Health Parity legislation this year. If you click on the link to H.R. 1402, you can view the list of cosponsors to date.
Message : “I am calling to ask the Representative to [again] cosponsor H.R. 1402, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act. Parity is a fair and affordable solution that will save lives and families.”
Background
The Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act expands the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 by prohibiting group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations on mental health benefits that are different from those applied to medical/surgical services. The legislation closes the loopholes that allow discrimination in the copayment, coinsurance, deductible, maximum out-of-pocket limit and day and visit limits. It applies only to group health plans already providing mental health benefits, and excludes (as does current law) health plans sponsored by employers of fewer than 50 people.
Highlights of the Equitable Treatment Act of 2005(H.R. 1402) Introduced by Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Jim Ramstad
Equal Coverage for All Mental Disorders- Expands the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA) to prohibit a covered group health plan from imposing treatment limitations or financial requirements on mental health and chemical dependency treatment benefits that differ from limitations on medical and surgical benefits.
- The bill only applies to group health plans that opt to provide mental health benefits and is modeled after the mental health benefits provided through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP).
- Provides full parity for mental health conditions listed in the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the industry standard diagnostic manual used by Medicare, Medicaid, the FEHBP, the FDA, the legal system and 13 states’ parity laws.
Requirements and Exemptions
- Coverage is contingent on the diagnosis being included in an authorized treatment plan that is in accordance with standard protocols and meets medical necessity criteria.
- There is a small business exemption for companies with 50 or fewer employee
Cost
- A new study of the FEHBP program has shown that access to care improved and costs were negligible.
- Research shows that better mental health care results in savings to businesses in the form of lower absenteeism and higher productivity. According to the World Health Organization over one-fifth of lost days of productivity are the result of mental and addictive disorders.
- Every credible study of states experiences with mental health parity have shown that mental health costs rise minimally or fall after the implementation of parity, as people have greater access to less expensive forms of treatment.
The Need for Parity
- The Surgeon General has estimated that roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population has a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year, but only one in three receives treatment.
- Untreated depression costs American businesses $70 billion each year in lost productivity and worker absenteeism according to the Wall Street Journal. NIMH has found the U.S. loses $180 billion per year due to all mental illness.
- The GAO reports that 87 percent of health plans routinely force patients to pay more for mental health care than other health care and place stricter limits on mental health treatment than on other health treatment, or both.
For more information, contact Jim Finley, NASW Government Relations Unit, at: jfinley@naswdc.org or visit National Association of Social Workers for full article.
