Mental Health Insurance needs to Equal Physical Coverage
By STEPHEN FABICK
Having a mental health disorder can be as serious as having a heart attack or any other debilitating, life-threatening physical health disorder. It also can contribute to physical ailments.
Yet, every day families with good health coverage discover that their loved ones become second-class citizens in the health care system. They cannot get the same level of mental health care as physical health care. As a result, they are forced to choose between an often overburdened and underfunded state system or moving to another state that offers better mental health coverage.
Michigan has no state law providing mental health parity.
Why do these difficult choices need to be made at all? Because employer-provided health insurance sets arbitrary, one-size-fits-all limits on mental health services, while allowing much more flexible limits on other medical and surgical benefits.
While the fundamental issue of fairness in health care coverage should be reason enough to place mental health on equal footing with physical health, the effects of mental health disorders can also be physically devastating to both individuals and society.
According to the 1999 U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, mental health disorders are the second leading cause of disability and premature death in the United States. They often go untreated and worsen, and all too often they lead to unemployment, broken homes, school failure and even suicide. Untreated mental health disorders also cost our economy about $80 billion each year in lost productivity, sick leave and unemployment.
According to a recent poll by the American Psychological Association, 87 percent of Americans say that it's lack of insurance coverage that most keeps them from seeing a mental health professional, not stigma or embarrassment. The same poll revealed that 85 percent of Americans think that health insurance should cover mental health services.
Congress can help improve access to mental health services by passing the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act, which would put insurance coverage for mental health services on a par with physical health services. The bill also would improve the 1996 Parity Act by requiring parity for coinsurance, deductibles, day and visit limits and maximum out-of-pocket caps.
Members of Congress certainly recognize the importance of equal coverage for mental health disorders. Since January 2001, they and 8.5 million other federal employees, retirees and dependents have received full parity in mental and physical health coverage.
In the interest of fairness, all Americans deserve the same type of insurance coverage as their representatives in Congress.
Troy resident Dr. Stephen Fabick is a licensed psychologist with a private practice in Birmingham.
