It took a long time, but the Federal Parity Law is now in effect and health insurance plans should be covering mental health issues equal to issues related to the body.  It makes sense, after all the brain is part of the body!

Below is an excerpt from the most recent “E-News” from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

For many group health plans, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act went into effect on January 1, 2010. The new law requires most group health plans to cover treatment for mental illness and substance use disorders on the same terms and conditions as medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and asthma. Specifically the new law bars health plans from imposing durational treatment limits (caps on inpatient days or outpatient visits) or financial limitations (higher cost sharing, deductibles or out of pocket limits) that do not also apply to medical-surgical coverage.

The effective date of the new law is actually the beginning of the first new plan year after October 3, 2009. The new law applies to all group health plans sponsored by employers with 50 or more workers.

• View NAMI’s factsheet on the new law
• View a Powerpoint presentation on the new law

Is Your Health Plan in Compliance With Parity?

NAMI is seeking information from individuals and families on how the new law is working. This information is critical to informing policymakers in the U.S. Congress and the Obama Administration on additional steps that may need to be taken to strengthen the law and ensure adequate enforcement. In addition, it is critical for NAMI to demonstrate to the larger public that parity is making a real difference in improving coverage of mental illness treatment and expanding access to critical medical services for children and adults living with mental illness.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 4:25 pm and is filed under General Mental Health, Health, health care reform, mental illness, Politics. Tags for this post: benefits, bi-polar, brain disorders, depression, disability, health care reform, healthcare, healthcare effort, insurance, mental illness, parity, Politics, schizophrenia, stigma, treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.