Treatment Online

Encouraging News on the Insurance Front
> 3/30/2006 9:06:27 AM

A New York Times story today trumpeted some hopeful news on the coverage of mental health treatment by insurers across the country. In 1999 then President Clinton enacted a plan that provided equal coverage for any federal worker receiving treatment for mental health problems, including but not limited to depression, anxiety disorders or drug addiction. This new policy was called mental health and substance abuse parity, and it represented a major break from business as usual. In the past, insurance companies often made mental health treatment more cost prohibitive through higher co-payments or stricter limits on visits.

In a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers concluded, quite decisively, that the parity program has been a success.

From their conclusion:

When coupled with management of care, implementation of parity in insurance benefits for behavioral health care can improve insurance protection without increasing total costs.

This study should help to erase some of the stigma that is still attached to mental health treatment, especially in the insurance world. Also encouraging in the study was the news that while the parity program helped cut costs to patients (and therefore some of the downside to seeking treatment), there was no discernable disparity between the increases in the federal sector and the private sector, which was used as more of a control. Instead, mental health visits increased across both areas, which would indicate a general lessening of the traditional barriers to seeking treatment. As we have discussed at Anxiety, Addiction and Depression Treatments in the past, here or here, when patients fail to present for mental health issues, often times those same problems will begin to manifest themselves in physical ways, and that only serves to increase premiums in the long run.

Breaking down some of the barriers that often prevent patients for seeking mental health treatment will have a positive effect on the overall health care community. As this study shows, if insurance companies can lead with a proactive strategy to eliminate the stigmas and mitigating circumstances that prevent patients from seeking mental health treatment, everyone comes away better off.

Comments
IT'S BEAUTIFUL THAT CLINTON TOOK CARE OF FEDERAL WORKERS AND THEIR MENTAL HEALTH COVERAGE.WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF US???--TRUFFLE--

Posted by: 3/30/2006 11:13:31 AM