None of you really want to hear my opinions on the general bailout package passed by the Senate last night, but I felt it my duty to inform you of the implications of the added section regarding mental health (since some of you are obviously crazy).
NAHU (National Association of Health Underwriters) sent me a good summary this morning, so I’ll give you some excerpts:
Modern Healthcare (10/2, DoBias) explains that the Senate measure “includes the already agreed upon mental-health parity language that passed the Senate as part of a tax-extenders package and the House as a stand-alone bill.” According to MedPage Today (10/2, Walker), an earlier mental health parity bill, passed by the House in March, “was dead on arrival in the Senate because of language that would have required insurance companies to give equal coverage to all mental illnesses outlined in the DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders]. This was a far-reaching stipulation that made some conservatives squeamish,” according to Peter Newbould of the American Psychological Association’s Practice Organization. The new mental health parity language, included in the rescue plan, “removes any mention of the DSM.”
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Meanwhile, the New York Times (10/1, A28) editorializes, “The bill is endorsed by President Bush, business groups, insurance companies, the medical community and mental health advocates. … But it requires a final shove because the measure is snarled in a broader legislative struggle over how to pay for tax revenues that would be reduced by this measure and others. Is there a statesman who can push this worthy parity legislation through to final passage before adjournment?
I’m not a mental health expert and I don’t even play one on TV, but “Mental Health Parity” is not something that I have always been an ardent supporter of. It would be good for me, insurance companies, medical professionals, medical health advocates, etc. I’m just not 100% sure that it’s good for patients. This is most likely because I don’t believe that “medicine” is always the best approach to mental health problems, but if I talk any further I will begin to effectively display my ignorance on the matter. I’m hoping to get some input from our “Behavioral Medicine” specialist. If and when I do, I’ll post again or have him do so.
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Butch Porter
Goose Creek Financial
Loudoun County’s best source for Health Insurance Expertise
703-651-3705