Introduction
Mental health parity is a legislative act signed in the US during the year 1996. The main gist of this act is that the benefits pertaining to mental health shouldn’t be lesser than those of medical and surgical benefits. Basically it aimed to strike a balance between limits placed on mental health benefits and those of medical and surgical benefits. This related directly to the activities of insurance companies and their respective officers. A more modified and updated version of mental health parity legislation was passed by George W Bush during the year 2008. The legislation was referred to as the troubled asset relief program.
History
The history of mental health parity legislation comes into account for supporters of cheaper treatment of mental illnesses. The main argument in its favor was that the coverage for mental health should be the same as that of physical illnesses. Keeping that model in regard, it was thought that there shouldn’t be financial restrictions on treatment for mental illnesses. For this premise, the mental health parity legislation was introduced for the very first time in the year 1992. However, it made its appearance in the federal law during the year 1996. President Bush also continued this legislation and extended it to continue throughout 2008.
Features
The mental health parity legislation applies to those health plans which were initiated after January 1996. Throughout the course of time, this legislation has got an extension six times. Certain modifications were introduced by the insurers so that proper coverage could be had. It can be said that the group insurance plans had minor effect on the mental health coverage. However, the modification that was introduced during the era of George W Bush, group health plans cannot impose any greater limit. The main man behind this modification was the Senator Paul Wellstone. One thing that remains to be confirmed is the coverage of non bio based mental illness and eating disorders as well. The main crux of the legislation requires the parity of two benefits, which are mental health and medical/surgical. It should be under a group health plan and it should be in lieu of proper calculation. The bill also adds the discretion element from the side of employers in the sense that they should be discreet about the mental health parity benefits provided to different people and their families as well.
Tips and comments
An important about this legislation is that it doesn’t hold true for those individuals who suffer from issues like addiction, substance abuse or dependency on a chemical/s. This segment was later clarified in the 2008 legislation with the introduction of the addiction equity act in the coverage scheme for mental benefits. Another group that is exempted from such benefits is an employer who has people between 2 and 50 working for him/her during the calendar year. Another important exemption in this regard is for a group health plan for which the benefits result in the expansion of cost. The rate of increase that has been set in this regard is about one percent.
