ActionPapers

HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELL-BEING: MENTAL HEALTH PARITY

“Schizophrenia is considered a mental illness, and because of that, you are going to find you are limited in the number of visits you have to the doctor. You’ll have a higher deductible. That is discrimination no matter how you shake it out.” _ Rep. Lynn Olman ®, Ohio

WHY:

Mental health and substance abuse problems affect hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites each year, yet many of these conditions are treatable.

• A recent survey revealed that 43.2% of Wisconsin women reported poor mental health during the past 30 days. This is above the national average of 38.3%.¹
• In Wisconsin, 8.4% of total hospitalizations are related to psychiatric, alcohol, and drug problems. This compares to 7.5% of the total that were injury-related.²
• Four of the ten leading causes of disability for people older than age five are mental disorders. In the United States, major depression is the leading cause of disability.³
• The success rate for treating clinical depression is over 80 percent, and recent research confirms that substance abuse treatment reduces use by 40–60 percent and significantly reduces criminal activity.⁴

Mental health parity makes economic sense, and it’s affordable.

• The combined indirect and related costs of untreated mental illness, including costs of lost productivity, lost earning due to illness, and social costs exceed $113 billion annually.⁵
• Studies suggest that insurance coverage of mental illness and substance abuse can decrease overall medical costs because of increased use of preventive versus acute care.⁶
• A recent analysis of state mental health parity laws concludes: “To date there are no examples where mental health parity has been enacted in a state and costs have dramatically increased,” and, “To date there are no examples where mental health parity has been enacted in a state and a measurable increase in uninsured has been detected.”⁷
• In Minnesota, Blue Cross/Blue Shield actually reduced its insurance premiums by five to six percent after one year’s experience under the state’s comprehensive parity law.⁸

WHAT: Pass & Implement the Wisconsin Mental Health Parity Act

• Wisconsin remains 1 of only 17 states without some type of mental health parity legislation.
• All medically defined categories of mental illness⁹ should fall under Parity Legislation. Limiting parity coverage to “severe mental illnesses” discriminates against children, adolescents and those whose illnesses fall outside of these categories. Disorders often excluded include: substance abuse disorders, post-traumatic stress syndrome, anorexia and bulimia, multiple personality disorders, and children’s disorders such as serious mental and emotional disturbances. These disorders can be just as debilitating as severe mental illnesses. Limiting care based on perceived seriousness of a mental health condition is equivalent to providing coverage for only certain types of cancer.¹⁰

HOW:

• Gather and share stories. To win enough political support for parity, legislators need to hear personal accounts of insurance discrimination, to put a human face on a problem millions of Americans confront every day.
• Set up visits with elected officials. Use in-person meetings to inform your state representatives about the issue, demonstrate interest among constituents and share stories you’ve gathered. Ask them to support mental health insurance parity legislation.
• Circulate a petition. Submit the signed petitions to elected officials and/or hold a press conference announcing the broad community support they show for the issue.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper, in which you explain the benefits of parity and express your support for parity legislation in Wisconsin. Wisconsin United for Mental Health offers a customizable opinion piece at http://www.wimentalhealth.org/Media/customizable_parity.htm.
• Talk to your employer and other local business owners about their feelings regarding mental health parity. Find out what kind of insurance coverage they offer their employees. Inform them of the small costs or even savings they might expect upon implementation of mental health parity in Wisconsin.
• Work with the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation to promote mental health. Learn about what you can do to promote women’s mental health. (http://www.wwhf.org/focus_areas/illness.html)
• Send for the National Mental Health Association’s “Expanding Mental Health Parity Toolkit.” (Available at http://www.nmha.org) Work with others in your community to disseminate information about parity and garner political support for legislation that requires insurance equity.
• Get involved with other statewide and national mental health advocacy groups that support parity. Contact Wisconsin United for Mental Health (http://www.wimentalhealth.org/), the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (http://www.nami.org) or NAMI-WI (http://www.namiwisconsin.org/).

¹ The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, http://statehealthfacts.org, 2003.
² WI Department of Health and Family Services. 2002 Profile for the State of Wisconsin. http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/localdata/pdf/02pub-hlth/wisc.pdf
³ National Mental Health Association. “Mental Health Parity Fact Sheet.” http://www.nmha.org/state/parity/parity_fact_sheet.cfm
⁴ Ibid.
⁵Rice, D.P., & Miller, L. S. “Health economics and cost implications of anxiety and other mental disorders in the United States.” British Journal of Psychiatry, 173(34), 1998: 4–9.
⁶ National Mental Health Association. “Why Mental Health Parity Makes Economic Sense.” http://nmha.org
⁷ Bachman, Ronald E. (2000). Mental health Parity: “Just the Facts” – Actual Data and Experience Reports. Prepared for the American Psychological Association, 2000 State Leadership Conference (Atlanta, GA: PriceWaterHouseCoopers).
⁸ Levin et al. “Mental Health Parity: 1998 National and State Perspectives,” The Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (March 25, 1998).
⁹ See: DSM-IV.
¹⁰ The National Mental Health Association, “Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Fact Sheet” http://www.nmha.org/state/parity/parity_fact_sheet.cfm