Posted by lucie lu on October 16, 2008, at 23:46:04
In reply to Soon we'll have mental health parity, posted by Phil on October 3, 2008, at 16:45:56
Sorry I joined this thread late. I usually post on the Psychology board but was looking to answer a med question when I saw this thread.
Because I have a personal stake in this issue, I actually called several congressional offices and was finally directed to Ted Kennedy's Washington office that handles health issues. Ted Kennedy, bless him, was one of the senators who pushed this bill through Congress (Dominici was the other). I spoke to the woman who was involved in crafting the bill. Here's what she told me:
(1) The bill is definitely passed. It was part of the bailout package that Congress approved.
(2) It will start 1/1/10. They won't have the bill crafted before the end of this year, so they will have to start Jan 2010, because most insurance starts Jan 1 of any year.
(3) It will supercede any state mental health laws.
(4) It will cover all plans, except small businesses with less than a certain number of employees. Maybe 50? I don't remember.
(5) It will close the loophole of privately funded plans who have not previously been affected by parity laws.
(6) The main criteria, like medical conditions, for treatment is simply "medical necessity."
I celebrate this because my employer-offered insurance is a privately funded plan, and they are exempt from my state parity law which covers everyone else! I always thought this was really unfair and have paid a lot out of pocket for my mental health care. This will end on Jan 1, 1010 - hooray! Not only will it be financially rewarding, it is FAIR!
The woman I spoke to in DC said there is widespread bipartisan support for mental health parity. It's about time the insurance companies stopped discriminating against us.
A victory for us!
Hope this answers your questions.
Lucie Lu
poster:lucie lu
thread:855576
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20080929/msgs/857884.html