U.S. Congresswoman Marge Roukema, R-N.J.-5th, today introduced the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Act of 1999, comprehensive legislation requiring health insurance companies to establish parity between mental health/substance abuse coverage and medical/surgical coverage. The legislation is endorsed by the Coalition for Fairness in Mental Illness Coverage, which includes the nation’s premier mental health organizations.

"As a society, we are still struggling to acknowledge that mental illness is a real sickness in need of medical care," Roukema said. "Mental illness is not a character flaw, but a tangible, treatable health problem as real as hypertension, cancer or heart disease. Today, the advances of our medical system have given us scientific breakthroughs that make appropriate mental health care as effective as insulin for a diabetic."

"Millions of hardworking men and women still find that their health plans place strict limits on both in-patient and outpatient coverage for mental illness. This type of discrimination is wrong and must end," Roukema said. "It’s time that health insurance plans recognize that mental illness is an illness. Most people who suffer from mental illness can live normal lives if they receive treatment but most can’t receive treatment if their insurance won’t pay for it."

Roukema noted that a National Advisory Mental Health Council study found full parity would increase health care costs less than 1 percent. A 1999 report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found 86 percent of employers who made changes in health plans to comply with Roukema's less-comprehensive 1996 parity law did not need to cut other health benefits in order to provide mental health benefits. Cost increases were nonexistent or minimal, the study found.

"This study shows confirms our belief that parity is not prohibitively expensive," Roukema said. "Parity is not only affordable, it’s a good investment. Businesses today lose millions of dollars each year to lost productivity and missed workdays because of treatable mental illness. A small investment in insurance coverage can pay big dividends with healthier and more productive workers. A company that would refuse to lose a valued worker to heart disease or cancer shouldn’t lose a worker to clinical depression or alcoholism."

The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Act would prohibit insurance companies from setting limits or requirements for mental health and substance abuse coverage that are not imposed on medical-surgical coverage. Legislation sponsored by Roukema and passed by the House in 1996 prohibited unequal limits on annual and lifetime spending levels for mental health care. This legislation goes further by including substance abuse and addressing limits on the frequency of treatments, number of visits, co-pays, deductibles, out-of-network charges, and out-of-pocket contributions.

Co-sponsoring Roukema’s bill are Reps. Benjamin A. Gilman, R-N.Y.; Constance A. Morella, R-Md.; Christopher Shays, R-Conn.; Sue W. Kelly, R-N.Y.; Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore.; Robert E. Wise Jr., D-W.Va.; Ted Strickland, D-Ohio; Lois Capps, D-Calif.; and Brian Baird, D-Wash.

The bill has been endorsed by the Coalition for Fairness in Mental Illness Coverage, which includes the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, National Mental Health Association, American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association, Federation of American Health Systems and National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems.