July 22, 1999
Full mental health parity would be guaranteed under comprehensive legislation introduced today by Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.). The "National Mental Health Parity Act of 1999" guarantees parity in mental health treatment for enrollees in both private health plans and Medicare.
"Providing access to high-quality treatment for mental illnesses should be a basic right," Rep. Stark said. "Congress has taken steps in the past to improve access to mental health treatment on a bipartisan basis. It is now time to finish the job and enact mental health parity that will remove all barriers to first-class treatment for the millions of Americans who have mental health disorders."
The legislation would stipulate that employers providing health insurance must provide equivalent access to physical and mental health treatment services. Specifically, any diagnosed mental health or substance abuse condition must receive the same level of coverage provided for any medical or surgical procedure. Currently, many companies purchase health insurance policies with restrictions limiting the amount of mental health services that their workers receive.
The legislation would also provide Medicare beneficiaries with increased access to mental health care. The legislation would redistribute Medicare mental health funding to pay for more community-based mental health treatment -- without increasing spending. The current focus of Medicare's mental health treatment is hospital based, which is costly.
"Ending widespread discrimination against those with mental illnesses should be a top priority for this Congress," Rep. Stark said. "Mental health professionals can successfully treat a range of mental health disabilities and greatly improve the quality of life of their patients in the process."
Treatable mental and addictive disorders exact enormous social and economic costs in the form of individual suffering, breakup of families, suicide, crime, violence, homelessness, impaired performance at work and partial or total disability. Recent estimates indicate that mental and addictive disorders cost the economy well over $300 billion annually. This includes productivity losses of $150 billion, health care costs of $70 billion and other costs (e.g. criminal justice) of $80 billion.
"It's time to recognize that mental health and substance abuse problems are
as serious as any physical health problem," Rep. Stark said. "Blocking patient's
access to effective mental health treatment is unethical, it's bad public
policy, and it needs to be stopped now."
CONTACT: Anne Montgomery (202)
225-5065
Be sure to sign the guestbook before you
leave
Home | Issues | In Congress | District | Services | Internships | Grants | Links | Bio