Copyright 1999 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San
Francisco Chronicle
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JULY 5, 1999, MONDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A19; OPEN FORUM
LENGTH: 523 words
HEADLINE:
End Discrimination Against Mentally Ill;
Broad-coverage legislation is
the best option
BYLINE: Susan Chandler, Eugenia Perez
BODY:
AS A NATION, we are beyond the days when
those with mental illness were sent to asylums and stigmatized as social
outcasts and misfits.
But when it comes to insurance coverage, people
with mental disorders continue to be discriminated against. They are, it would
appear, unworthy of the same coverage and care provided to those with physical
injury or illness. Senate Bill 468, carried by Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los
Angeles, and currently moving through the California Legislature, would change
that. Like President Clinton's recent pledge to provide mental health
coverage, SB468 is nondiscriminatory in that it would provide insurance
for all conditions in which treatment is deemed medically necessary.
This measure is more comprehensive than similar legislation (AB88,
authored by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D-Davis) now moving through the Senate,
which would cover only a few specific and severe mental disorders. Among the
illnesses covered by SB468 would be post-traumatic stress, which affects, for
example, students and teachers victimized by school violence, homeowners
traumatized by earthquake and rape survivors.
The Polanco bill has
already cleared the Senate. It passed the Assembly Health Committee 10 to 0 last
week, and it has moved on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
An
independent study by PriceWater houseCoopers shows that the Polanco legislation
would raise monthly insurance premiums 94 cents for every person covered,
compared with an increase of 85 cents a month to cover only the severe mental
illness, as proposed in the Thomson bill.
Nine cents more is a small
price to pay to rescue a person from despair and possibly even to save a life.
But in either case, the cost to cover a person with mental illness would
remain under $1 a month.
A state requirement is the
only way to assure that mental health coverage will be provided
at a minimal cost to all who qualify for it. A statewide requirement would
create a level playing field for all insurers and allow for the appropriate
spreading of risk across a large population.
Currently, California
spends more than $2 billion annually on treatment for the
mentally ill, according to the Office of Community and Consumer Relations. Many
families end up on public assistance now because they can't afford the cost of
such care.
The effects of SB468 would have a big impact on San
Francisco, which has one of the largest homeless populations in the nation. Many
homeless persons suffer from mental illness. Perhaps fewer would be on the
streets or indigent today had they had access to early diagnosis and
comprehensive treatment of their illnesses.
To end such tragedies, we
must begin with prevention, and for that, we need comprehensive coverage and
treatment for mental illness.
Write your state legislators and Governor
Gray Davis in Sacramento to urge passage of SB468.
Susan
Chandler, Ph.D., is a psychologist and federal advocacy coordinator for the
California Psychological Association. Eugenia Perez, Ph.D., is a psychologist
and the president of the San Francisco County Psychological Association.
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July 5, 1999 
