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White House to Require
Full Mental Illness Insurance Parity for Federal
EmployeesNAMI Hails Initiative as Model for Private
Industry
Contact: Mary Rappaport
703-312-7886 Bob Carolla (703) 516-7963 |
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For Immediate Release 25 May
99 |
Arlington, VA -- Millions of Americans are cheering today
at the news that the White House plans to require health insurance
coverage for severe mental illnesses comparable to that for physical
ailments for federal employees and their families.
"This initiative represents a historic opportunity to end
discrimination against individuals affected by severe mental illness
and their families," said Laurie Flynn, NAMI's executive director,
"and to help lead the nation in correcting discriminatory healthcare
policies toward individuals with such brain disorders as
schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar disorder."
The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP),
administered through private insurance carriers, covers more than
9.5 million Federal employees and their family members. As the
largest health insurance program in the nation, FEHBP serves as a
model for the rest of the healthcare industry.
"NAMI applauds the Administration for its leadership in taking
this important step forward," said Flynn. "It's now time to extend
these important protections by using the FEHBP measure as the model
for all private insurance plans."
"Along with proposed federal parity legislation, this initiative
comes at a critical juncture for finally making health insurance
discrimination a thing of the past," said Flynn.
Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Paul Wellstone (D-MN) have
introduced the Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 1999, which
would require private insurance plans to provide full parity for the
most severe, biologically based mental illnesses by prohibiting
unequal restrictions on annual and lifetime mental health benefits,
inpatient hospital days and outpatient visits, and out-of-pocket
expenses.
The White House announcement also builds on a major push in the
states to enact parity legislation. Since 1990, 22 states have
enacted parity laws, five in 1999 alone. Furthermore, parity bills
are currently pending in nine additional states, including
California and New York.
Despite strenuous objections to parity measures by business
interests, actual experience is demonstrating that mental health
parity is also affordable and cost effective. In 1998, the National
Advisory Mental Health Council reported that under managed care,
full parity increases healthcare costs less than one percent a year.
Plans that implement parity in conjunction with managed care
actually are able to reduce costs by as much as 30 to 50 percent. In
March 1999, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration also released data from a national survey showing
that 86 percent of employers who made changes in employee health
plans in order to comply with an existing federal partial-parity law
found that they did not need to make any compensatory reductions in
other benefits because cost increases were nonexistent or minimal.
NAMI has more than 1,200 state
and local affiliates
in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
American Samoa, and Canada. |
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