Mental Health Services Are Important But Parity Should Not Be Mandated

Dec 14, 1999

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 14, 1999

CONTACT: Carrie B. Tydings

(202) 824-1786

e-mail:ctydings@hiaa.org

The following statement was released today by Chip Kahn, President of the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA):

HIAA believes that access to mental health services is important, as noted in a recent report by U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, and we are pleased that the vast majority of health plans offer coverage for mental health services.

Everyone - including the nation's health insurance industry - favors greater access to mental health services. However, it is important to balance the cost of coverage to keep it affordable against the additional cost of any mandated benefit. This is why we are concerned about mandates that would require parity for mental health coverage. Mandated benefits - no matter how well-intended they may be - raise the cost of coverage, thereby raising the number of uninsured Americans.

It also is noteworthy that the report indicates that mental health parity would be more affordable under certain types of managed care health plans. This conclusion underscores how managed care plans provide high-quality coverage at affordable rates, and illustrates how anti-managed care legislation ultimately would hurt the very people it is intended to help.

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