House Bill Calls For Parity of Mental Health And Substance Abuse Coverage

Support Needed to End Health Insurance Discrimination

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February 26, 2001—Representative Marge Roukema (R-NJ) has reintroduced comprehensive legislation to provide full parity for insurance coverage of mental health and substance abuse services.

The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Act of 2001 (H.R.162) would prohibit health insurance plans from imposing differential inpatient-hospital day and outpatient-visit limits or applying different deductibles, co-payments, out-of-network charges and other financial requirements for mental health and substance abuse treatment than for other health services. Its provisions apply to individuals diagnosed with any mental illness or substance abuse disorder.

Bill Would Expand and Extend Provisions in 1996 Parity Law

H.R. 162 builds on the 1996 Mental Health Parity Act, which bans different lifetime and annual spending caps for mental health than for general health care. The bill applies only to plans that provide mental health benefits; it would not require plans to offer such benefits. Essentially, the legislation would close the gaps in current federal law and create a non-discrimination policy for people with private health insurance.

H.R. 162 would also amend the 1996 federal Parity Act to eliminate its sunset provision, under which the law terminates September 30 this year. H.R. 162 would also end the 1996 law s exemption for employers who show that their health insurance premiums rose more than 1% as a result of complying with the law.

The text of H.R. 162 can be accessed on the internet at http://thomas.loc.gov.

Call or write urging your Representative to sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 162, The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Act of 2001.

To help justify the need for this legislation, remind your Representative that:

• This bill will help many people. More than 50 million American adults, nearly 25% of the adult population, suffer from mental disorders or substance abuse disorders annually, including 18 million who are affected by depression.
• Treatment works. The National Institute of Mental Health has shown that success rates of treatment for disorders such as schizophrenia (60%), depression (70-80%) and panic disorder (70-90%) surpass those of other medical conditions (heart disease, for example, has a treatment success rate of 45-50%).
• The bill is cost-effective. Providing equal coverage makes good economic sense: When mental illness goes untreated, costs begin to escalate. The NIMH estimates that the annual cost of untreated mental illness exceeds $300 billion primarily productivity losses (missed work days and premature death) amounting to $150 billion, health care costs of $70 billion, and societal costs of $80 billion for social welfare and increased use of the criminal justice system.

Write To: The Honorable __________________, United States House of Representatives, Washington DC 20515

Phone or Fax: Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Representative s office.

Email: (Use only as a last resort, it gets much less attention) You can find forms at http://www.congress.org.