Behavioral Healthcare

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A new article published in the journal Psychiatric Services examines experiences with implementing California’s mental health parity law, and discusses implications for the implementation of the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. This act is designed to ensure that insurance plans offer mental health coverage as part of the overall health benefit packages and to eliminate disparities between the coverage for mental health and more traditional physical health conditions.

This study, conducted from September 2001 through January 2006, was geared to determine how effectively the parity law was adopted and what lessons from this experience could be applied to the national parity law, which went into effect October 3. Entitled, Implementation of Mental Health Parity: Lessons From California, the study not only identified the importance of raising consumer awareness of parity but also the need for increased oversight of health plans’ performance in access and equality.

The report’s central finding is that maximizing the effectiveness of these parity efforts may depend heavily on educating the public about their insurance benefits. The study in particular found that the lack of consumer knowledge of the parity law is a challenge. Nearly half of the consumer focus group participants indicated that they were not familiar with California’s parity law even though more than three-quarters of them reported that they had a diagnosis covered by the law. Providers who participated in the focus group indicated that many consumers lacked understanding of their mental health benefits before and even after the law was implemented.

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, December 3, 2009