Equity for all? potential impact of the mental health parity and addiction act of 2008

Journal of Legal Medicine

Volumn 31, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 137-155

  Garcia, Richard A ^a  

^a SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; HEALTH INSURANCE; HUMAN; INSURANCE; LEGAL ASPECT; MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE; UNITED STATES;

HUMANS; INSURANCE COVERAGE; INSURANCE, HEALTH; MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES; UNITED STATES;

EID: 77951616287     PISSN: 01947648     EISSN: 1521057X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01947641003598328     Document Type: Article

References (95)

1. Darrel A. Regier et al., One Month Prevalence of Mental Disorders in the U.S.: Based on Five Epidemi-ologic Catchment Area Sites, 45 Arch. Gen. Psych. 977 (1988).
2. U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Serv. [hereinafter HHS], Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (1999), available at http://www.surgeongeneral. gov/library/mentalhealth/pdfs/ ExSummary-Final.pdf (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
3. Daniel P. Gitterman et al., Toward Full Mental Health Parity and Beyond, 20 Health Aff. 68 (2001).
4. Richard M. Scheffler, Managed Behavioral Health Care and Supply Side Economics, 2 J. Mental Health Pol'y & Econ. 21 (1999).
5. Id.
6. Colleen Barry et al., The Costs of Mental Health Parity: Still an Impediment?, 25 Health Aff. 623, 623-24 (2006), available at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/3/623 (last visited Oct. 28, 2009). (Pubitemid 44260106)
7. See generally Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld, Health Care Policy: Issues and Trends 48 (2002).
8. Id.
9. See generally id.
10. See generally id.
11. Id. at 49.
12. Id.
13. Michael J. Witkin et al., Highlights of Organized Mental Health Services in 1994 and Major National and State Health Trends, in Mental Health, United States, 1996, at 103 (Ronald W. Manerscheid & Mary A. Sonnenschein eds., 1998).
14. Id.
15. Equitable Health Care for Severe Mental Illnesses Act of 1992, S. 2696, 102d Cong. (1992).
16. Id.
17. Id.
18. Id.
19. Id.
20. Mental Health Parity Act, S. 2031, 104th Cong. (1996).
21. Nat'l Alliance on Mental Illness, The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, available at http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/ENews/1996/The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996.htm (last visited Nov. 5, 2009).
22. Mental Health Parity Act, supra note 20.
23. Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act of 1997, H.R. 3666, 104th Cong. (1996).
24. Id.
25. Id.
26. Id.
27. Nat'l Alliance on Mental Illness, supra note 21.
28. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, The Mental Health Parity Act, available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/healthinsreformforconsume/04 thementalhealthparityact.asp (last visited Nov. 5, 2009).
29. Id.
30. Kevin Hennessy & Howard Goldman, Full Parity: Steps Toward Treatment Equity for Mental and Addictive Disorders, 20 Health Aff. 58, 60 (2001). (Pubitemid 33710322)
31. Id.
32. Id.
33. U.S. Gen. Accounting Office, Mental Health Parity Act: Despite New Federal Standards, Mental Health Benefits Remain Limited 1 (2000).
34. Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, H.R. 1424, 110th Cong. (2008).
35. Id.
36. Id.
37. Id.
38. U.S. Department of Labor, FAQs About the Mental Health Parity Act, available at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq consumer mentalhealthparity.html (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
39. Regier, supra note 1, at 979.
40. HHS, supra note 2, at vii.
41. See generally Regier, supra note 1.
42. HHS, supra note 2, at ix.
43. Jonathan Klick & Sara Markowitz, Are Mental Health Insurance Mandates Effective? Evidence from Suicides (Nat'l Bureau of Econ. Research, Working Paper No. 9994, 2003).
44. Working Paper No. 9994 Id. at 10.
45. Working Paper No. 9994 Id. at 12-13.
46. Working Paper No. 9994 Id. at 21 ("Overall, mandated benefit laws appear to have no influence on adult suicide rates.").
47. Robert Kaestner et al., Estimating the Impact of Alcohol Policies on Youth Suicides, 6 J. Mental Health Pol'y Econ. 37 (2003). (Pubitemid 36975249)
48. J. Mental Health Pol'y Econ. Id. at 28.
49. J. Mental Health Pol'y Econ. Id. at 45.
50. J. Mental Health Pol'y Econ. Id. at 37.
51. J. Mental Health Pol'y Econ. Id. at 45.
52. Id.
53. Alison Cuellar et al., Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment and Juvenile Crime, 7 J. Mental Health Pol'y & Econ. 59 (2004). (Pubitemid 38787165)
54. J. Mental Health Pol'y & Econ. Id. at 59.
55. J. Mental Health Pol'y & Econ. Id. at 65.
56. J. Mental Health Pol'y & Econ. Id. at 59.
57. Id.
58. Id. at 65.
59. Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Richard G. Frank, available at http://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/people/hcp core faculty/richard frank (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
60. Id.
61. Id.
62. Richard G. Frank et al., The Politics and Economics of Mental Health "Parity" Laws, 16 Health Aff. 108 (1997).
63. Health Aff Id. at 110.
64. Id.
65. See, e.g., id.
66. Id. at 111.
67. Id.
68. Adverse Selection and Cream Skimming, Health Insurance.info, at http://www.healthinsurance.info/HISEL.HTM (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
69. Id.
70. National Alliance on Mental Illness, supra note 21.
71. HHS, Results from the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings, available at http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k5NSDUH/ 2k5Results.htm (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
72. Id.
73. Alan Otten, Mental Health Parity, What Can It Accomplish in a Market Dominated by Managed Care? (June 1998), available at http://www.milbank.org/ mrparity.html (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
74. Id.
75. Id.
76. HHS, supra note 2.
77. Klick & Markowitz, supra note 43.
78. Kaestner et al., supra note 47.
79. Frank et al., supra note 62.
80. Netflix.com, How It Works, available at http://www.netflix.com/HowItWorks (last visited Oct. 28, 2009). Netflix offers its members varying levels of membership. The levels range in cost and rental ability. For example, the $16.99 per month plan allows for 3 DVDs to be out at the same time, whereas the $8.99 per month plan only allows for 1 DVD to be out at a time.
81. Citizens'Health Care Working Group,Final Report:Community Meeting,Atlanta,Georgia (May 2006), at http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/chc/ community/mtng files/36atga/summrep atlanta.pdf (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
82. Final Report:Community Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia Id. at 3.
83. Id.
84. Id. at 10.
85. Id.
86. Id. at 4.
87. Id.
88. Id. at 5.
89. Florida Lottery, About Us, at http://www.flalottery.com/inet/about- historyMain.do (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
90. Id.
91. Id.
92. State Lotteries Law - Information on the Law about State Lotteries, at http://law.jrank.org/pages/11861/State-Lotteries.html (last visited Oct. 28, 2009). For example, Pennsylvania uses its revenue for programs designed to help the elderly with rent rebates and property taxes. Massachusetts uses its revenue in support of the arts. Maryland and Washington use substantial portions of their revenues for sports stadium construction and operation.
93. Mental Health and Aging, Common Mental Health Problems, available at http://www.mhaging.org/guide/problems.html (last visited Oct. 28, 2009).
94. Id.
95. National Institute of Mental Health, The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America, available at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the- numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml (last visited Oct. 28 2009).