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Saturday November 21, 2009 |
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Mandated Mental Health Parity: Skyrocketing Costs and Increasing the Ranks of the Uninsured During Economic Upheaval December 5, 2001 - 12:06 AM by Dr. Gary Farr | Category:
Mental Health News |
By the Citizens Commission on Human Rights® International
On October 30, 2001 the U. S. Senate passed a mental health parity amendment (2020) by adding it to the spending bill for Labor, Human Services and Education. This parity legislation forces businesses that offer health insurance coverage to cover mental health equally in all ways with ordinary medical coverage.
Mental Health parity cannot effectively exist because there is no parity in the diagnosis of mental health problems compared to real physical conditions that can be accurately tested for and diagnosed. Psychiatrists cannot distinguish between a mental disorder and no mental disorder. While some patient advocacy groups, heavily funded by pharmaceutical interests, and the mental health lobby, purport that mental illness is like a physical disease such as diabetes, cancer, or epilepsy and, therefore, mental health parity is needed, evidence simply doesnÂ’t substantiate this.
Under this amendment, there is no limit on raising insurance premiums, so no matter how much the mental health coverage increases costs, businesses cannot refuse to pay it. It forces coverage for every one of the 374 "disorders" listed in The American Psychiatric AssociationÂ’s Diagnostic And Statistical Manual For Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) such as: mathematics disorder, nicotine use, caffeine intoxication, conduct disorder, opposition defiant disorder, and the catch-all "Phase of Life Problem." Anyone can be labeled mentally ill based on opinion. Despite assertions that mental disorders are genetically or biologically based or the result of a "chemical imbalance," there is no medically sound or scientific basis to these claims. Therefore, this degree of mental health insurance coverage amounts to a blank check for the mental health cartel.
Rather than creating beneficial results, less stigma and better health care services, mandated mental health parity forces something onto insured people that they donÂ’t want to pay for.
The public and the government should not be fooled by claims that the costs for mental health parity will be "low." The Congressional Budget Office estimates costs at $5.4 billion for the Federal government and $23 billion for the American people over the next 10 years.
With rising defense costs and bailouts of failing companies after September 11, fiscally mental health parity is a very bad move. During a period of 9 years when Aetna and Blue Cross/Blue Shield offered mental health coverage comparable to general medical services their total health care expenditures tripled. For the same period their mental health expenditures increased more than six-fold.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks and continuing threats, businesses are wrestling with a slowing economy, falling stock markets and a soaring number of layoffs. According to the Wall Street Journal on October 8, 2001, "Insurance-premium rates are doubling for some coverages, adding an extra burden to companies already dealing with the global economic slowdown."
This is not the time to be saddling the nationÂ’s companies with a financial burden.
The Mental Health Parity Amendment should not be passed and no mental health parity law can legitimately rely on a "billing bible," the DSM.
To view The Citizens Commission on Human Rights full report on Mandated Mental Health Parity, visit: http://www.psychassault.com/parity_analysis_cover.htm
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights.
For more information contact Marla Filidei at 800-869-2247.
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Source: Mandated Mental Health Parity: Skyrocketing Costs and Increasing the Ranks of the Uninsured During Economic Upheaval
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