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New mental-health law to start
Insurance industry must offer equal coverage
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Published: July 1, 2008
RALEIGH
Starting today, insurance companies in North Carolina must provide the same level of coverage for some mental illnesses that they do for physical ailments.
That means that someone being treated for depression or schizophrenia can no longer be charged a higher co-payment (or face other inequities in coverage) than someone being treated for diabetes or a broken arm.
Mental-health advocates have long pressed to have the principle of "mental-health parity" enshrined in law, and last year, the N.C. General Assembly passed a law that requires insurers to treat nine common mental conditions on par with physical conditions. The law takes effect today and applies whenever a new group insurance contract is signed.
The law will make it easier for people to get therapy or other types of low-level treatment before a mental illness becomes severe, advocates say.
"The things that we've been preaching -- as far as early intervention, prevention, all those things that we've heard for so long on the physical-health side -- we're now going to get to see them on the mental-health side," said John Tote, the executive director of the Mental Health Association in North Carolina.
Not all workers will be affected. Employers that are "self-insured" -- such as large corporations that pay for insurance out of pocket -- are covered by federal, not state, law and do not have to comply with the new mandate. About half of the state's workers work for self-insured companies.
When the law was making its way through the state legislature last year, some advocates for business expressed concern that the mandate would raise the cost of buying insurance.
Experts said yesterday that there is likely to be a minor initial increase in health-insurance rates after the law takes effect.
"There are costs, obviously, associated with this mandate, but we're anticipating it to be less than half of 1 percent," said Lew Borman, a spokesman for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
Tote said that greater access to preventive mental-health care will help reduce costs in the long run. In other states with laws on mental-health parity, the mandate has not caused large increases in health-insurance costs.
The nine mental conditions covered by North Carolina's law are bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, paranoid or other psychotic disorders, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia nervosa and bulimia.
Other conditions -- such as autism or attention-deficit disorder -- are not guaranteed equal coverage.
■ James Romoser can be reached at 919-833-9056 or at jromoser@wsjournal.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( haka ) on July 1, 2008 at 12:55 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It's about time, everyone is bi-polar, have you heard?
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Posted by ( Stormie ) on July 1, 2008 at 6:26 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Not everyone is bi-polar haka, I'm not. But I always do what my Rice Krispies tell me to. On a more serious note...this law should have been passed a long time ago. I'm really glad to see this first step taken.
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Posted by ( JohnG ) on July 1, 2008 at 10:47 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
And people wonder why insurance is so unaffordable. Insurance law among other things dictates what a policy must cover. These laws always raises the cost of insurance making it unaffordable for some. The number one cause for uninsured people is the government and their myriad laws. So why do people think by giving the government complete control by socializing health care the cost would go down?
I know the people who advocate this change mean well but the reality is they just made insurance unaffordable for someone.
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Posted by ( Stormie ) on July 1, 2008 at 12:41 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Thanks JohnG, I didn't relize that. The whole medical system in our country is so messed up in so many ways. No one in this country should be without insurance coverage but sadly there are many who are without it. Thank you for the reminder.
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Posted by ( obie ) on July 1, 2008 at 10:43 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
JohnG--
The number one cause for uninsured people is....insurance companies, with the outrageous administrative expenses they add to health care costs, outright denial of coverage to many people and unaffordable premiums on individual policies. And if you think insurance costs a lot, try having a major/chronic illness without any coverage. Now that's expensive.
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Posted by ( cedBlog ) on July 11, 2008 at 4:36 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
This is a very positive thing for people suffering with illnesses such as eating disorders. They are often not given the attention that they deserve. Unfortunately there has been a recent onslaught of "-orexia" terms that aim to define behaviors associated with eating disorders. More of a cultural phenomenon than medical term, these "-orexia" words don't diagnose or treat an eating disorder, but they have brought to light issues that may otherwise be overlooked. For more glossary definitions & to stay educated about eating disorders, visit our CED Blog: http://eatingdisorder.org/blog/?cat=4.
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