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House OKs parity mandate for mental-health coverage

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Illnesses of the mind and the body deserve equal treatment. The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, approved this week by the U.S. House, will help ensure that insurance coverage no longer discriminates against people with mental illness.

The bill passed in the House by a 268-148 vote. In September, the Senate approved legislation requiring insurers to treat mental and physical illnesses equally when policies cover both. The two chambers must work out a compromise.

Federal law doesn't protect people with mental illness from discrimination in their medical coverage. Mental-health benefits are typically subject to higher co-payments as well as limits on the number and duration of doctor visits or hospitalizations. These kind of restrictions wouldn't be allowed if the policy doesn't place similar restrictions on the treatment of physical illnesses.

The American Psychiatric Association estimates that 35 million Americans undergo disabling symptoms of mental disorders each year.

Unequal treatment of mental illness reinforces the notion that somehow people with mental illness did something to deserve their fate, or that, if they really wanted too, they could be "normal." Such attitudes are discriminatory and harmful.

The effects of mental illness are far-reaching. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that one in four adults have a diagnosable mental illness in any given year and 5 percent to 7 percent have a serious mental illness, such as major depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

While business groups and insurers fought the legislation, contending that parity for mental health coverage would be too expensive, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that a previous version of the House bill would "increase premiums by an average of four-tenths of 1 percent," according to The New York Times.

The cost of discriminating against people with mental illness is high, in dollars and lives.

Consider these figures:

● Fewer than one-third of adults with a diagnosable mental disorder receive any mental-health services in a given year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

● One in four inmates in the Pima County jail has been diagnosed with a mental illness.

● A man with serious mental illness has a life expectancy of 53 years — the average life expectancy is 78.

● Mental disorders are the top cause of disability for people ages 15 to 44 in the United States.

● Suicide is the 11th-leading cause of death in the United States, but is the third-leading cause for those 10 to 24 years old. More than 90 percent of those who commit suicide had a history of mental illness.

The House and Senate bills are not perfect. The House bill doesn't apply to plans of employers with 50 or fewer workers or to individual insurance.

Imagine the outrage if health insurance companies treated cancer the same way they treat mental illness. That would not be tolerated, and rightly so. People with mental illness deserve the same consideration.

In a perfect world, people with specific illnesses or medical needs wouldn't be discriminated against and would be able to easily access the quality medical care they need. But because much of our health care is tied to employment and profit, people with specific illnesses suffer.

The House and Senate have taken important steps to end the discrimination at the hands of insurance companies who are supposed to help people stay healthy, not punish them for becoming ill.