Home subscribe manage Las Vegas Review-Journal
  Jobs Cars Homes Shopping Travel Weddings Golf Best of Las Vegas Photo   Search:

RECENT EDITIONS
Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue

Opinion
Oct. 08, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: Mental health

Congress lards up every appropriations bill with treats for campaign donors, favored constituencies and special interests -- federal lawmakers managed to pack more than 400 pages worth of goodies into last week's $700 billion economic rescue package, and no member of either party could have possibly known every detail of the bailout bill.

But earmarks and targeted tax breaks are one thing. Major health care reform is entirely another.

Newsvine Digg Fark Technorati reddit StumbleUpon del.icio.us Slashdot Propeller Mixx Furl Twitter MySpace Facebook Google Bookmarks Yahoo! Bookmarks Windows Live Favorites Ask MyStuff myAOL Favorites

Most Popular Stories
  • LETTERS: Professor needs to get with the program
  • FROM OUR READERS: We can't do worse than country's current leadership
  • LETTERS: Washington loves rewarding failure
  • LETTERS: Trickle-down economics is dead
  • EDITORIAL: Tip jar
  • VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: Shall we save the economy ... or the government?
  • EDITORIAL: A tiny bit of good news?
  • LETTERS: Don't expect district to cut waste
  • EDITORIAL: Sending the right message
  • EDITORIAL: 'A cautionary tale'



    • Buried inside the package is a new law that requires health plans to provide equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses. According to The New York Times, the law, which takes effect in 2010, is the result of years of advocacy, lobbying and negotiating between health policy experts, insurance companies and employers.

    Currently, employers and group health plans can set separate, higher co-payments and deductibles and lower coverage limits for mental illness and addiction treatments. Many companies and plans offer no coverage at all because of the costs such benefits can impose.

    The new law gives insurance companies and major employers a little more than a year to reconcile coverage differences and figure out how to pay for them (businesses with 50 or fewer workers are exempt from the law).

    Mental illness can devastate entire households, and employers suffer untold amounts of lost productivity as a result of them. Certainly, companies have an interest in keeping their workers healthy and free from the symptoms of legitimate medical conditions.

    The problem with doing so, however, has been an ever-growing number of syndromes and disorders classified as ailments. "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders," published by the American Psychological Association, lists caffeine highs and sleep loss resulting from jet lag as mental illnesses. Grief can be classfied as depression. And there has been an explosion in the number of children diagnosed with behavioral and developmental disabilities.

    Companies and insurers have found it nearly impossible to assess how much their claims might increase (and, conversely, how much they would need to charge policy holders) if they were required to apply normal deductibles and coverage limits to all of them.

    The catalyst in getting the law passed was an agreement to drop a requirement that every condition in the afforementioned APA manual be covered. We'll see how long that lasts.

    Regardless, this mandate -- however noble -- will make health care more expensive, even as politicians clamor to make medicine more affordable. It could be especially costly to Nevada providers if the law requires them to provide full coverage for gambling addiction treatments.

    The law should have been presented and voted on separately from the bailout bill. Now, as with the economic rescue package, we won't know for certain how much we'll have to pay.



    Leave Your Comment 14 Reader Comments
    Terms & Conditions
    The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor.

    Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
    Current Word Count:

    inhumane wrote on October 08, 2008 11:31 PM: If only those mental health patients would just be happy living jail.


    Renee wrote on October 08, 2008 11:25 PM: Appropriate mental health treatment will save us money in the long run. Mental illnesses and physical illnesses do not occur in isolation of one another. Neglected mental illness is the root of many social, and financial problems. Just open up today's paper and you will find stories about local crimes and suicides. Most criminals suffer from untreated mental illnesses, and/or substance abuse problems. One story from today's paper refers to an 11 year old who committed suicide in 2007. Emergency rooms are always filled with people who have untreated mental illnesses. The tragedies are NOT few and far between, and they are not limited to decreased work productivity. Perhaps health care will get more expensive with the passage of the Mental Health Parity Act. Perhaps the health care system is broken, and that is the real issue we should be spending our time debating on Capital Hill. As for mental health services, they are absolutely necessary. I wish I did not know how necessesary such services are. Ignorance is truely bliss. It is oddly perfect that the mental health bill passed alongside the bailout bill. In the upcoming years, Americans are going to need more than Lexapro and Primary Care Physicians to cope.


    Sad Summerlin wrote on October 08, 2008 06:22 PM: Jen - Can we send the equally loony lefties to the same island as well?

    While Helen has firm (sometimes odd) and partisan beliefs, she does have a good points every now and then... and while she can be rude, there are others that are equally rude... I suggest we just ignore the rudeness and refute the points rather than banish... otherwise, that island might get really crowded quite quickly...


    Jen wrote on October 08, 2008 06:13 PM: Can we all contribute to puchasing Helen an island so she can go there and only care about herself. Helen your unbelievable selfishness continues to amaze me.


    Sad Summerlin wrote on October 08, 2008 05:36 PM: I am less disturbed about the need for equal coverage as I am about the fact that this provision was placed into the financial bailout bill. Again... why didn't we just have a bill that was focused on the bailout rather than pet projects, pork and others laws like this...

    Amazing.


    Jerry wrote on October 08, 2008 04:16 PM: This might come as a surprise, but in states which mandate equal coverage, the costs have been minimal. Many with mental illnesses who don't have insurance often go untreated until they need major help to stabilize. With parity coverage, people get treatment earlier, often at a far less cost.



    When you factor in less time lost from work and less drain on social services, the overall cost is sometimes lower.



    The brain is an organ just like the heart, lungs and kidneys. It can get sick just like other organs can. Its ludicrous to treat mental illness differently from other illnesses. Most of the stigma is as a direct result of lack of knowledge.



    Peoploe used to believe that those with good hygiene were immune to cancer. Today we know better. We have stopped making fun of people with physical disabilities. Its time we saw mental illness as just what it is: a disability that can be treated.


    Jerry wrote on October 08, 2008 04:15 PM: This might come as a surprise, but in states which mandate equal coverage, the costs have been minimal. Many with mental illnesses who don't have insurance often go untreated until they need major help to stabilize. With parity coverage, people get treatment earlier, often at a far less cost.

    When you factor in less time lost from work and less drain on social services, the overall cost is sometimes lower.

    The brain is an organ just like the heart, lungs and kidneys. It can get sick just like other organs can. Its ludicrous to treat mental illness differently from other illnesses. Most of the stigma is as a direct result of lack of knowledge.

    Peoploe used to believe that those with good hygiene were immune to cancer. Today we know better. We have stopped making fun of people with physical disabilities. Its time we saw mental illness as just what it is: a disability that can be treated.


    The Psychiatrist wrote on October 08, 2008 12:51 PM: Helen, it's time for you to return to your padded room and take the little red pill the nurse has for you.


    hilobamacaine wrote on October 08, 2008 12:01 PM: remember about 25-30 years ago when all the alcholism clinics were advertising like injury lawyers do today? after so much problems with people going through "treatment" 5 or 6 times the insurance companies said enough and these places dried up and blew away now with this mental health bill look for the quacks to open up new clinics, oh well if your child gets on your nerves you can send them to juvie nuthouses for a while on the insurance companies dime, that will help make health care more affordable for sure


    HELENWEILS wrote on October 08, 2008 10:59 AM: Why in the hell should someone who is
    bi-polar be placed in a hospital????
    That is a ridiculous waste of money.
    I'm with you kdr81.
    Jen you and Claudia's bleeding liberal
    hearts are bleeding all over my health insurance bills.
    Leave it to the Democrats to pork up the
    bill and mandate we cover more ridiculous
    so called diseases. Take a pill and get over it!


    Read All Comments