Posted by gardenergirl on July 17, 2007, at 13:47:51
My health insurance has limitations on coverage for mental health treatment, specifically, a cap on visits and lower reimbursement levels. However, physical diseases and disorders are covered without these limitations. So I get 20 visits per year, and these are split up between any MH provider I see, in my case, a T, a pdoc, and a marriage counselor. If I didn't have access to a T and a pdoc through school, I'd either get significantly fewer sessions over the year, or I'd have to pay a heck of a lot of money for sessions that were covered, but then weren't covered because I'd reached my limit. However, there aren't any caps on number of visits to my doctor, and if I see a GP, an OB/GYN, a dermatologist, etc. none of those visits "count against" visits with the others. How is this fair?
This is legal in my state and in many states which do not have full mental health parity laws. It sure feels like discrimination against those with mental disorders, to me. Against me, even.
So I've written to my senators to urge them to support S. 558, the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007. This issue has been introduced in Congress each year, but has never passed. Passing this bill would close the loopholes that allow insurance companies to set arbitrary limits on mental health coverage (number of visits, total cap per year, reduced reimbursement, higher copays, etc.) so that coverage for mental and physical disorders are comparable.
If you are a US citizen and you are interested in letting your Senators know your views about this, you can go to http://capwiz.com/nami/issues/alert/?alertid=9939486
to get more information and to send an email straight to your legislators. The NAMI site has a pre-written email for you to send. You can edit it as you like. You can also go to http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
to email your Senator via their own webforms, though you'll have to write the letter yourself.I'm passionate about this issue, and I fully support it. I realize that others may not for various reasons, and I respect that. I think it can be empowering to voice your opinions to Congress, and I encourage you to do so regardless of which way you lean on this issue.
Thanks,
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:770126
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20070714/msgs/770126.html