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Mental Health Insurance Coverage; It's the LAW!

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Fnord
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31 Dec 2008, 6:48 pm

Newsweek wrote:
Nearly everyone bemoaned the "sweeteners" that were part of the $700 billion financial bailout passed by Congress in October. But one unexpected—and undercovered—surprise was that the plan included the passing of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Under this bill, employers who provide insurance coverage for the treatment of physical illnesses must now do so on an equal basis for mental-health coverage, beginning when plans renew after October 2009.

>LINK<

Let's hope that people with mental health issues will be protected against discriminatory employment practices as those with physical health issue are!

Discuss...


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demeus
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31 Dec 2008, 8:53 pm

Aren't we a little optimistic. First off, the mental health parity law only applies to health insurance. It has nothing to do with employment. Second, unless you can get insurance through your employee, the insurance companies will simply deny coverage to those with mental health issues too (if they do not already). This means you will have no insurance what so ever.



Sir_Beefy
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31 Dec 2008, 9:22 pm

Insurance companies don't want to shell out any more money than they absolutely have to. They always find excuses to deny coverage. No matter how many times you call them and threaten to castrate the guy on the other line, they find a way to deny you cause they can basically do whatever they want. If this new law meant they actually had to do something, they wouldn't have agreed to it.


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krex
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31 Dec 2008, 9:39 pm

Autism is not considered a mental health issue, inspite of the fact that it is often DXed by a psychiatrist and not a neurologist and I had medical coverage from my job that specifically stated that they will not offer any autism related "treatments" . They did cover the Dx but once your Dxed, they will not pay for any related treatments..catch22 . Not that it really matters, as their is no treatment for adults, it's all geared for kids but that is exactly what the insurance companies don't want to pay for...kids who are covered by their parents insurance .

On the flip side, I don't think they can deny treatment for some AS co-morbids like depression and anxiety but if I needed a communication device or services....I think they could deny them ?


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Deber
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15 Jan 2009, 8:39 pm

When I asked my insurance company about coverage, I was told that autism is not a mental illness and therefore is not covered. My insurance company said it will cover some services for autism for children under 18 but only those services not available free of charge from state and federal programs - in other words, it doesn't want to pay a cent. My counselor has to bill my visits under anxiety disorder.