MENTAL HEALTH PARITY MAKES SENSE FOR OHIO Preserves Families Reduces Healthcare Costs Increases Employee Productivity Governor George Bush signs Texas Parity Bill, June 20, 1997.

”[One of the] major obstacles to effective mental health care is the often unfair treatment limitations placed on mental health in insurance coverage. Our health insurance system must treat serious mental illness like any other disease. Health plans should not be allowed to apply unfair treatment limitations or financial requirements on mental health benefits. We must give all Americans who suffer from mental illness the treatment, and the respect, they deserve.” – President George W. Bush

Upon the establishment of the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health April 29, 2002

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Read S.B. 116 Here

Read H.B. 180 Here

What is Mental Health Insurance Parity?

Mental Health Parity is the name given to the effort by two legislators, Senator Robert Spada (R-North Royalton) and Representative Jon Peterson (R-Delaware), to pass legislation to ensure that health insurance coverage for severe mental illnesses would not cost the consumer more than coverage for other medical services. Mental Health Parity has been enacted in 36 states.

Under Senate Bill 116 and House Bill 180, insurance companies would be prevented from discriminating against biologically based mental illnesses. These illnesses are defined as: schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, paranoia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder.

Why is Mental Health Parity Legislation Necessary?

Today, even people with health insurance often find themselves without the means to pay for necessary mental health treatment. Discriminatory limitations in insurance coverage often cause unfair financial burdens for mental health treatment, which can force workers and their families deeply into debt to pay hospital and other medical bills. The out-of-pocket burden that families face under existing coverage can be as much as fifteen times greater for mental health treatment than for medical or surgical treatment. Others avoid treatment altogether, the costs of which can include expensive emergency hospitalizations, loss of employment and relationships, and even worse, suicide.

People pay insurance premiums expecting to have coverage for major illnesses in their family. Ohio law, enacted in 1978, mandates only a minimum coverage of $550 for mental health treatment. It is not fair to individuals and their families to be denied coverage for these specific types of major illnesses. And it is not fair to taxpayers who must subsidize the ever-growing public mental health system that steps in when people exhaust their private insurance benefits. In the recent past, mental health costs borne by the public sector have been increasing. In 1991, public mental health expenditures were 57% of total mental health expenditures; by 2001 they had increased to 63%.

Does Mental Health Treatment Really Work?

Each year, severe mental illness affects more than 500,000 adults and children in Ohio. Mental illnesses are real medical conditions – just like heart disease and cancer – that can be treated as effectively as physical diseases.

Studies show that the success rate for treatment of major depression ranges from 65% to 80%. Similarly, the success rate for treatment of schizophrenia, long considered to be the most debilitating of all psychiatric disorders, is 60%. In contrast, the success rate for treatment of heart disease ranges from 41% to 52% – significantly less than for people receiving mental health treatment.

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