NAMI Ohio Affiliate Leadership

We are entering a very critical period in our decade long battle to eliminate the discrimination that is allowed to exist in Ohio’s insurance laws. A broad coalition of organizations, led by NAMI, the ADAMH/CMH Boards and the Ohio Psychiatric Association is conducting a comprehensive information campaign to win the support of the key leaders in the legislature in order to allow our bill to move forward.

These public efforts include individual lobbying with key legislators, events in Columbus and the home districts, targeted letter-writing and emailing operations and more.

One issue that we continue to encounter from legislators who are also listening to the insurance and business lobby is that this legislation would be bad for business in Ohio. Although we have developed several excellent documents that completely dispel that notion, as long as the opposition continues to make this claim we will be forced to defend our position with reports and data only.

In order to neutralize this issue, at the advice of Parity sponsors Representative Peterson and Senator Spada, we are compiling a list of businesses that support Mental Health Parity to demonstrate that this is not an issue that business (in general) opposes.

The best place to begin our search for businesses that support this issue is in the NAMI family. I am asking each and every one of you to identify at least 2 businesses that would agree to support this law and secure their permission to be included on a list that we plan to present to the leadership in the Ohio House and Senate.

Here is a summary of the proposed legislation that can be used to get the endorsements. It would be helpful to put this summary in the hands of anyone agreeing to endorse so we know each business name we collect understands what they are agreeing to endorse.

MENTAL HEALTH PARITY House Bill 180 & Senate Bill 116

·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.

·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. Some families avoid treatment altogether, resulting in expensive emergency hospitalizations, loss of employment and relationships, and even worse, suicide.

·It is not fair to individuals and their families to be denied coverage for these specific types of major illnesses.

·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.

·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.

·Extensive limits on mental health benefits can create major financial burdens for people with mental illness and their families. When parents can’t afford treatment for their children, their kids are at risk for lifelong struggles with mental illness. It is not uncommon for parents to be told that they should relinquish custody to the county when their insurance coverage runs out so that their child can continue to get needed treatment.

·The Chevron Corporation found that it saved seven dollars for every one it spent on an employee assistance program offering mental health resources. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that insurance plans with the highest financial barriers to mental health treatment experienced a greater number of disability claims related to mental illness.

·The financial impact of Mental Health Parity on business is minimal. Experience in state after state bears out the low cost of Mental Health Parity, with premium increases usually less than 1%. The legislation introduced by Senator Spada and Representative Peterson contains an “opt out” provision for insurers who can demonstrate that their premiums have risen more than 1% during a six-month period due to the addition of Mental Health Parity.

It is important to remember that, with proper diagnosis and treatment, covered workers stay employed. Employed people purchase more goods and services and rely less on publicly funded programs. That translates to more consumers able to purchase goods and services supplied by Ohio’s businesses, and fewer tax dollars needed to fund hospitals, prisons, and homeless programs.

·One of the largest health care consumers, the State of Ohio, cut total health care costs by 64 percent under managed care for prevention and treatment of mental illness.

This is a very important challenge. We must do everything possible right now if we are to have any chance of moving these bills out of the committees that control them. Please do your part on behalf of the consumers and families in Ohio that are dependant on us for our advocacy strength.

As you secure these endorsements, please forward them to me with the name of the company and city or town in which it operates.

Thank you for all that you are doing in this important advocacy campaign.

Blair Young

Director of Development

NAMI Ohio

747 E. Broad St.

Columbus, Ohio 43205

1-800-686-2646

1-614-224-2700

1-614-224-5400 fax

Visit NAMI Ohio Here

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