Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA)

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act invoked a $75 millon dollar demonstration project known as the Medicad Emergency Psychiatric Demonstration that was amended in section 2707 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The change seemed to be just what the nation needed, however, there was fine print added to the amendment that changed the interpretation. The fine print stated, patients who are on Medicaid from the ages of 21-65 seeking inpatient mental health care can receive treatment under the law. However, the inpatient facility will receive no

In order to discuss the Affordable Care Act as it relates to mental health and addiction there needs to be an understanding of the historical development of mental health parity in the United States. There has been a long time struggle to make mental health comparable physical health in health benefits. In 1996 the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) was passed due to the crusade efforts of Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici under the Presidency of Bill Clinton (Frank, Goldman, & McGuire, 2001). The Mental Health Parity act was designed to ensure that large employers that provided health plans did not use lower limits on lifetime dollar amount for mental health in comparison to physical health (Frank, Koyanagi, & McGuire, 1997). In order to continue to build on the MHPA the congress passed the

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) -The law amended the 1996 Mental Health Parity Act by extending the parity requirements to include substance use disorder benefits. In addition, the MHPAEA requires parity with respect to all financial requirements (cost-sharing such as deductibles, copayments, and co-insurance) and treatment limitations (day or visit limits) between medical and surgical benefits and benefits for mental health and substance use disorder services (Kongstvedt 608-609)

Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), plan participants and providers are entitled to receive access to certain plan information, reasons for denial of coverage or benefits, and copies of the medical necessity criteria used to make benefit determinations. In order to facilitate these document requests, NYSPA prepared form letters that can be used by psychiatrists and patients. Through document requests and sharing of materials, they hope to identify ongoing patterns and practices of discrimination, the next step in ensuring full enforcement of the parity laws.

In the course of proper identification, evaluation, and treatment, children and adolescents suffering with mental illness can conduct positive, normal lives. Nevertheless, the devastating majority of children with mental illnesses are unsuccessfully identified and the lack of treatment or support services have led to a subordinate worth of life and violence. The Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act of 2013 (S. 689) is an inclusive bill proposed to address the extensive issue of mental health. By strongly considering the United States’ struggle against mental illness and school violence, as well as utilizing theoretical constructs to examine the Senate’s bill, a social worker can develop a more holistic perspective that can productively integrate practical insights reached from a variety of different points of view.

Policy analysis of mental health care under the ACA as well as description of how mental health care/service are organized under the ACA from federal to local levels.

The Mental Health Services Act is a monumental proposition that has helped many people for more than a decade. In California alone, close to 1.2 million adults and around 422,000 children live with a serious mental illness (State 2010). Without the proper treatment, suicide is the leading cause of death for a person battling an untreated mental illness (State 2010). With over thirteen billion dollars raised so far, MHSA has been the root of funding for mental health in California (Williams 2015). MHSA is still a work in progress. The act is nowhere near perfect, as a recent audit has shown, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) applies to organizations with fifty or more employees that offer group health insurance

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) is an act that requires parity or equality between mental health treatment and medical/surgical treatment covered by private and public insurers with over 50 employees. That means that if an insurance covers mental health issues they can’t impose more stringent limits and financial requirements than medical/surgical coverage. The act was signed into law in 2008 by President George W. Bush. Before the act was signed into law, mental health care was not as affordable or accessible for individuals. (United States Department of Labor, 2016)

Mental disorder is more common than most think. WHO reports that mental disorder is not only those that are institutionalized, in fact 1 in 5 Americans are. That’s about 42.5 million people, which suffers with some form of mental illness (BEKIEMPIS, 2014). Unfortunately, most individuals are not aware of their disorder and those that are might not seek treatment or become dependent to the antipsychotic drugs. The 2008, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act provisions expanded mental health services to 62 million of people (Health Insurance and Mental Health Services, n.d.). The ACA mental health expansion requires for health insurance plans to provide mental health screening as part of their preventive services. ACA is mandatory and

Regardless of where one stands, one must admit that the American economy is not thriving. Not only is it not thriving, but also the American economy has either been in depression or on the verge of depression for the last decade. Because of this, parity seems to be a dream. It is not the prime time to push for the ACA, perhaps during the 80’s or 90’s, but there were other political dilemmas that needed to be dealt with. Another factor to take into account is the reaction of the healthcare system once it truly has to cover for mental illness treatment. Because there is an immense amount of cost, around $131,000(Abelson), to

The mental health parity law is a law that enables an individual to seek help not only for his physical problems but his mental problems as well. This law states that there would be no limits on therapy sessions nor would there be higher co-pays to insurance companies for mental health care. The mental health parity law gives equal importance to the body and mind. There would be equal access to the same mental health services and physical health services so that an individual can get the help they need when they need

Policies have an important role in regulating and shaping the values in a society. The issues related to mental health are not only considered as personal but also affecting the relationships with significant others. The stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health can be traced to the lack of legislation and protection of rights (Rodriguez del Barrio et al., 2014). The policy makers in mental health have a challenging task to protect the rights of individuals as well as the public (Swigger & Heinmiller, 2014). Therefore, it is essential to analyse the current mental health policies. In Canada, provinces adopt their own Mental Health Acts (MHA) to implement mental health services. As of January 15, 2016, there are 13 mental health acts in Canada (Gray, Hastings, Love, & O’Reilly, 2016). The key elements, despite the differences in laws, are “(1) involuntary admission criteria, (2) the right to refuse treatment, and (3) who has the authority to authorize treatment” (Browne, 2010). The current act in Ontario is Mental Health Act, 1990.

The mental health act is an act design to protect people with mental illness. It was originally written in 1983 and reformed in 2007. It sets out clear guidance for a health professional when a person may need to be taken into compulsorily detained in a hospital. This is known as sectioning. This helps carers who are unable to cope without help. People can be sectioned if the health care profession thinks they are a danger to themselves, they are a danger to another person or in danger of abuse from another person. The health professionals have a duty of care to the patient who is mentally ill. They must provide get the right treatment and to give them and their families the right information. The act gives rights to

Preceding the enactment of the Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, approximately forty-nine million individuals in the United States were uninsured. The Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act (MHPAEA) does not command or require coverage for mental