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Article: New mandate need not sink mental health benefits. (health insurance law requiring mental illness spending caps to be equal to physical illness caps)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- National Underwriter Life & Health-Financial Services Edition
- Article date:
- October 7, 1996
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 1996 The National Underwriter Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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While insurers and employers fear the worst following passage of a law requiring limited mental health benefit parity, the mandate may not be nearly as problematic as some predict if firms are creative in its implementation.
Congress dropped mental health parity from the Kennedy-Kassebaum health insurance reform bill in August, and many are now dismayed that it reemerged as part of a mammoth appropriations bill as Congress was winding down. But now that the bill has been passed and signed into law by President Clinton, it is time for employers and insurers to come to grips with the implications.
The bottom line is that employers offering mental health ...