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Topic: Parity laws

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	Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General - Chapter 6
		Parity legislation is an effort to address at once both the adverse selection problem and the fairness problem associated with moral hazard.
		The fundamental motivation behind parity legislation is the desire to cover mental illness on the same basis as somatic illness, that is, to cover mental illness fairly.
		Case studies of five states that had a parity law for at least a year revealed a small effect on premiums—at most a change of a few percent, plus or minus.
	www.surgeongeneral.gov /library/mentalhealth/chapter6/sec4.html (1686 words)

	NAMI \| Parity in Insurance Coverage - WHERE WE STAND
		After passage of the Domenici-Wellstone law, we saw the passage of eight more state parity laws in 1997 and seven (unfortunately three were vetoed) in 1998.
		Parity laws in all 50 states that are comprehensive, clear, and compelling in ending all forms of insurance discrimination against persons with severe mental illness.
		Monitoring by both the states and the federal government to insure that parity laws are enforced, and an appeals process for denied services that is fair and impartial.
	www.nami.org /update/unitedparity.html (1228 words)

	Behavioral Healthcare Parity
		Parity means treating behavioral health illnesses (both mental health and substance abuse) in the same manner as other physical conditions in the construction of health care benefits.
		In opposition to parity, health insurance representatives point out that the premium increase varies depending on the degree to which the care is managed, with PPO and fee-for-service plans projecting an average 5 percent increase.
		They caution that these laws have only been in effect for a limited time, and thus cost data and utilization effects of parity may be insufficient to measure accurately.
	www.naswdc.org /practice/behavioral_health/behavioral.asp (2142 words)

	New England parity laws in brief
		Comprehensive parity law went into effect in 1999, covering all DSM diagnoses with a few specific exclusions.
		Law in effect since 2000 covers specific severe mental illnesses with a clause to include other DSM diagnoses when demonstrated to be "biologically-based." Also includes comprehensive parity for children if functional impairment is demonstrated.
		Revisions in 2001 to 1994 law removed the term "serious mental illness," and increased minimum benefits for DSM diagnoses "that substantially limit the life activities of the person with the illness" with some specific exclusions.
	www.nepsy.com /leading/0303_ne_paritysidebar.html (150 words)

	Particle Interactions and Conservation Laws
		These conservation laws are in addition to the classical conservation laws such as conservation of energy, charge, etc., which still apply in the realm of particle interactions.
		Strong overall conservation laws are the conservation of baryon number and the conservation of lepton number.
		One of the conservation laws which applies to particle interactions is associated with parity.
	hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu /hbase/particles/parint.html (1185 words)

	Boston Bar Association (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Parity could be defined by equal benefits (such as equal dollar or service limits), equal access to appropriate care (recognizing that mental and medical illnesses warrant different treatment), the achievement of equal outcomes (such as restoration to a particular level of functioning) or some other measure.
		Parity could be achieved through full integration in the delivery of medical and mental health services or through the creation of "separate but equal" delivery systems for medical and mental health benefits.
		Under the law, such parity exists where there are (1) no limits for mental health benefits, (2) the same limit for mental and medical health benefits, or (3) a single limit for both mental and medical health benefits.
	www.bostonbar.org /pub/bbj/bbj0506_03/analysis_mentalhealth.htm (2517 words)

	Parity for Mental Health
		Parity advocates believed that with the newer, more cost effective health care management plans, increases in costs would be minimal if at all.
		Advocates for mental health parity questioned if the increasing number of mandates did not just strengthen their case that regulation is necessary to ensure proper health coverage.
		If parity laws do not actually help the mentally ill in the short run with improved access to services, perhaps they will help in the long run as a symbolic gesture that mental illness is just that, an illness, and it can be treated.
	www.cwru.edu /med/epidbio/mphp439/Mental_Health.htm (4643 words)

	WHAT WORKS
		Parity laws prohibit insurers from discriminating between coverage provided for mental illness and coverage for other physical disorders.
		Parity laws require insurers to provide the same level of benefits for the treatment of mental illness as for any other disease.
		Parity laws apply to visit limits [inpatient and outpatient], deductibles, copayments, and lifetime and annual limits.
	www.ncsl.org /programs/health/forum/shld/12d.htm (277 words)

	Parity
		A review of 11 states’ studies on the impact of their own parity laws showed that parity eases pressure on state budgets and saves taxpayers’ dollars by cutting health, correctional, and welfare costs, and increasing the number of people entering treatment.
		Despite fears that parity would cause insurance premiums to skyrocket, several studies in states with parity have found that mental health parity raises costs between one and four percent.
		The review of 11 state’s studies on the effects of their parity laws showed that the costs to individual businesses related to addiction and mental illnesses also declined sharply when all employers were required to provide parity coverage.
	www.isapda.org /parity.html (783 words)

	Psychiatric Times
		In this decade's legislative skirmishes over parity laws, the business and insurance lobbies raised fears of huge premium increases and of employers dropping health insurance altogether, thus swelling the ranks of the uninsured.
		A second generation of parity laws must be designed to confront discriminatory benefit limits, and the structure and process by which those health benefits are disbursed.
		Now that mental health insurance parity laws are on the books in 29 states, both the letter and the spirit of such laws must be enforced.
	www.psychiatrictimes.com /p000301b.html (1256 words)

	Costs and Effects of Parity - State Parity Laws, National Mental Health Information Center
		While this provision is a step toward parity for mental health care, it neither requires employers to provide mental health benefits, nor does it affect the terms and conditions of mental health coverage such as visits, days, and cost sharing.
		The parity mandates in all 12 states require health plans to provide coverage for mental illnesses that is comparable to coverage provided for other illnesses.
		North Carolina's law states that "allowable institutional and professional charges for inpatient psychiatric care, outpatient psychotherapy, intensive outpatient crisis management, partial hospitalization, and residential care and treatment" are necessary and must therefore be covered.
	www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov /publications/allpubs/Mc99-80/prtych1.asp (1760 words)

	Mental Health Parity: What Can It Accomplish in a Market Dominated by Managed Care?
		State parity laws, though, vary widely from state to state in coverage and other key elements; there is no single model law that all states are adopting.
		Some parity advocates have begun to worry that eventually, in its effort to hold down costs and maintain profits, managed care may end up undertreating adults and adolescents with mental illnesses and thus in effect defeat the intent of parity laws.
		Parity, they point out, requires mental health benefits to be equal to those offered for other illnesses, but it does not require that the patient receive a specific number of treatment visits or hospital days.
	www.milbank.org /mrparity.html (10335 words)

	The National Psychologist: (Site not responding. Last check: )
		But many states have adopted the SMI model in their parity laws, often when it appears the choice is between no law and an SMI.
		And, even though there were some who advocated for killing SMI parity legislation and trying to obtain a broad-based parity law later, it was agreed that psychologists would have a hard time doing it on their own.
		However, he explained that once an SMI parity law was on the books, it might even be harder to expand the range of diagnoses than it was to pass the initial SMI parity law.
	nationalpsychologist.com /articles/art5983.htm (659 words)

	Unintended Consequences of Mental Health "Parity" Laws \| Daily Policy Digest \| NCPA
		But so-called mental health "parity" laws are backfiring in states that have adopted them.
		Currently, such laws are on the books -- with varying degrees of teeth and specificity -- in 34 states, and there is also a federal law.
		The laws generally make it illegal for an employer who offers coverage for physical conditions like appendicitis, for example, to offer less coverage for mental problems.
	www.ncpa.org /sub/dpd/index.php?page=article&Article_ID=7301 (298 words)

	Benefitnews.com - Information for HR and Benefit Directors and other Employee Benefit Plan Sponsors and Advisers
		Health insurance industry advocates claim mental health parity laws increase costs to the point where employers must drop their insurance, thereby increasing the number of uninsured.
		The other state laws are known as having “limited” parity, which means many of them only cover persons with severe mental illnesses, while others include exemptions depending on the number of employees.
		Such laws prompt Sturm to claim that “the effect on mental health expenses is so tiny, it’s not a driving issue.
	www.benefitnews.com /health/detail.cfm?id=351 (656 words)

	Current Issues in Mental Health Policy
		The objective of parity legislation enacted at the state and federal levels is to ensure that payers provide the same level of benefits for behavioral health care as for general medical care.
		Other state parity laws apply to a broader population of individuals with both mental and substance abuse disorders.
		Case studies of five states with parity laws in effect for at least a year indicate a minimal effect on premiums.
	hcs.harvard.edu /~epihc/currentissue/spring2001/barry2.html (1548 words)

	Victories for parity
		The passage of the three new laws for broad parity stand in contrast to last year's events: Of the12 states that passed parity laws in 1999, only two required broad-based parity.
		The adoption of broad-based parity in three states is also important in light of next year's scheduled rewrite of the federal mental parity law, which has some major loopholes in it, according to the APA Practice Directorate.
		Of course, all of the state laws for mental health parity, both for SMI and broad-based coverage, are limited in one important aspect.
	www.apa.org /monitor/jun00/parity.html (964 words)

	Parity and Profits
		Basically, parity is a measuring device that puts the value of raw commodities at a level that equals all the costs, including labor costs and capital costs.
		Parity, George Warren said, was based on a market basket of what was happening in the rest of the economy, which whipped around and provided the requirement for the first part of the economy, which was agriculture.
		This 90 percent of parity added to the storage function actually came out to 100 percent, and that’s how we fought WWII without excessive inflation, and without excessive windfall profits to either farmers or labor.
	www.westonaprice.org /farming/parity.html (3210 words)

	APA Help Center - Managed Care & Health Insurance - "Mental Health Parity"
		For example, 87% of employers that comply with the law on equal dollar limits reduce their mental health coverage in other ways such as tightly limiting the number of therapy sessions per year.
		By the end of 2001, Congress had not made progress on the parity issue, but the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 was extended and has continued to be extended since.
		Parity legislation was reintroduced in 2003 as the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act (S. 953) in honor of the late senator who was one of the original sponsors.
	www.apahelpcenter.org /articles/article.php?id=26 (645 words)

	CMHS Programs: Organization and Financing - Executive Summary
		Effective January 1, 1998, this law requires that health plans provide the same annual and lifetime limits for mental health benefits as they do for other health care benefits.
		Employers have not attempted to avoid parity laws by becoming self-insured, and they do not tend to pass on the costs of parity to employees.
		The low costs of adopting parity allows employers to keep employee health care contributions at the same level they were before parity.
	www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov /cmhs/managedcare/parity/prtyexsm.asp (605 words)

	The politics and economics of mental health 'parity' laws -- Frank et al. 16 (4): 108 -- Health Affairs
		The enactment of the Domenici-Wellstone amendment in September 1996, which calls for the elimination of certain limits on coverage for mental health care under private insurance, is being hailed as a major step forward in the quest for "parity" in mental health coverage.
		Parity legislation is being introduced in a number of state legislatures and is finding new enthusiasm in Congress.
		In this paper we consider the efficiency rationale for these laws and examine their likely impact in the era of managed care.
	healthaff.highwire.org /cgi/content/abstract/16/4/108 (169 words)

	CMHS Programs: Organization and Financing - Executive Summary
		Employers have not attempted to avoid parity laws by becoming self-insured, and they do not tend to pass on the costs of parity to employees.
		The low costs of adopting parity allows employers to keep employee health care contributions at the same level they were before parity.
		Based on an updated actuarial model, full parity for mental health and substance abuse services is estimated to increase premiums by 3.6 percent, on average.
	mentalhealth.samhsa.gov /cmhs/managedcare/parity/prtyexsm.asp (605 words)

	Parity - Mental Health Parity: What Can It Accomplish in a Market Dominated (Site not responding. Last check: )
		There are a few parity check matrices available in the code but you can use other matrices provided you have enough memory to load them.
		Parity: recognising the potential in staff, in technology, in the organisation.
		Parity is an error detection technique which is typically used on When used, each character is protected by a single parity bit which is the logical
	siteslinks.com /q/parity.htm (444 words)

	Mental Health Parity Laws Do Not Improve Access, Care Quality \| Daily Policy Digest \| NCPA
		As of the end of 1999, mental health parity legislation had been introduced in 34 states, 19 of which passed some variation of it.
		Individuals with severe mental illness who live in states with parity laws are not more likely to use their services than other severely mentally ill in nonparity states.
		Despite the passage of many mental health parity laws, these studies conclude that insurance coverage remains a problem for those at risk for mental health disorders.
	www.ncpa.org /sub/dpd/index.php?page=article&Article_ID=9688 (356 words)

	RAND \| RAND Health \| Featured Research \| The Effects of State Parity Laws on the Use of Mental Health Care
		We used a quasiexperimental research design to measure the effect of state parity laws on the use of mental health care in the past year.
		Similar to a difference-in-difference analysis, the effect of parity was measured by comparing pre-/postchanges in mental health service use within states that switched active parity status to changes in service use within states that did not change parity status in the same calendar year.
		Overall, the results of this study suggest that state parity laws succeeded in expanding access to mental health care for those with relatively mild mental health problems.
	www.rand.org /health/feature/2006/060627_harris.html (302 words)

	Mental Health America: Insurance Parity
		These laws discriminate against children and adult whose illnesses can be as disabling as those specified in the laws, but do not fit neatly within the statutes’ criteria.
		The laws in three states can serve as models for legislation other states that are either considering the issue for the first time or are considering revising their existing parity law.
		This toolkit provides background information for people who are amending their current parity laws are working to pass parity for the first time.
	www.nmha.org /go/parity (777 words)

	Mental Health Parity and Beyond
		The law applies to both fully insured health plans regulated by state law and self-insured plans that are exempt from state laws under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
		The law is set to expire on September 30th, 2001 and the Senate has asked for periodic reports to assess the effects of the law both economically and on mental health care.
		Initial studies examining the impact of Mental Health Parity Laws enacted in a number of states (e.g., Texas, Maryland, and North Carolina) found very small increases in overall benefit costs when parity was coupled with managed care.
	medicalreporter.health.org /tmr0799/parity.html (911 words)

	Benefitnews.com - Printer-Friendly Output (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Limited laws At least 31 states have passed some sort of mental health parity legislation, in addition to the federal law.
		Jennifer Heffron, senior director of state affairs for the National Mental Health Association in Alexandria, Va., says that while parity laws have not done as much as advocates had hoped, in part because laws and definitions of mental illness vary widely from state to state, “that doesn’t mean it should stop.”
		“We need to make sure parity laws are implemented and enforced, and to work on public education,” she says.
	www.benefitnews.com /pfv.cfm?id=351 (865 words)

	Mental Health Parity
		This site was developed to enhance policymaker's ability to architect and implement parity legislation that will promote positive outcomes for individuals and their families.
		Mental Health Parity: National and State Perspectives: a report by the de la Parte Institute 1998 text:pdf 1997 text: html;
		Parity in Financing Mental Health Services: Managed Care Effects on Cost, Access, and Quality Interim Report to Congress the National Advisory Mental Health Council March 1998; May 1998; pdf
	www.fmhi.usf.edu /parity/parityhome.html (367 words)

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