Mental Health Benefits: State Laws Mandating or Regulating

Mental Health Benefits: State Laws Mandating or Regulating

Mental health and mental illness is a very serious issue that people deal with. Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health condition/disorder that affect a person mood, behavior, and thinking. What is mental illness? Mental illness includes but not limited to depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and eating disorder. Mental disorder has been a discussions over a variety of state legislation, since the passage of federal health reform(PPACA) a larger role has been created for the federal government and federal state coordination. Currently there are 49 states that now have some type of enacted law divided into three categories: Mental Health “Parity” or Equal Coverage Laws, Minimum Mandated Mental Health Benefit Laws, and Mental Health “Mandated Offering Laws”.

1. Mental Health “Parity” or Equal Coverage Law: This section requires insurers to provide the same level of benefits for mental illness, and serious mental illness under the parity law. The benefits includes the doctor visitation, deductibles, and copayments.

2. Minimum Mandated Mental Health Benefit Laws: Most if not all state laws require that some level of coverage provide for mental illness, substance abuse or a combination thereof. These are not considered full parity because they allow discrepancies in the level of benefits provided for mental illnesses, these discrepancies include but not limited to copayments, and deductibles, some of these laws state that the copayments and deductibles must be equal.

3. Mental Health “Mandated Offering Laws”: Mandated offering laws are different from the other two laws. A mandated offering law can require that an option of coverage for mental illness, serious mental illness. The option of coverage can either be accepted or be rejected, if it is accepted it will require a higher premium. In April of 2015 the federal