Baird discusses mental-health care parity

Tens of millions of people will be able to get the treatment they need because mental-health parity became law this month, U.S. Rep. Brian Baird said Tuesday.

The legislation was signed by President Bush on Oct. 3 as part of the financial rescue package. It requires insurance providers to cover mental health and addiction treatment on an equal footing with medical care.

It’s been a long time coming, said the Vancouver Democrat, who worked for 23 years as a clinical psychologist and was one of the bill’s original co-sponsors.

The parity law acknowledges several developments in health care, said mental-health professionals and advocates invited to a session at the O.O. Howard House with Baird.

Mental-health problems have causes, and they’re treatable, said Al Bernstein, a Vancouver psychologist. Just as broken bones show up on an X-ray, mental-health problems can be diagnosed.

“They show up on brain scans,” Bernstein said. “Treatment is effective. Medications change the brain, and therapy teaches how to use that brain.”

It’s a big step forward, said Don Greenwood, with the Clark County affiliate of National Alliance on Mental Illness. Greenwood looked back almost 30 years ago to when he and his wife tried to get help for their son after a suicide attempt.

The practitioner’s evaluation was something along the lines of: “Mrs. Greenwood, I know you’ve tried your best to be a good mother, but some people just can’t do it,” Greenwood recalled.

Supporters of mental health parity also hope the new law will take some of the stigma from mental illness. People tend to equate that diagnosis with the image of someone walking around with a tinfoil hat, said Melanie Pharr Maiorino, who has seen both sides of the issue.

She has received mental-health services, and now Maiorino fills a regional ombudsman position funded by the state mental health division of the Department of Social and Health Services.

“Eventually, people will begin to see mental illness as similar to cancer and diabetes,” she said. “People can and do recover. I’m able to be productive by helping other people with mental-health issues who have difficulties accessing help.”

Maiorino said her services are free for people who are low-income, are on Medicaid or are eligible for Medicaid.

Mental health parity applies to health plans that cover more than 50 people. It doesn’t require group plans to cover mental health or substance-abuse treatment, but if they do, the coverage must be comparable to other medical coverage.

Washington passed its mental-health parity bill in 2005, but the federal legislation will extend coverage to many people not covered by the state law, said Lucy Homans, president of the Washington State Psychological Association.

The legislation doesn’t solve everything, Baird said.

“Insurers can still deny coverage, but at least they must offer a written explanation.”

And, Baird said, “45 million Americans have no insurance.”

According to The Associated Press, the parity law is expected to cost the federal government about $3.4 billion over 10 years after employers deduct health expenses from their taxes.

However, more and better treatment will have substantial social and financial payoffs, supporters say.

People who don’t get help often wind up in hospital emergency departments, or worse.

“The most heavily populated mental-health treatment centers in many community centers are the county jail,” Baird said.

Karen Redden, a Portland woman who lost two family members to suicide, said treatment has helped her daughter hold a job for four years.

“These people contribute tax money and stop consuming tax money,” Redden said.

And speaking of money, Baird pointed out the irony in attaching mental-health parity to the massive financial rescue bill.

Quoting a colleague, Baird noted: “They’re both designed to prevent ‘depression.’”