Thursday, 19 July 2007
North Carolina Legislation Approves Mental Health Equality Bill
In a recent Senate bill, North Carolina lawmakers voted in favor of mental health parity 36 to 12. Mental health parity requires companies providing group insurance for businesses to cover the costs of mental illnesses just as they would any physical ailments.
As North Carolina’s law stands today, mental illnesses are not required to be covered by any plan. And lawmakers have been fighting to pass mental health parity for some time.
“Mental health parity legislation has been debated by this General Assembly for over 15 years now, and I’m pleased to say that we’ve reached some common ground,” said Democratic State Senator William Purcell.
A House version of the bill was also approved, but had some key differences from the Senate. The House bill would require all mental illnesses to get full coverage, but small businesses with less than 25 employees would be exempt from the law. The Senate’s version would include businesses of all sizes, but only mandates full coverage for 9 of the most common mental health conditions, reported the Winston-Salem Journal.
Opponents of the mental health parity law contend it would be too costly for small businesses. They also argue it will result in higher health insurance costs for everyone.
“This is just another burden on small business. They have about 48 separate mandates for coverage now, and how much more can we put on them?” said Republican State Senator Robert Pittenger.
Advocates counter mental health parity among private companies would lower overall costs for the insurance system — giving people earlier access to mental healthcare which lowers their chance of needing state-funded mental care. They also point out costs haven’t drastically increased in many of the other states where mental health parity had been passed.
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