OPINION & EDITORIAL
Mental health deserves parity
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by Suchita Shah
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The tragedies at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech made headlines for the seemingly random violence. However, if anything positive emerged from this carnage, it was the increased awareness of mental health issues. We cannot ignore the resulting mental health effects on the community members affected by the disasters. We must ask ourselves if these people — and countless others suffering from mental illness nationwide — have access to the quality treatment they need.
Here in Wisconsin, Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton is championing the fight for improved mental health treatment and awareness. She proclaims today Mental Health Parity Action Day, where more than 250 organizations — including health care providers, the University of Wisconsin, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the American Heart Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — and citizens from across the state lobby legislators to support the bipartisan Senate Bill 375 for mental health parity in insurance.
Under the bill, insurance plans that currently provide for mental health care must do so adequately and comparably to the physical health coverage. Thus, parity: the same benefits and same limits for health care coverage, regardless of its manifestation as physical or mental illness.
The bill in itself is not the earth-shaking reform our health care system needs — but it is a necessary first step. And we need to be taking every step forward that we can toward achieving the goal of true universal and comprehensive health care.
Ms. Lawton has emphasized that the one major obstacle to this progress is that “insurance companies are against paying claims.”
“There is a long-standing misunderstanding of mental illness,” Ms. Lawton said. “The health insurance industry has made absolutely glacial progress in having their coverage line up with what constitutes good preventive health care.”
With mental health parity, Ms. Lawton pointed out, the cost of care for every other related illness goes down. The Wall Street Journal estimates the cost of untreated mental illness at over $90 billion a year, including lost productivity and resulting medical expenditures. Investing in mental health treatment now would lessen that burden on our already exhausted health care system.
Untreated mental illness has far-reaching problems. It is a risk factor in everything from intestinal problems to gum disease and from heart disease to cancer. Mental health parity is an essential step toward changing our current “disease-care” system back into a health care system.
Mental health awareness is a growing concern on college campuses as well, where high-stress lifestyles compromise education achievement. Bob McGrath, director of UHS Counseling and Consultation Services, said UHS has “definitely seen an increase” in the use of counseling services and “the intensity and severity of situations coming in are more challenging every year.” Further, “people who wouldn’t have been able to get into this school in the past” now excel here with the availability of better mental health treatment.
After the Virginia Tech tragedy, the UW System began an audit of university mental health services. According to Mr. McGrath, UHS should be the model for other smaller schools, and they “need to move in our direction.” The annual Big Ten Counseling Center conference begins today on campus, and the quality of mental health services provided by UHS “fit right in with that level.”
Today, on one end of State Street we will have university health providers from across the country meeting to discuss improving mental health services. On the other end of State Street at the Capitol, we have Ms. Lawton leading the fight for expanding access and affordability of mental health treatment, coming to the table with actual data that will hopefully make for an easy decision for insurance companies and the Legislature.
Equity in insurance coverage is an absolutely vital step toward improving the health of our nation and cutting the cost of care in the long run. However, mental health parity in insurance will be meaningless if it is not matched by parity in awareness and improved services at the health care provider level. According to Ms. Lawton, one in five American adults will have a mental health problem in their lifetime that requires treatment.
“We assume it is a choice. We assume it is a weakness,” she said. “We can no longer afford the status quo in Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin is at the bottom of the pile when it comes to mental health. Forty-two other states already require mental health parity. Our great progressive state is one of the final eight, and yet still there is heated opposition from legislators and insurance companies.
Now that depresses me.
Suchita Shah (sshah@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in neurobiology.
Anonymous (February 20, 2008 @ 10:01am):
Recently, there was an article in the Wisconsin Journal by Susan Lambert Smith about a student whose roommates were concerned about him and UHS told the boys to call the Police. McGrath is full of it if he thinks UHS should be a model for other schools and they should go in UW direction. As a parent, I know how troubling this can be, it happened to me too!
Anonymous (February 20, 2008 @ 12:27pm):
The recently adopted disease model for "mental illness" is a fraud. Steven Kazmierczak chose to murder those students of his own free will. He should be held COMPLETELY responsible for their deaths.
When tragedies like this happen, the blame is frequently placed on lack of mental health care, gun control, etc. This only shirks responsibility from the wrongdoer and creates a pervading attitude of excuse. The vast expanse in psychiatric care has not prevented mass killings like NIU; quite the contrary.
Jack Craver (February 20, 2008 @ 1:52pm):
Free will is affected by a variety of variables though 12:27. The idea is to help people guide their free will in the right direction. People who don't think psychiatric care works are fundamentally misinformed. It all comes from this idea that we are minds are these sacred entitites rather than simply a part of our brain, which is a part of our physical anatomy. Mental illnesses often are physical illnesses, the result of chemical imbalances etc that CAN be addressed with medicine etc.
Anonymous (February 20, 2008 @ 2:21pm):
Great column. Thank you for helping to increase awareness.
Anonymous (February 20, 2008 @ 4:28pm):
12:27 -
You're confusing a murderer - the proportion of whom in the population that has mental health problems is about the same as the proportion of people in the general population who murder - with the vast majority of people who are perfectly reasonable human beings who just happen to deal with a mental illness.
He chose to murder them because of his own free will, NOT because of his illness - it may have, in combination with his personality, made him a little more inclined toward violence, but his free will is what made him kill them.
Grow up and get over yourself.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 12:41am):
Thanks you for contributing this very important column. What is concerning is the issue of FERPA. Confidentaility is good to an extent, however, too much confidentiality is not good, because parents cannot find out if their student is struggling emotionally, especially if the lines of communication close. If a student is hospitalized, can their hospitalization record affect their future emducation oft employment? What happenns to transparency there?
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