Perspective               

Mental Health Parity Bill Introduced

Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) have introduced legislation to improve the delivery of mental health services for older and disabled adults. The Medicare Mental Health Modernization Act would increase Medicare coverage of outpatient mental health services to 80 percent, an amount comparable to other Medicare outpatient services. The Act would also repeal the 190-day Medicare lifetime limit on in-patient mental health services and expand coverage to include a mental health intensive residential service benefit.

Consumer groups have long called for Medicare to end its discriminatory and limited coverage for mental illnesses. Studies show that millions of older and disabled Americans would be affected by changes to Medicare's mental health services coverage:

• One in five older adults has a mental health condition and 40 percent of younger people who have Medicare due to a disability have a mental health condition.
• Twenty-five percent of older adults with a chronic illness such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease are affected by depression.
• Up to two-thirds of older adults living in the community who need psychiatric services do not get them and the number is greater for people living in nursing homes.
• Affordability of care and the stigma of seeking treatment are major barriers that prevent people from seeking care.

Consumer groups also recommend that Congress should expand Medicare to include a meaningful prescription drug benefit to help remove the financial barriers to mental health treatment for older and disabled Americans.

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