This perspectives article considers the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 and highlights the need for clear regulations and education regarding the costs of untreated M/SU conditions.  The authors suggest using the new law to reinforce the centrality of mental health care within the overall health care system and as a curricula piece of health care reform. 

Shern, D. L., K. K. Beronio, et al. (2009). After parity--what's next. Health Affairs, 28(3), 660-2. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.3.660 http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/3/660 

Authors: David L. Shern, Kirsten K. Beronio, Henry T. Harbin.

This report examines the projected impact of mental health parity legislation in Massachusetts; primarily with respect to projected costs in various scenarios.

Download the full report (pdf): http://www.mass.gov/Eeohhs2/docs/dhcfp/r/pubs/mandates/mental_health_parity_report.pdf

This study, produced by SAMHSA and Mathematica, examines the effects of the vermont mental health and substance abuse parity law, which went into effect on January 1, 1998. The report looks at "six domains: (1) implementation process; (2) employer issues; (3) insurer/health plan issues; (4) provider issues; (5) consumer issues; and (6) effects on health care access, utilization, and spending."

The full report is available from SAMHSA at: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/sma03-3822/default.asp

From the White House website:

On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes -- government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong, and that’s why they’ve proposed a plan that strengthens employer coverage, makes insurance companies accountable and ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference.

The Obama-Biden plan provides affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, builds on the existing health care system, and uses existing providers, doctors, and plans. Under the Obama-Biden plan, patients will be able to make health care decisions with their doctors, instead of being blocked by insurance company bureaucrats.

Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year. If you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options.

Details can be found here.

On 11/12/2008, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) released "Call to Action" a plan for health reform in 2009.

From a press release on the Baucus plan for health reform:

The Baucus “white paper” details specific policy options for consideration by the 111th Congress. The main objectives of the Baucus plan are to achieve universal coverage, reduce health care costs and improve the quality of care our system provides. Baucus’s vision for achieving these objectives includes an individual responsibility to hold health insurance – once quality, affordable care is accessible to all. His plan seeks to reach that point through measures to shore up the employer-based system, through a one-stop insurance marketplace for individuals and businesses, and through limited expansions of public programs. The plan also includes a number of insurance reforms to make the market work better for American health care consumers, and delivery system reforms that emphasize better quality, primary care for more patients, and a stronger focus on preventive care. Baucus also suggests potential savings and efficiencies that can be found in a remade health care system to reduce the cost of reform.

Text of the whitepaper: Call to Action

Call to Action Website

From The Commonweath Fund:

This report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System offers recommendations for a comprehensive set of insurance, payment, and system reforms that could guarantee affordable coverage for all by 2012, improve health outcomes, and slow health spending growth by $3 trillion by 2020—if enacted now to start in 2010. Central to the Commission’s strategy is establishing a national insurance exchange that offers a choice of private plans and a new public plan, with reforms to make coverage affordable, ensure access, and lower administrative costs. Building on this foundation, the report recommends policies to change the way the nation pays for care, invest in information systems to improve quality and safety, and promote health. By stimulating competition and delivery system changes aimed at providing more effective and efficient care, the policies could yield higher value and substantial savings for families, businesses, and the public sector.

Full Report: The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System: A 2020 Vision and the Policies to Pave the Way