Many people diagnosed with mental illnesses find that their health insurance policies do not provide adequate coverage for the treatments that they need and want. Because many insurance policies distinguish between mental illnesses and physical illnesses, offering less coverage for psychiatric care than for other types of health care. Comprehensive parity simply means that health insurance companies must provide the same degrees and types of coverage for any mental illness and substance-abuse treatment that they provide for physical conditions.
Discriminatory coverage can affect mental health consumers in several ways.
Some of these people simply do not get the treatment that they need. Some people who have health insurance through work must quit working to qualify for public health care such as Medicaid. Mental health consumers also face discrimination in purchasing supplemental insurance policies, which provide extra coverage during extended illnesses. While there are many supplemental insurance plans that physical conditions, supplemental insurance for mental conditions is almost nonexistent. Studies have shown that the costs of implementing parity in a managed care setting are minor.