Under managed care, the report concluded, full parity increases total healthcare costs by less than one percent a year. When parity is implemented in conjunction with managed care, health insurance plans are able to reduce costs by as much as 50 percent. Approved by the Virginia General Assembly by overwhelming margins, the bill represents an historic opportunity to help Virginians in all walks of life and to help lead the nation. As the first state to enact a parity law in 1999, Virginia would be the 20th state overall to end discrimination that for too long has denied persons with mental illnesses adequate care and contributed to the stigma of mental illness. Other states that have passed parity laws include Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Mental illnesses are biological brain disorders.
In any given year, more than five million Americans suffer from them. Virginians need access to treatment for mental illnesses just as they do for cancer, diabetes or heart disease. Too many Virginians would remain without adequate coverage. Evidence also is mounting that mental health parity is both affordable and cost-effective. In 1998, the National Advisory Mental Health Council, in the most recent federal report on costs, concluded that under managed care, full parity increases total healthcare costs by less than one percent a year .