Along with its 340 affiliates, NMHA will actively campaign for the Act s passage. The bill will prohibit group health plans from providing mental health benefits that are not on par with medical and surgical benefits. It will go a long way toward finally ending the disgraceful, discriminatory practice of limiting mental health care coverage and denying people access to needed mental health treatments. People with mental illness should be treated no differently than people with heart disease or cancer.
Mental illnesses are real, common and treatable.
An NMHA public opinion poll released in June 1999 revealed that ninety percent of Americans feel health insurance companies should provide coverage for mental illness that is equitable to coverage for physical illness and injury. Treatment efficacy for mental disorders is easily comparable to the treatment efficacy for other chronic illnesses. For example, treatments for depression have a success rate of nearly 80 percent, whereas the treatment success rate for heart disease ranges from only 41 to 52 percent. The goal of mental health parity is social justice. Denying coverage for any illness is wrong.