I am James Scully, M.D., Deputy Medical Director for the American Psychiatric Association, a national medical specialty society representing 40,000 psychiatric physicians. On behalf of the American Psychiatric Association, which is appearing today at the invitation of the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society, I want to thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of H.B. 2237. Typically based on misconceptions and stereotypes about mental illnesses and their treatments, insurers unfairly discriminate against individuals with these disorders by limiting coverage through higher copayments, fewer allowable outpatient visits and inpatient days, and lower annual and lifetime benefits caps than are provided for other medical illnesses. Actuarial analyses and emerging data from states with parity laws demonstrate that equitable insurance coverage for mental illnesses is indeed affordable.
Mental disorders are medical illnesses, as are heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Mental illnesses affect the brain, the most complex organ in the human body. Research has provided us with dramatic advances in our understanding of and cost-effective treatments for mental illnesses. Equitable insurance coverage is needed to ensure that persons with mental disorders will no longer be subject to unfair insurance discrimination that denies them coverage of and access to these treatments. Today, I will focus my comments on how science and economics strongly support enactment of H.B. 2237 as not only an affirmation of equity, but as beneficial public policy for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and its citizens. While the immediate problem addressed by H.B. 2237 is insurance discrimination against persons with mental illnesses, the more profound and troubling issue is the human and societal toll that is magnified by this discrimination.