Mental health bill costs to be minimal, study says
Mental health advocates are praising a state report as validation that a bill expanding mental health care and substance abuse treatment will not be too costly, a chief concern of business and insurance groups.
The Department of Public Health evaluation - based on a review of past studies, an actuarial analysis, and interviews with Massachusetts insurers and providers - projected that the mental health parity legislation, which overwhelmingly passed the House Monday, would add between 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent to the cost of insurance. That works out to between 46 cents and $1.39 per member per month.
"I hope this report finally puts to rest health plan and business concerns that this makes health insurance unaffordable for people," said Marylou Sudders, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and a former state mental health commissioner.
But Dr. Marylou Buyse, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, said her organization is concerned about adding new benefits amid a slowing economy.
"Percentages are very deceptive," she said, noting that the figures in the report translate into a statewide annual increase of $12.9 million to $38.8 million. "Adding new mandates will increase costs for employers, particularly small businesses, which are the backbone of the Massachusetts economy."
Buyse added that the Commonwealth already has generous mental health benefits, based on a 2000 law that requires insurers to treat certain psychiatric illnesses, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, as they do physical ailments, placing no annual or lifetime limits on benefits.
That law, however, still allows limits on hospitalizations and outpatient treatment for dozens of maladies, such as eating disorders, post-traumatic stress, and drug addictions. The new bill, which is awaiting Senate action, seeks to eliminate those limits.
Matthew McKenna - chief of staff for Senator Steven A. Tolman, a Boston Democrat who cosponsored the original bill - said Massachusetts is at the forefront of expanding healthcare coverage and the legislation is a key step in that direction. In light of the DPH report, McKenna said, "the senator is very optimistic that this bill is going to pass."
Correction: Because of an editing error, a story Friday in the City & Region section listed the wrong state agency as the author of a report on the cost of proposed mental health parity legislation. The analysis was prepared by the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy. 