The Mass. Medical Society wishes to be recorded in support
of H.2214, filed by Rep. Thomas Golden and S.624, legislation filed by Senator
Jennifer Flanagan. These similar bills
would ensure parity in the provision of MassHealth behavioral health
services.
Specifically, H.2214 would amend the MassHealth statutes to
require group health insurance policies providing coverage for hospital or
medical expenses to provide coverage for expenses arising from treatment for
chemical dependency, alcoholism, and mental or nervous conditions at the same
level as for other medical conditions. The coverage may not be made subject to
treatment limitations, limits on total payments for treatment, limits on
duration of treatment, or financial requirements, unless similar limitations or
requirements are imposed on coverage of other medical conditions.
S.624 would require MassHealth to ensure that all contracted
health insurers, health plans, health maintenance organizations and behavioral
health management firms and third party administrators provide comparable
access to behavioral health services, benefits and medications in providing
medical assistance to recipients.
The Mass. Medical Society’s policy promotes parity in health
insurance coverage, such that health conditions related to mental health and/or
substance abuse ought to be covered equivalently with all other forms of
illness. Our policy states, “Review and authorization processes [for mental
health conditions] should be no different than those for physical illness.”
Furthermore, “Insurance company administration should be accessible to
providers and patients to the same degree for medical and mental health
services.”
Parity is required under federal law through the Mental
Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA), signed into law in
2008. In Massachusetts, parity is
statutorily governed by Chapter 80 of the Acts 2000 and Chapter 256 of the Acts
of 2008. These laws apply to fully
insured group health plans, non-group health plans, and the Group Insurance
Commission (GIC). These laws DO NOT
apply to MassHealth. The passage of
these bills would fill that gap, and would thereby rectify the present state of
inequity in insurance coverage.
The MMS feels strongly that all patients – regardless of
source of health insurance coverage - requiring mental health and/or substance
abuse evaluations, treatment, or emergency evaluations should not suffer
greater impediments to the coverage of their medically necessary services than do
patients with broken limbs, diabetes, hypertension, or any other medical
need.
The MMS supports this legislation and looks forward to its
quick advancement as a matter of fundamental fairness and consistency with
state and national mental health and substance use parity initiatives.
