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Parity for Consumers: What We Learned, and Where We Go from Here
State and federal parity laws help end decades of discriminatory insurance coverage for mental health and substance abuse services by insurance companies. Historically, families with mental illness have faced terrible choices, from skipping care altogether to facing bankruptcy to pay for it. In New...
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The NYSPA Report: Achieving the Promise of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA, the Parity Act) ushered in a new era for health insurance coverage for mental health and substance use (mh/sud) disorders. The foundation for this was laid by the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, and, significantly, the Patient...
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The Economics of Recovery: System Reform
New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team gathered an impressive list of suggestions to stem the growth of New York’s 50+ billion dollar Medicaid program. I was particularly impressed with their adoption of the 80/20 concept developed by business marketers in the 70’s....
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The NYSPA Report: New York State Psychiatric Association’s 2011 Legislative Agenda
Presenting the New York State Psychiatric Association’s legislative agenda for the 2011 session in Albany represents more of a challenge than usual because the governor’s budget proposal will be presented after the writing of this report and the printing of this issue of Mental Health News....
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The Economics of Recovery: System Reform
New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team gathered an impressive list of suggestions to stem the growth of New York’s 50+ billion dollar Medicaid program. I was particularly impressed with their adoption of the 80/20 concept developed by business marketers in the 70’s....
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The Economics of Recovery: Who’s Driving the Bus?
There appears to be an incredible variety of people guiding our journey of recovery; elected and career government officials, all manner of professionals, academics, health insurers, providers, family, labor unions, big pharma, etc. If recovery takes a village – then it seems they all made it on...
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Point of View – Looking Back with Pride: Mental Health Policy in the 2nd Half of the 20th Century
I have had the good fortune over most of the past two decades to participate in the vast effort made by the Mental Health Association movement to make life better for people with mental illness, especially those who are disabled and rejected by society. There are two tremendously important...
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Assessing Racial Equity Impact in Mental Health Policymaking: Reflections and Recommendations
Racism has a long and unique history in the practice and policy of mental health in the United States. In colonial times, for example, it was a common belief that Blacks did not have the intellectual capacity to experience mental illness. In later periods runaway slaves were diagnosed with...
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The Economics of Recovery: When Worlds Collide
To quote Rahm Emanuel, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste - it’s an opportunity.” In the past decade, it’s been one crisis after another: 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, Katrina and tsunamis’, Wall Street meltdown, global warming, the gulf oil spill, Haiti, bankrupt governments, even...
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The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by the first President Bush in 1990. The bill, championed by Senator Bob Dole, who himself suffers from a physical disability, was enacted with the intention of eliminating discrimination against the disabled, whether it be a physical or...
