“A Long Road Ahead” – NAMI Study Looks at Mental Health Parity

A recent study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has found significant and troubling barriers that people with mental illness and substance use disorders encounter in obtaining quality  care. While the Affordable Care Act extends parity requirements to essential mental health and substance abuse benefits, NAMI reports in “A Long Road Ahead – Achieving True Parity in Mental Health and Substance Use Care” that more needs to be done in ending discriminatory coverage of these illnesses in health insurance plans.

Among the report findings are the following: consumers and family members have serious problems finding mental health providers in their health plans; insurers deny authorization of mental health care at higher levels than that of other medical care; significant barriers exist when accessing psychiatric medications in health plans; and high out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and/or inpatient and outpatient care can deter people from getting the treatment they need.

“Although people living with mental illness and substance use disorders are grateful for the steps Congress and the Administration have taken to increase fairness through MHPAEA and the ACA, the problems described in this report must be addressed for the great promise of these landmark laws to translate into improved access to quality care,” concludes the study’s authors.