Soon, employers and insurance companies will be required to change group health insurance benefits to meet new laws that improve employer-provided mental-health and substance-abuse insurance coverage.
The original mental health parity legislation of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 went into effect in October in 2009 but improvements to the plan were added last month.
The new law requires that all employer plans provide mental health benefits coverage equal to that of medical and surgical care. The law applies to companies and group health plans with more than 50 workers.
These days, health professionals accept mental health conditions as serious and treatable ailments. According to the American Institute of Stress, mental health issues cause 61 percent of absences from work every year, 65 to 85 percent of terminations and 80 to 90 percent of industrial accidents.
The Wall Street Journal notes that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation will cost $3 billion in 2012 and premiums will increase by 0.4 percent. Additional costs to employers who add the benefits will be less than 1.5 percent even though employers could potentially save money from lower rates of absenteeism.
Adding insurance coverage for mental health conditions may be one way for employers to ultimately drive down health care costs and keep employees happy and healthy. We think that’s probably a good thing.