Congress should require insurers to cover substance abuse treatment to the same extent that they cover general medical treatment, two behavioral health experts argue in an article published yesterday on the Health Affairs web site.
The arguments for comprehensive parity are as strong for substance abuse as for mental health benefits, say Yale School of Public Health professors Colleen Barry and Jody Sindelar. Although the parity bill that passed the Senate last month and a parity bill moving through the House both include substance abuse treatment, Barry and Sindelar suggest that language in the Senate bill could allow insurers to limit substance abuse benefits.
In recent decades, the percentage of workers with some substance abuse coverage has increased, but so has the use of coverage limits on substance abuse benefits, the authors note. By 2002, roughly nine out of 10 workers with employer-sponsored coverage faced stricter limits on their substance abuse coverage--such as higher deductibles and cost sharing--than on their general medical coverage. Only 25 percent of total spending on substance abuse treatment is now paid for by private insurance, versus 32 percent in 1987, and the use of substance abuse services among those with employer-based insurance declined by 23 percent between 1992 and 2001. Read the report.
