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Recovery in the News
Seeking parity
Donna Vavala
Panama City News Herald
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Douglas Sandler is one of thousands of Floridians whose health insurance does not cover mental health.
Sandler, 40, suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and mild schizotypal personality disorder, which causes a lack of interpersonal and occupational skills. He takes medication and receives mental health counseling.
But during the years Sandler has worked, he can remember only one job that provided health insurance with mental health benefits.
He is not alone. About 26.2 percent of Americans, ages 18 and up, suffer from mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. That translates to 57.7 million people. Mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15 to 44, according to NIMH.
Despite the numbers, health insurance companies do not cover mental illness the same way they cover physical illness. But that soon could change if a group of federal lawmakers have their way.
New legislation
Forty-six states require insurance companies to provide mental benefits at the same level as they provide physical benefits. Florida is not one of them; the state allows insurance companies to cover mental health at lower levels.
That is why Sandler supports the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007, which has 273 bipartisan co-sponsors, led by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn. It was passed by the House Education and Labor Committee in July and the Energy and Commerce Committee in October. It was the first time a House committee approved parity legislation, which would put mental illness coverage on par with physical illness.
“This bill would compel insurance companies to treat mental illness the same as physical illness, given the overwhelming scientific evidence that mental illness is a disease every bit as real and serious as physical illness,” Sandler said. “This is a civil rights issue, and I hope I can help to get this bill passed. Not being able (to have) insurance for what you need hurts.”
Kennedy’s press secretary, Robin Costello, agreed.
“It’s really about fairness and ending discrimination on this issue,” Costello said. “The bill will be moved to the House floor at the first of the year. A bipartisan majority is for the bill.”
Proposed state legislation
State Rep. Ed Homan, R-Tampa, who also is assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of South Florida School of Medicine, has a personal interest in equalizing mental health coverage.
“My oldest son has bipolar illness, and my wife’s dad committed suicide at age 57,” Homan said. “Those are my personal reasons, but my real interest is that 20 percent of the population has at one time in their life had a problem with mental illness but don’t seek treatment because of the ‘taboo’ that exists in our society about the problem.
“Approximately 34,000 people in the U.S. commit suicide annually, and that number should go down if we can get mental illness out of the Dark Ages. Other organs get sick, and that is OK to talk about. … Nobody wants to talk about depression.”
Last year, Homan got 95 House members to co-sponsor House Bill 19 in Florida. The bill mandates health insurance companies follow the guidelines set by the American Psychiatric Association and cover all diagnostic categories of mental health and substance-related disorders and those listed in the mental and behavioral disorders section of the current “International Classification of Diseases.”
Providers would be allowed to increase premiums under group hospital and medical expense-incurred insurance policies.
But despite the support, Homan has made no progress in moving his legislation forward.
“I can’t even get it referred to the first committee this year,” Homan lamented. “There are only 120 representatives and it only takes 61 votes to pass a bill, but I could not get the bill to a floor vote, even though last year’s bill passed every committee in both the House and Senate.”
Heavy lobbying against the bill could explain that.
“Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the Florida Chamber of Commerce are fighting it,” Homan said. “I have given them all the information I have.
“Another issue is whether premiums will go up and if there will be caps so the insurance companies can’t significantly raise the premiums,” he said. “Blue Cross/Blue Shield is telling the House leadership that this will happen, but this hasn’t happened in the other 46 states that have already passed this legislation.”
Ned Ailes, executive director of Life Management Center, which counsels people with mental health problems, said his organization supports any legislation that will help its clients gain better access to mental health care and ultimately reduce the costs of treating physical ailments in the process.
“The root cause of physical problems could be depression,” Ailes said. “You could argue that effective treatment of behavioral conditions would have a positive effect on prevention of other health care problems.”
Trying to rise above
Sandler said that, because of his mental instability, he was arrested for reckless conduct in 1995, evicted from his apartment and forced to stay at a hotel “that charged by the hour.” The only jobs he has held were low-paying restaurant positions.
“I decided I needed help,” Sandler said. “I was certified disabled and got vocational training. I’ve learned to ask for help. If I’ve overcome what I did without killing myself, others can do the same.”
As he urges people to write to their political leaders in support of the federal parity legislation, he constantly is trying to better himself. He has taken courses, as he can afford them, at Gulf Coast Community College since 2004. He said he has been on the dean’s list and is 18 credit hours short of an associate of arts degree; he hopes to get a four-year degree.
“I’m studying to be a teacher,” Sandler said. “I think I’d be a good teacher because I can relate better” because of what I’ve been through.
Sandler also is an artist and said he wants to be famous. His Web site displays his work and urges people to purchase items. He paints abstracts, which he said express his thoughts, and portraits.
“I rediscovered art in 2001. I paint as a way to deal with my issues,” Sandler said. “When people find out you have mental problems, they look at you like you might go postal at any minute.”
© 2008 The News Herald