 |
FROM
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Wendy Brennan, MS
New
York State Mental Health Parity Law Enacted
Winter
2007
Our
newsletter on employment comes out just in time to celebrate the
recent passage of Timothy’s Law, New York State’s new
mental health parity law. After years of struggle to get mental
health parity enacted, on December 22, 2006, Governor Pataki signed
the bill.
Timothy’s Law is named after Timothy O’Clair, a 12-year-old
boy with a serious emotional disturbance who completed suicide a
few months before his 13th birthday. Tom and Donna O’Clair,
Timothy’s parents, were forced to give up custody of their
son in order to ensure his access to necessary mental health services.
The health insurance coverage that Tom O’Clair received through
his job was considered adequate, but like so many insurance plans,
it did not provide sufficient coverage for mental health treatment.
Tom and Donna O’Clair believe that Timothy would still be alive
today if they had been able to retain custody of their child and
oversee his treatment. As a result of their experience, they vowed
that other families would not be forced to make the same heartbreaking
choice. New Yorkers owe an enormous amount of gratitude to the O’Clairs
for their tireless advocacy efforts on this issue.
As a result of their work, along with the efforts of the Timothy’s
Law Campaign committee and numerous mental health advocacy organizations
across the state, New Yorkers will have better access to mental
health treatment. Essentially, Timothy’s Law will require that
all fully insured businesses offer mental health insurance coverage
for employees and their family members that includes a minimum of
20 outpatient mental health days and 30 inpatient hospital days
for the majority of diagnoses listed in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). The co-payments
and deductibles for these services will be equivalent to those incurred
under the standard health insurance plan. In addition, companies
with more than 50 workers must provide full parity, or equal mental
health and physical health benefits, for biologically based mental
illnesses.
For more than four years, with generous funding from the New York
Community Trust and the van Ameringen Foundation, NAMI-NYC Metro’s
Mental Health Benefits Project has worked with experts in New York
City and around the country to learn about best practices in mental
health benefit design and managing mental health in the workplace.
We have learned that while good benefits are essential, they are
not enough to ensure that employees and their family members are
able to obtain access to quality mental health services when needed.
Through the Mental Health Benefits Project’s small business
workgroup, we will educate employers and employees about the changes
in insurance coverage after the enactment of Timothy’s Law
and continue to inform them about the importance of obtaining early
screening and timely access to quality mental health treatment.
In regard to large, self-insured businesses, which are covered federally
and therefore not by Timothy’s Law, NAMI-NYC Metro will continue
to advocate for these businesses to pay more attention to mental
health in the workplace. In her article, “New York City Business
Community Launches City-Wide Depression Initiative,” Becky
Pietsch, NAMI-NYC Metro’s advocacy associate and director of
the workplace mental health initiative, outlines an exciting workplace
depression initiative that we are working on in collaboration with
a unique group of stakeholders, including New York City businesses,
health insurance providers, city government, and the advocacy community.
This group is working together to encourage screening and treatment
for depression -- which effects almost 10 percent of working adults
and their families -- in primary care settings throughout the city.
By making screening a routine part of one’s overall check-up,
we will be one step closer to ensuring that New Yorkers receive
the mental health care they deserve.
..pg
2..
|
|
