Issues Summary Highlights Health-Disparities Focused Legislation; Study Examines Mental Health Parity Legislation

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Mental Health
Article Date: 19 Dec 2007 - 6:00 PDT

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Key Health Disparities-Focused Legislation Introduced in the 110th Congress, Kaiser Family Foundation: The compendium highlights more than a dozen legislative proposals introduced by the 110th Congress that focus specifically on addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care, including the Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act and the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007. In addition, Kaiser has posted online an archived webcast and transcript of Friday's Today's Topics In Health Disparities, which focused on current federal legislative efforts to address racial and ethnic health disparities (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 12/17).

"Parity and the Use of Out-of-Network Mental Health Benefits in the FEHB Program," Health Affairs: The study by Darrel Regier, executive director of the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education, and colleagues examines how mental health parity legislation in the House and Senate would affect access to care. The study assessed clinicians' and beneficiaries' participation in managed care networks in the Washington, D.C., area under the Federal Employees Health Benefits parity program and found that about one-third of the clinicians studied participated in FEHB networks, and 44% of FEHB beneficiaries received care from network clinicians. According to the authors, out-of-network mental health benefits are an important policy consideration to ensure access to mental health treatment under parity proposals (Regier et al., Health Affairs, 12/18).

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