State Law To Stop Insurance Redlining Of Mental Illness

A state-wide coalition in Illinois, USA, has proposed legislation to endhealth insurance discrimination against severe mental illness. Valerie Raskin, president-elect of the Illinois Psychiatric Society, which is backing House Bill 111, says: "there's no medical justification to cover illness such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease or cancer and refuse to cover serious mental illness."

Many mental disorders involve a chemical imbalance in the brain which modern medicine can treat effectively, said Dr Raskin. The success rate for clinical depression is 85%, and for panic disorder and bipolar (manic-depressive) illness it is 80%. In contrast, improvement rates produced by common heart treatments, such as angioplasty and atherectomy, are only 41% and 52%.

The coalition says that other states, such as Maryland and Texas, have shown that equitable coverage is not expensive and reduces other costs such as emergency room visits. It also notes that a state poll conducted late last year found that 69% of Illinois voters believe that insurance companies discriminate against the mentally ill, and 88% said they would favor a state law that would "require insurance companies to provide equal coverage between mental and other medical illnesses."