Does the parity law affect small businesses and people with individual health insurance coverage?
There were two major exemptions [in the 2008 law]: Individuals and the small group market. Other [advocacy] groups always made a very persuasive case that to compel an individual policy, or, more importantly, a small group, to make mental health coverage equally available would make insurance unaffordable for who we were trying to help. The classic case of this would be a dry cleaner with 16 employees, one is bipolar. Treatment for the one person would make coverage for everyone in the group unaffordable. We could never muster a compelling argument to overcome that. So every bill had a small business exemption, and there is the same issue for the individual market. Q: How does the new health law affect mental health parity? A: Health reform will change those exemptions in a major way. It will absorb in many ways the small group and individual market. There are large concentrations of uninsured people in these groups and coverage is more expensive in these markets for everything, especi
