Mental Health Runner 2013: A past future that influenced today

(A most pivotal piece of legislation to hit the mental health industry)

This article illustrates one of the most pivotal mental health policies or pieces of
legislation to pass within the last few years that is still relevant today. This article also
discusses the overall impact of this legislation on child or adolescent domains of
development; thus also impacting clinical treatment policy across the medical and mental
health care fields ever since.

Earlier this decade, congress passed a greatly significant piece of legislature that has
impacted mental health policy ever since its inception.

In 2013, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction
Equity Act was passed; which helped to create more equitable outcomes for adolescents
living with mental health issues (APA, 2013). Before this act was approved, there was
widely perceived disparity in what was considered to be a fair manner of clinical
treatment. This legislature was vitally impactful upon the mental health community; for it
fostered a sense of streamlining which gave rise to a fusion of the services provided to
adolescent by both the medical and mental health care industry. It allowed both factions
to approve and offer both physical and mental health services to adolescents.

Moreover, the ensuing contrast in administrable adolescent services resulted in

limitations being removed from how services were rendered and to what extent they
could be offered; including what amenities and benefits qualified for approval before
services were terminated. The legislation that helped to streamline mental health care
services for adolescents between fields also included, adjustments to charges for co-pays
and deductibles, the amount of hospital days allotted; including but not limited to,
changes in the number of approved treatment sessions for adolescent patients (USDHHS,
2013). Formerly, these disparities were only subject to one’s discretion.

Since then the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction
Equity Act has helped to eliminate such arbitrary allowances of decision-making.
According to research, this act helped to extend mental health services protection to over
82 million (APA, 2013) mentally ill American citizens. This of course proved to be an
imminently timely decision due to the estimated 41 million Americans that were reported
to experience mental illness by 2012 (APA, 2019) because it appears that the amount of
mentally ill Americans had doubled in only 1 year.

In November of 2013, the standards and program services eligibility has been extended
for illnesses such as mental health, substance use and abusive disorders, medical and
surgical benefits that members of groups or individual health plans (USDHHS, 2013)
would receive. This extension of service has been immensely instrumental in keeping
insurers in compliance with the state laws of medical and therapeutic practice.
Such said changes included requiring that clarification be provided to participants, in
order to ensure that they are not cheated out of requesting services that are due to them.
Overall, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction
Equity Act has helped foster fair and equitable business practices with regard to treating
adolescents who are living with mental illnesses and substance abuse issues (USDHHS,
2013). The passing of this legislation has helped to close the gap between what used to be
a glaring differentiation in how care was once administered between fields; and
influenced an increase in fair healthcare practices for adolescents.

References:

American Psychological Association. (2019). Resources on the Mental Parity Law.

Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/parity-law-resources

American Psychological Association. (2013). Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity
Act. How does the new mental health parity law affect my insurance coverage? Retrieved
from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/parity-law.aspx

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2013). Administration issues final
mental health and substance use disorder parity rule. Retrieved from
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2013pres/11/20131108b.html