On September 18th, in Los Angeles, California, The Parity Implementation Coalition held
its 5th “Parity Field Hearing” of 2012 at the Chicago School of
Professional Psychology. The purpose behind the 2012 Parity Field
Hearings is to highlight the persistent insurance and
treatment inequities faced by patients and providers because we still lack final rules and regulations for
the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The 2012
Hearings are modeled after the field hearings in 2007, which were successful in pushing President Bush to sign MHPAEA into law.
The
President of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Dr. Michele
Nealon-Woods, opened the Los Angeles event, introducing former Members
of Congress Patrick J. Kennedy and Jim Ramstad, known as the “Parity
Champions," who educated as well as rallied the crowd with their
opening remarks. Congressmen Kennedy and Ramstad proclaimed with
inspiring passion that there is a “political urgency” to pass the final
rules and regulations so that those affected by mental illness can
finally access treatment on par with those suffering a physical illness.
Of particular concern for Kennedy is how access to mental health
treatment for our “nation’s heroes," our returning Veterans and active
duty members of the military, is grossly inadequate and costing lives.
He quoted alarming statistics from the September 17, 2012 IOM consensus
report, “Substance Use Disorders in the U.S. Armed Forces,"
and shared that over 50% of returning Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans will try to access care for what are being called,
“invisible wounds," such as depression, PTSD, and eating disorders, only
to be turned away because of the lack of access to treatment.
Congressman Ramstad called the practices that insurance companies use to
circumvent the law an “outrage and travesty” and noted that “too many
people don’t realize these are life and death issues." He also
admonished the administration by sharing that his research shows that no
other bill has ever needed this long for the administration to adopt
final rules and regulations. Both men called on the administration and
the Secretaries of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services to take
exigent action to address the lack of final rules and regulations,
which would thus provide the long awaited oversight necessary to hold
accountable the insurance companies who have been circumventing the
MHPAEA.
The
night then moved on to three panels of speakers. The first panel
included a dad and son, Kevin and Connor Kinnon. Kevin told the story of
how his son Connor suffered with severe depression that led to suicide
attempts, in part because Connor was never given adequate treatment despite the fact that his dad had high quality insurance. NAMI President Keris Myrick
shared her story of hope and recovery, recovery that was possible because she had
access to the treatment she needed for her schizoaffective disorder and
OCD. Navy Veteran Vikash Sharma shared his heart-wrenching battle
to receive proper treatment for his PTSD that had gone undiagnosed for four years post-discharge from the Navy. The second panel included the
former Director of the California Department of Managed Care, the Chief
Psychologist at the U.S. Veterans Initiative, a Research Psychologist
from UCLA’s Integrated Substance Abuse, and Lisa Kantor, a Los Angeles
lawyer and partner in Kantor & Kantor LLP who represents people
denied health benefits for treatment of both physical and mental
illnesses, including eating disorders. The third panel of speakers
included the President and CEO of the Betty Ford Center, the
President-elect of the California Society of Addiction Medicine, the
Director of Government Regulations for the Clinical Social Work
Association, and the President-elect of the California Academy of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Many
people are familiar with California attorney, Lisa Kantor, EDC
Board Member, who spoke on Panel Two. Lisa Kantor’s dedication to those
affected by eating disorders is widely known and well-respected for
many reasons, but perhaps most notably she is known because of her case involving Jeanene Harlick. Ms. Harlick’s case became the basis upon which the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based its ruling that health plans must
provide coverage for all “medically necessary treatment” for eating
disorders “under the same financial terms as those applied to physical
illnesses.” During her speech at the field hearing, Ms. Kantor shared
stories of just how egregiously insurance companies violate the law when
doling out access to care for those suffering with eating disorders.
She told of a young woman whose insurance company denied her continued
treatment because they felt that since she had reduced her
laxative use down to 50 per day (mind you this decrease was only
accomplished because she was in 24 hour treatment and closely
monitored), she no longer needed treatment. And she shared the story of a
young woman who died after her stomach ruptured as a result
of bulimia. Unfortunately that same young woman had been denied
treatment in the years prior to her death because her insurance company
didn’t treat offer coverage for her eating disorder on par with the
coverage they offered for physical illnesses.
Ms.
Kantor concluded her speech with an essential statement, a statement we
hope Secretaries Geithner, Solis and Sebelius will heed and act upon
with urgency: “These kinds of disparities happen to people with eating
disorders every day. These kinds of disparities are killing people. And
these disparities are why we urgently need the rules and regulations in
place and we need the Final Rules and Regulations to specifically
include eating disorders under Parity. “
The
next Parity Field Hearing takes place in Delray Beach, Florida on
October 9, 2012 and is sponsored in part by EDC Member Organizations, The
Alliance for Eating Disorders and Oliver Pyatt Treatment Center. At the Florida hearing,
Congressmen Kennedy and Ramstad will once again rally consumers,
professionals and all those concerned about persons suffering from
mental illness, urging the administration to put in place the long
overdue and life-saving final rules and regulations for the Paul
Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity
Act. For more information about the Hearings or to share your story
about inadequate parity, visit: www.parityispersonal.org The
Eating Disorders Coalition will continue to be highly active in the
Parity Implementation's bold and courageous efforts to ensure that final
rules and regulations are enacted as soon as possible. Please contact
us to get involved: www.eatingdisorderscoalition.
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