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MONTGOMERY – Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation Commissioner Kathy Sawyer today thanked the Medical Association of the State of Alabama for supporting efforts to eliminate discrimination in health insurance coverage between mental and physical illnesses. "I am very pleased that an esteemed group such as the Medical Association of the State of Alabama recognizes the importance of encouraging insurance companies to provide equal coverage for individuals with mental illness," Sawyer said.

The Mobile Register reported on July 6^th that the Medical Association of the State of Alabama passed a resolution opposing the widespread practice of health insurance "carve outs," or the separation of mental health coverage from physical health coverage. "Such separation is one of the primary contributors to the current health epidemic of untreated mental illness," Sawyer said. "Receiving comprehensive coverage for physical health and severely restricted coverage for mental illness amounts to discrimination."

In his 1999 Surgeon General’s Report, Mental Health in the United States, Dr. David Satcher notes that two primary contributors to high numbers of untreated mental illness are stigma and lack of access to care. "Stigma is the Latin word for stain," Sawyer said. "The stigma attached to these no-fault biological brain disorders is one of the main reasons people who often need mental health treatment fail to seek it. When insurance providers decide that mental illnesses are less important and less worthy of coverage than physical illnesses, stigma is perpetuated."

"In the case of insurance parity, lack of access to care is critical," said Emmett Poundstone, III, former DMH/MR Commissioner and current President of the Alabama Coalition for Mental Health Parity. "Many individuals with mental illness have jobs, hobbies and families. It is bad public policy to punish these individuals for having a mental illness by restricting their insurance coverage in a discriminatory fashion. We support full parity between mental and physical illness coverage."

Mental illness touches one in five American families. Anyone can have a mental illness, regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, education or income level. Treatment efficacy rates for many mental illnesses, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (manic depression), are more successful than comparable physical illnesses, such as heart disease. "These statistics speak volumes about why insurance parity is needed," Sawyer said. "Obviously, as practicing physicians, the members of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama understand the critical need for health insurance parity. As Dr. Satcher noted in his report, it is not practical nor is it beneficial to continue to treat mental and physical illnesses as separate. They are, in fact, closely intertwined."

RESOURCES

The Alabama Coalition for Mental Health Parity
P.O. Box 3526
Montgomery, AL 36109
(334) 262-5500

Medical Association of the State of Alabama
19 South Jackson Street
Montgomery, AL 36102-1900
(334) 263-6441

Alabama Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation
P.O. Box 301410
100 North Union Street
Montgomery, AL 36130-1410
(334) 242-3417

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) is the nation’s voice on mental illness. With more than 210,000 member, NAMI is the nation's leading grassroots advocacy organization solely dedicated to improving the lives of persons with severe mental illnesses. Read their policy platform on mental health parity at http://www.nami.org/update/unitedparity.html.