April 2004

National Estimates of Mental Health Insurance Benefits

More than one in five Americans has a diagnosable mental disorder some time in his or her lifetime, yet only about half of those individuals receive professional mental health treatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , 1999). One major determinant of an individual's access to mental health care is whether he or she has health insurance that includes mental health benefits. Research over the past decade (reviewed in Appendix A) has found that although most individuals in the United States had health insurance, and most with health insurance had mental health benefits, most mental health benefits were substantially less generous than the medical/surgical benefits provided by the same plans. Public concern over unequal treatment led to passage of the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA) (42 USC '300gg'5), which required employers with 50 or more employees that were providing mental health benefits to apply the same dollar limits to mental health benefits as they did to their medical/surgical benefits. Although the MHPA technically 'sunsetted' in September 2001, subsequent laws have extended the original statute's provisions through the end of 2003.