Insight Matters
Winter, 2004

The following is a letter sent in December 2003 to Governor Bob Taft.

Dear Governor Taft:

The Ohio Psychiatric Association, a medical specialty society of over 1,000 psychiatric physicians throughout Ohio, is extremely disappointed and concerned about your announcement last week urging the legislature not to pass any legislation which would improve health insurance coverage for the workers of Ohio, which would include those who need treatment for biologically based mental disorders.

As you know, the House Health Committee, the day before your announcement, voted to favorably recommend passage of HB 225 by a vote of 14-7. This was the first major step in eliminating discrimination in health insurance coverage for those individuals with biologically based mental illnesses. HB 225 does not "mandate' employers to provide health insurance coverage at all. It requires that these illnesses be classified as "basic health care services" and to be covered on the same basis as other basic health problems. It ends the discrimination of having separate and discriminatory higher deductibles, higher co-pays, and lower lifetime maximums.

Study after study indicates that not only does treatment work, but that any increase in direct cost is minimal, offset by other medical cost reductions, lower absenteeism, and increase productivity. State of Ohio employees, including yourself, legislators, and some 50,000-plus workers, have nondiscriminatory health insurance coverage which has been proven to be a good investment. Major newspapers throughout Ohio have published editorials urging that this discrimination be ended. Thirty-three other states have already passed some form of non-discriminatory insurance coverage legislation. President Bush has urged Congress to end this discrimination through federal legislation.

Opponents of this bill continue to state that they are for good mental health treatment, but are opposed because it is a "government mandate" and they are philosophically opposed to this, even if it makes good business sense and can same them money. It is unfortunate that workers are being deprived of adequate insurance coverage for treatment based on this kind of thinking. To allow this discrimination to continue and to sanction it is, in our opinion, not good public policy.

We urge you to reconsider your position and to support legislation ending discrimination against those individuals who suffer from these biologically based mental disorders. We ask that you support BH 225. It is both good policy and the right thing to do.

We would be more than pleased to meet with you and/or your staff to discuss this issue in more detail.

Sincerely,

Mark R. Munetz, M.D., President
Ohio Psychiatric Association

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