Courage Is Contagious, by John Kasich: on Health Care


Equalize mental health coverage with physical health

In 1996, we wanted to pass legislation requiring health insurers to offer mental health parity--to equalize coverage for mental health services with coverage for physical health services. In other words, a person who became manic depressive would have equal coverage with someone who developed cancer. Most health insurance plans don't offer the same the same level of coverage for mental and physical health services, and they oppose parity because they say it would increase the costs of premiums.

I led the fight in the House. I would have preferred for the industry to come forward with a voluntary plan for parity, but they did not, so I felt Congress should act.

Our efforts were successful. The Mental Health Parity Act became law in 1998, and requires annual and aggregate lifetime dollar limits to be the same for mental health coverage as for physical health coverage. The law isn't perfect. There are more limits on the coverage than we wanted. But it is a start.

Source: Courage is Contagious, by John Kasich p.126-7 Oct 19, 1999

  • The above quotations are from Courage Is Contagious
    Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things To Change The Face Of America
    by John Kasich    .
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