No law as wide-ranging and complex as PPACA can satisfy all of the myriad concerns of psychiatrists, other physicians, health professionals, and patients. While PPACA is not perfect, APA’s Board of Trustees concluded that it warranted APA’s support. Among other provisions of importance to the practice of psychiatry, the law:
- Extends coverage to 32 million more Americans;
- Bars insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions;
- Bars insurance companies from dropping coverage due to illness;
- Requires insurance companies to permit enrollees to renew coverage;
- Permits dependent children up to age 26 to be covered by their parents’ health insurance;
- Includes mental health and substance use disorder treatment as part of the basic package of benefits in health insurance sold in state-based insurance “exchanges” created by the law;
- Ultimately requires full parity for mental health and substance use disorder treatment in such insurance;
- Establishes new Centers of Excellence for Depression and Bipolar Disorder;
- Provides new research funding for postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis;
- Ensures that patients with diagnoses of mental illness will be included in “health homes”;
- Boosts funding for community mental health treatment options; and
- Facilitates co-location of primary and mental health treatment centers
- Sent using Google Toolbar Sphere: Related Content
No comments:
Post a Comment