In its coverage of the Senate passing the bailout bill Politico is reporting that "tucked away in the tax chapter is a virtual bill onto itself: landmark mental health parity legislation that bars group plans from imposing stricter limits on mental health patients than individuals under the same plans who suffer from physical illnesses demanding surgery and hospitalization." First of all: it's about time. I'm going to show my liberal bias here, but sometimes government really works. This legislation is good news for, well, everyone actually. More parity in coverage will lead to increased treatment, or at the very least better treatment, for individuals with a wide range of mental health disorders. Better treatment will lead to decreased suffering for individuals and families, which is clearly the most important effect of the bill. Of equal importance is the impact that it will have on productivity among members of the workforce. Take depression, a fairly common mental health condition that can be easily treated for many people. Employees who are currently under-insured now have access to medication and doctors that will allow boost their performance. The insurance companies will probably cry foul, and it might lead to higher premiums overall. However, since the entire system is insane anyways, it's not really fair to punish one demographic just because there are pre-existing flaws.
Shorter sarcastic post: It's this type of heinous earmark legislation that must be stopped. McCain '08!
On a side note, if I keep this up I might find myself blogging again. No promises.
Hat tip: Ezra
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
...and I thought you were talking about the other white meat.
Post a Comment