Parity: Understanding The Issue
Webster defines parity as the "quality of being equal." For those suffering from alcohol and other drug dependency, as well as those working with them, parity means that the same resources directed toward other medical conditions will be available to address substance abuse. Parity requires health insurance carriers to cover mental health and addiction treatment services the same as other health services.
The uninformed attitude toward addiction has led to discrimination in many ways, particularly when it comes to health insurance coverage for treatment. Health plans offered by employers typically provide less coverage for mental health and substance abuse treatment than for general medical and surgical services. They arbitrarily require higher deductibles, larger co-payments, limited treatment and lower lifetime caps in treating addiction and mental health.
More than 35 states have already adopted some type of parity legislation, New Yorkers must demand passage of a bill that comprehensively covers alcoholism and chemical addiction equal to any other disease without the limitations and exclusions presently in place.
Like diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases, addiction is a medical disease with a behavioral component that can alter the course of the disease. Yet unlike addicted persons, patients with other chronic diseases are not penalized or denied treatment because they care unable to make the necessary behavioral and lifestyle changes in a very short period of time. Addicted persons are significantly penalized not only in lack of parity but in the subjective utilization of the benefits that are available. Studies repeatedly prove that treatment for addiction is as effective as treatments for these other chronic medical conditions.
This is a disease that affects more than 10% of our population, 80% of whom are employed and functioning, not the indigent or disenfranchised the media would have you think. Effectively treating the disease of alcoholism is imperative. Passage of a fair and equitable Parity Bill is a must.