News from the Senate Majority
Alaska State Legislature

Wendy Lindskoog, Senate Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: 907/465-4582
http://www.akrepublicans.org
Broadcast Actualities: 800/478-6540

Senate Advocates Equality in Mental Health Insurance Coverage

For Immediate Release: March 23, 1998 Contact: Senator Gary Wilken at (907) 465-3709.

Juneau – The Senate Monday passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 14 unanimously to establish a task force that will examine the issue of mental health parity in health insurance policies. The task force will study approaches taken by other states and will make recommendations to the Legislature on how to increase parity between mental and physical illnesses.

Senator Gary Wilken (R-Fairbanks), Chairman of the Health, Education and Social Services Committee, said the 11 person Mental Health Task Force will be funded through the Mental Health Trust which has allocated $50,000 to the task force. The task force will not require state general funds.

"Despite increased recognition that mental illness is a brain disorder treatable like any other illness, we find that 9 out of 10 insurance policies nationwide treat mental illnesses differently than physical illnesses," Wilken said. "This results in limited or no insurance coverage for mental illnesses. I’d like to think we can move beyond this discrimination by requiring that mental disorders be included in insurance policies. But before we consider that, we must define and quantify the problems at hand."

"Aside from having little negative impact on the private sector, equalizing the availability to mental health benefits will allow more people to overcome their illnesses and enter the working world," said Wilken. "This will result in less government spending because it will reduce reliance on Medicaid and other public welfare programs."

The federal government took an important first step in establishing parity within insurance coverage between Mental and Physical illness when it passed the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996. It equalized annual limits and lifetime limits between physical and mental health for most health insurance policies. At a more grassroots level, many states have bolstered the federal legislation by passing state parity laws – 15 states have passed mental health parity laws and 25 more, including Alaska, are considering legislation.

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= Gary Wilken, 65 K