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The Courier Post interviews Ed Diehl about the addiction parity law
Monday, November 03, 2008
Kim Mulford
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008811020331
When her teenage son needed long-term drug rehab 13 years ago, Kathleen Dobbs couldn't get her insurance company to pay for it.
It didn't matter that five health-care providers recommended the treatment. It didn't matter that she had good health benefits through her employer.
"They wouldn't pay a dime," recalled Dobbs, a Barrington resident who eventually found 16 months of state-funded treatment for her son. "We're talking about a child's life here."
Dobbs and three other mothers are the founders of Parent 2 Parent, a support and advocacy group based in Marlton which has been fighting for insurance parity since its inception in 1997. Put simply, they want insurance companies to cover mental illness and substance abuse addiction as a chronic illness like diabetes or cancer.
They're almost there. When President Bush signed the $700 billion financial rescue plan into law last month, it included a new federal parity law.
Co-sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., the legislation requires employer-sponsored insurance plans to treat such brain diseases in the same way they cover other illnesses.
While not perfect, the law is a step in the right direction, said Edward Diehl, president of Seabrook House in Upper Deerfield, Cumberland County, and chairman of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers.
Nationwide, about 20 million people need substance abuse treatment, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
"It's a piece of civil rights legislation," said Diehl. "Insurance companies can no longer discriminate from one illness to another illness."
But it's not a panacea, Diehl said. His addiction treatment facility prescribes three to five days of detoxification and at least 28 days of residential treatment for its patients.
"Because of managed health care, virtually nobody gets that by sole use of their health insurance," said Diehl, "and nothing will change in that area because of parity legislation. This is a first step, but it's not a solution to the larger problem, which is access to care by insurance."
Still, thanks to the new law, more people struggling with mental illness and addiction are going to get more benefits from their insurance plans, said Russ Micoli, corporate director of behavioral health services for Kennedy Health System in Cherry Hill.
Parity is also good on a societal level, he said, because it acknowledges the importance of treatment and addresses the stigma attached to addiction.
It comes at a critical time. Demand for Kennedy's 12-bed adult detox center, out-patient services and in-patient treatment is rising, Micoli said.
"We're seeing more behavioral health patients in our medical surgical units than ever before," Micoli said. "It's definitely a bubbling pot."
Parity will take time before patients feel its effects; some estimate patients won't see an increase in coverage until 2010.
Meanwhile, the fight continues for a stronger state parity law, said Dan Meara, spokesman for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence -- New Jersey. The advocacy group wants to close loopholes left open by the federal law which allow insurance companies to limit addiction treatment coverage. Last December, the group lost a battle to get its tougher state bill up for a vote.
"It's on hold for the time being, but it's just on the back burner," said Meara. "It's not being dropped."
For some families, the fight is never-ending. When Dobbs testified before Kennedy in Washington, D.C., in February, she brought along a stack of three-ring binders nearly a foot high. They were filled with the obituaries of people who died in the tri-county area since 1997 as a result of alcohol or drugs.
Addiction is reaching epidemic proportions, she said, and the road to recovery is long but possible. Now 28, her son is doing well and living a normal life.
"Addiction recovery is just like somebody with cancer or heart disease," said Dobbs. "It needs to be treated all of their lives."
Reach Kim Mulford at (856) 486-2448 or kmulford@couriepostonline.com
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