Ruling may broaden insurance plans' coverage for mental illness

[xchrom]

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-mental-health-insurance-20110828,0,3394129.story


The state Mental Health Parity Act obliges insurers to provide the same coverage for severe mental disorders as they do for physical ailments. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A Northern California woman's treatment for anorexia at a residential facility was medically necessary and must be covered by her healthcare plan, a federal appeals court has ruled in a case that could lead to more extensive benefits for those being treated for mental illnesses.

Jeanene Harlick's policy with Blue Shield of California specifically excluded coverage for residential care, the room and board expenses she incurred while at the Castlewood Treatment Center in Missouri for 10 months beginning in April 2006.

But the state Mental Health Parity Act obliges insurers to provide the same coverage for severe mental disorders as they do for physical ailments, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday.

Harlick, 37, has struggled with anorexia for more than 20 years, the court noted. The judges said her doctors recommended the Missouri program when her body weight fell below 65% of ideal, a precarious condition that required insertion of a feeding tube within a month of her arrival at Castlewood.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Very glad to hear this.

[originalpckelly]

2. Mental illnesses are physical illnesses.

Stupid me, I thought the brain was a physical thing, and an organ in our bodies. Guess I was wrong.

[cutlassmama]

3. No, you're right. It IS physical and I for one am about sick and tired of

people saying it isn't. It's about damned time that it's treated the same because it is the same.