Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci (R) signed a parity bill into law last month that will ensure nondiscriminatory mental health coverage for adults and children. The law also requires parity for treatment for rape victims with mental and emotional disorders.

"The new law, as well as parity laws in other states, makes a wonderful philosophic statement that mental illnesses are real, treatable, and no different from physical illnesses," said Benjamin Liptzin, M.D., the legislative representative of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (MPS), in an interview.

MPS joined a mental health coalition to lobby legislators to support the bill (S. 2036). Other members were state organizations representing patient advocates, psychologists, behavioral health systems, and community mental health centers, according to Liptzin.

The law, which goes into effect next January, requires group health plans covering 50 or more employees to provide nondiscriminatory coverage for nine biologically based mental disorders and any biologically based disorder supported by research and described in the most recent DSM.

The nine disorders are schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, paranoia and other psychotic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, delirium and dementia, and affective disorders.

Nondiscriminatory coverage means using the same annual or lifetime dollar limits or unit of service limits as are used for "physical" illnesses.

Employers with fewer than 50 employees will have until January 2002 to comply with the law. Group health plans will have to provide no fewer than 60 days of inpatient treatment and up to 24 outpatient visits for all other mental disorders listed in the DSM based on medical necessity, states the law.

Liptzin noted that the law applies only to an estimated 30 percent of the state’s insured population because it doesn’t cover Medicaid and Medicare programs and self-insurance plans.

Nondiscriminatory coverage is also required by the new law in the diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with mental, behavioral, or emotional disorders that "substantially interfere with or limit a child’s functioning and social interaction."

Examples of substantial interference or limitations cited in the law are not being able to attend school and a pattern of conduct or behavior that poses a serious danger to the child or others.

The coalition also successfully advocated for parity in substance abuse benefits when treatment is provided for co-occurring mental disorders.

The full text of the parity law (S.2036) is available at <www.state.ma.us/legis/bills/st02036.htm>.