Michigan Votes Forum

I've found it interesting that they limit coverage for mental health issues. You have to pay a higher co-pay (after you reach a deductible), and even then, you are limited to the number of visits in a year. However, a visit to the psychiatrist only runs $115 cash in my town and a visit to the doctor (just the doctor part) runs $145 and up, preventative care visit was $175 and then they charged extra for the nurse to poke you! ($20 each!). For my 14 year old to get his booster shots it was $675 by the time they were done! However, to take a family member in for a medication check is $115 at the psychiatrist, but we have to pay a 50% greater copay and pay down on the "specialist" deductible first. It's just silly.

 I'm not sure how physician vs. psychiatrist cost are relevant.  The fact is, by forcing insurance companies to expand coverage, cost will be increase for everyone.  Under the logic that is all medical so why shouldn't mental health be covered, then we should mandate dental, optical and hearing aids too.

 imagine how hard it will be to get mental health care when the government institutes "universal" health care and mental health care is defined as being sent into a governmental health care institute. in other words, locked up in a 'looney bin'. 

Sec. 3406s. An insurer that delivers, issues for delivery, or

renews in this state on or after January 1, 2010 an expense-

 incurred hospital, medical, or surgical policy or certificate and a

 health maintenance organization that issues or renews a group or

 individual contract on or after January 1, 2010 shall provide that

 cost-sharing requirements and benefit or service limitations for

 outpatient mental health and outpatient substance abuse services do

 not place a greater financial burden on the insured or enrollee and

are not more restrictive than those requirements and limitations

 for outpatient medical services.

Sounds reasonable to me.

 you think that telling a business what it can charge for it's services is reasonable?

Agreed. It has been proven beyond any doubt that the vast majority of mentallly ill persons are capable of contributing to society provided they get access to the proper care. This legislation should not only cover private insurers, but also government-run health plans, too. They should not be allowed to just dump mental health clients onto Medicaid and then force them to choose between trying to better themselves and getting their services. It is a God-given right for people to try to better themselves, and that includes the mentally ill. Like any other illness, there are varying degrees of mental illness. Pass this bill now, and put in an amendment for government-run health plans, too. The government-run plans should not be allowed to just dump people into Medicaid unless there is no other recourse. They should be forced to shoulder some of the burden for those not eligible for Medicaid.

 is the government mandating how we treat mentally ill people really what you want?

What I really want is to see the rights of the mentally ill be protected and respected. Not everyone who is mentally ill is a homicidal maniac like Adolf Hitler and his cronies. History is filled with examples of mentally ill people who have done great things. I offer you Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Charles M. Schulz, James Garner, among others, as proof of this. Nobody, mentally ill or not, should have to choose between health care and trying to better themselves. That's why I favor any legislation requiring mental health parity in both private insurance and government-run health plans. I don't think it's fair to the overall taxpayer and to the consumer of such services to just be dumped on the state's Medicaid lap. Medicaid, like SSI and SSDI, was intended for those who really needed it - those who are so bad off that they cannot otherwise function in society. It was never meant to be a hand-out. And do you know what happens when you help the mentally ill who are capable of being helped? You create taxpayers and insurance premium payers out of them by allowing them to fulfill their potential, which in turn generates more revenue for government and more revenue for the insurance companies, helping bring down costs to everyone. When you dump them on Medicaid and then tell them to choose between mental health services and bettering themselves, where is the incentive for them to do so?

 that incentive needs to come from within, not from government. all those people you listed helped themselves.

Government can give the incentive a push in the right direction.

Agreed, but the current Medicaid and health care insurance laws have thrown an artificial roadblock in people's way. People want a hand-up, not a hand-out.

 yes, it can. but it shouldn't. that is not the job of government.

I have a feeling I'm fighting a losing battle with you Bugman. I'm sure that if you had your way, we'd take all the mentally ill, either line them up in front of a firing squad or send them to a concentration slave labor camp to be worked to starvation or gassed in the showers. That's what the did. Bugman, this is America. We don't line up people in front of firing squads or send them to concentration camps to die from forced labor, starvation or the gas chambers. You are operating out of ignorance, fear, and whatever motivates you concerning the mentally ill. For far too long, the mentally ill have had their legitimate rights abridged by people who think like you.

With that, I no longer wish to post here.

 Jennybegone, it's too bad that you take bugman's replies so personally.  In reading the posts I saw nothing that indicated he wanted any harm to come of the mentally ill, and, in fact, it was you who made the personal attack on him by accusing him of wanting to shoot the mentally ill.  That is not the way intelligent discussion is supposed to work.  The problem is that you refuse to actually listen to what he says because once you hear he disagrees with you that the government should force insurance companies (at gunpoint) to include mental health coverage in medical coverage, you get defensive and close your brain. 

I agree that the insurance companies would end up making more money but not for the same reason.  They would lobby their way into the actual writing of the law so they would be able to charge everyone who buys health insurance even more than the actual cost of including mental health coverage, which would be significant on its own.  The end result would be that less people would be able to afford health care because of increased costs and less people would have coverage.

No one in favor of this law has explained to me why dental, optical and hearing should not also be covered since they are all medical issues too.

Dental, optical and hearing coverage are not the issue.

Also, the bill is not to force insurance companies to provide mental health coverage, most of them do.

The bill, as I read it, is to make outpatient services for mental illness coverage no more costly to the insured than outpatient medical service. In other words, make the deductibles and copays the same rate.

What is this (gunpoint) thing? We're talking about health insurance, not warfare.

 anytime the government mandates anything, it does so with the intention of backing up that mandate with force. men with guns.