Question

The Affordable Care Act has expanded mental health and substance abuse benefits to 62 million people and is an addition to the Mental Health Parity Act of 2008. The changes and additions require mental health coverage in small group and individual plans where people were not previously covered.

What is the biggest benefit of these changes? What major challenges are still associated with mental health coverage?

Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

*Affordable care act (ACA) or Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is to improve the accessibility and quality of the US healthcare system
*Write some protection of healthcare customers insurance twice and insurance cost benefits for those 65 and older in a poor apartment for providing healthcare benefits

The ACA works by:

-expanding Medicaid to 138% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL)

-the creation of health insurance exchanges for people who do not qualify for public coverage or employer coverage

-Individual mandate

-employer penalties

The Individual mandate for ACA includes :

-requires US citizens and legal residents to have qualifying health coverage

-those without coverage pay a tax penalty of the greater of $695 per year up to a maximum of three times that amount per family or 2.5% per household

The Affordable Care Act will provide one of the largest expansions of mental health and substance use disorder coverage in a generation to 62 million people and is an addition to the Mental Health Parity Act of 2008. Beginning in 2014 under the law, all new small group and individual market plans will be required to cover ten Essential Health Benefit categories, including mental health and substance use disorder services, and will be required to cover them at parity with medical and surgical benefits.   The Affordable Care Act builds on the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA, or the federal parity law), which requires group health plans and insurers that offer mental health and substance use disorder benefits to provide coverage that is comparable to coverage for general medical and surgical care.

The Affordable Care Act and its implementing regulations, building on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, will expand coverage of mental health and substance use disorder benefits and federal parity protections by:

(1) including mental health and substance use disorder benefits in the Essential Health Benefits

(2) applying federal parity protections to mental health and substance use disorder benefits in the individual and small group markets

(3) providing more Americans with access to quality health care that includes coverage for mental health and substance use disorder services.

The Affordable Care Act will expand insurance coverage to a projected 27 million previously uninsured Americans through access to private health insurance in the individual and small group markets, the Marketplaces, and Medicaid. Essential Health Benefits, including mental health and substance use disorder services subject to parity requirements, will be available to this newly covered population.

*Challenges still associated with mental health care

Through the Affordable Care Act, 32.1 million Americans will gain access to coverage that includes mental health and/or substance use disorder benefits that comply with federal parity requirements and an additional 30.4 million Americans who currently have some mental health and substance abuse benefits will benefit from the federal parity protections.

In 2013, a person with a bipolar diagnosis was unable to obtain private individual health insurance in most states. The same was true for people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, anorexia, alcoholism, and a variety of other serious mental or behavioral illnesses.

Through the Affordable Care Act, there is an increased role of government requires individuals to buy insurance or pay fines.Through the essential health benefits of the Affordable Care Act that includes the coverage of Mental Health and substance-use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment (this includes counseling and psychotherapy)