Further Support for Mental Health Parity Law and Mandatory Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Benefits

17 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2012

See all articles by Stacey A. Tovino

Stacey A. Tovino

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law

Date Written: February 1, 2012

Abstract

In this Article, I provide additional support for my recent proposal (All Illnesses Are (Not) Created Equal: Reforming Federal Mental Health Insurance Law, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Vol. 49, forthcoming 2012.) to extend federal mental health parity law and mandatory mental health and substance use disorder benefits to all public healthcare program beneficiaries and private health plan members. I begin by examining health-related doctrine outside the context of mental health insurance law, including disability discrimination law, civil rights and human rights law, health information confidentiality law, healthcare reform law, and child and adult health and welfare law, and I find that not one of these laws provides inferior legal protections or benefits for individuals with mental illness. I also analyze international, national, state, and professional definitions of “health” that are used in a range of clinical, legal, and social contexts and find that these definitions uniformly fail to subordinate mental health to physical health and that these definitions identify both physical wellness and mental wellness as equal contributors to overall health. I further contextualize remaining legal distinctions between physical and mental illness in terms of the centuries-old mind-body problem, which continues to animate health law, philosophy of the mind, and other legal and philosophical doctrine. Finally, I suggest that the stigma associated with mental illness may be serving as a final — and perhaps most formidable — obstacle to complete mental health parity.

Keywords: mental health parity law, mental health benefits, substance use disorder benefits, public healthcare programs, private health insurers, health insurance law, mental health

JEL Classification: I10, I18, I19, K32

Suggested Citation

Tovino, Stacey Ann, Further Support for Mental Health Parity Law and Mandatory Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Benefits (February 1, 2012). Annals of Health Law, Vol. 21, p. 147, 2012, UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2005950

Stacey Ann Tovino (Contact Author)

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law ( email )

4505 South Maryland Parkway
Box 451003
Las Vegas, NV 89154
United States

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