Self-reported Unmet Need for Mental Health Care After California's Parity Legislation

Cover: Self-reported Unmet Need for Mental Health Care After California's Parity Legislation

Published in: Psychiatric Services, v. 61, no 9, Sept. 2010, p. 861

California's mental health parity law requires private health insurance plans to offer mental health coverage as part of health benefit packages and eliminate mental health benefit limit and cost-sharing requirements that are less comprehensive than those for general medical conditions after July 2000). Parity legislation applied to the privately insured, but it did not result in increased use of mental health care services in this group. Maybe more important, parity legislation cannot address the substantial disparities in mental health care utilization by insurance status.

Document Details

  • Copyright: American Psychiatric Association
  • Publisher: American Psychiatric Publishing Inc.
  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Pages: 1
  • Document Number: EP-201001-13
  • Year: 2010
  • Series: External Publications

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