National Nurses United

Mental Parity_Temp 11/24/09 6:53 PM Page 10 MentalBlock A new federal law intended to ensure equal access to mental healthcare falls short, doing little to help patients overcome the great obstacles they often face when seeking care. By Heather Boerner N ancy sharby has had more run-ins with her health insurance than she cares to remember. But none were for her own well-being. All were for her children, two of whom were diagnosed with bipolar disorder as teenagers. There was the time her daughter had a psychotic break and Sharby found out her insurance only offered $500 a year in outpatient psychiatry appointments—not nearly enough for a girl who w as angry, unpredictable, and using drugs to manage her symptoms. There was the time she fought her son's admission to a local hospital because she knew her insurance wouldn't cover the staggering cost of inpatient treatment there. She relented when the insurance representative assured her the hospital was in her network. But her anger flared again when another representative informed her days later that they didn't plan to co it after all. As she ver suspected, the hospital was out of network. Then there was the time when she got a bill for a psy chiatrist her son had seen in an inpatient program. While the hospital was covered, the psychiatrist was not. She marveled at her insurer's gall, implying she had taken her son out of network when she couldn't possibly have taken him anywhere. He was in a locked ward. All along, Sharby called on the help of friends, consulted with the group Families for Depression Awareness, carefully read her health plan's fine print, and developed the capacity to "yell and scream" until her kids got help. Without that, she's fairly certain they'd be dead today. "If I didn't know the people I know, I never would have gotten the services I did for my kids," said Sharby. "Both my kids have told me that if I didn't do what I did for them, they'd be dead or psy chotic now, because they were very, very sick. You can't advocate for yourself when you're psychotic. But even if you're not psychotic, you still can't fight for yourself if you don't know the system." Many Americans know that the healthcare system is broken, and it's even worse when it comes to accessing mental healthcare. Mental health is not a routine part of every health plan and even for 10 REGISTERED NURSE W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G OCTOBER 2009

• Cover