Mental health coverage not costly

WASHINGTON – A new study involving federal employees has found that providing better mental health coverage does not lead to an explosion in insurance costs, a potentially important development in an old national debate over what insurance plans should cover.

The study, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined seven federal health plans in the years after 1999, when President Bill Clinton ordered companies in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program to provide coverage for mental health and substance abuse that is comparable to that for other health conditions.

Researchers found that, contrary to the predictions of some policy-makers and analysts, the use and cost of such services did not increase, compared with the experience of private health plans with less generous mental health benefits – provided that new benefits were offered under managed-care plans.

“These results are important, because it means that it is affordable for all of us who have health insurance to have better protection in the event that we might need to use mental health or substance abuse services,” said Howard Goldman, the lead researcher.