This would appear to suggest that insurance companies as well as many others still do not understand the issues or the facts surrounding mental illness or the information just isn’t getting through. For example, mental health problems can occur as an isolated case in relation to a specific set of circumstances and once treated, will never happen again, some types of mental illness are episodic in nature, and most people who seek help for mental health problems do go on to lead full and normal lives. Probably the most important point is that just because someone is suffering from a mental health problem doesn’t automatically mean they pose a greater risk than anyone else. Insurance companies calculate their insurance premiums on the level of perceived risk, which is supposedly based on medical evidence. Perhaps this is the area that needs to be addressed.

It isn’t all doom and gloom though, people do seem to be waking up to the fact that something has gone wrong somewhere and that people with mental illness deserve to have the same rights as anyone else. Over in the USA for example, a study by the Mental Health America Association found that the majority of Americans believe that people with mental health problems should no longer be subjected to discrimination by health insurance companies. In fact, some 96% of Americans believe that health insurance should also cover mental health. Here in the UK the government are aware of the issues surrounding mental health and exclusion and are tightening up legislation to protect people from unfair discrimination.

This entry was posted on January 4, 2008 at 3:49 am and is filed under Health Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.