Beronio, K., Glied, S., & Frank, R. (2014). How the Affordable Care Act and Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act greatly expand coverage of behavioral health care. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 41(4), 410-428.
In this article, the researchers reflect on the topic of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the coverage for mental health benefits. Additionally, diverse aspects regarding this coverage such as its limits, uninsurance, incompleteness, and overall benefits are depicted in the study. The authors analyze various criteria of enhancing the expansions in coverage in the ACA and define the main ways of its affection on mental health and substance use treatment. Attention is paid to MHPAEA and its intersection with the Affordable Care Act as well. In this case, the health benefits and health plans of both MHPAEA and ACA are compared to one another and the discrepancies or differences are defined. Moreover, in this research article, the authors estimate the additional provisions that aim to provide the implementation of parity. Therefore, diverse perspectives of the issue concerning the impact of such requirements, their adequacy, risk adjustment, reinsurance, and coverage provision for small groups make a considerable part of the study.
Le Cook, B., Flores, M., Zuvekas, S. H., Newhouse, J. P., Hsu, J., Sonik, R., Lee, E., & Fung, V. (2020). The impact of Medicare’s mental health cost-sharing parity on use of mental health care services. Health Affairs, 39(5), 819-827.
The article consists of information about the impact of Medicare’s mental health cost-sharing parity on the use of mental health care services. The authors conduct the research utilizing diverse methods of analysis to draw conclusions about the increase or decrease of mental health services’ usage depending on the cost-sharing parity, consider the issue from a historical perspective. The list of authors includes representatives of diverse professions: economists, mental health providers, managers, and directors of various departments; therefore, the study on economic Medicare beneficiaries can be conducted on a top-notch level. In addition to the main topic of interest, the study provides the readers with data on the impact of cost-sharing activities on the quality of mental health services. The definition of the strength and weaknesses of those qualities make a considerable part of the study. Moreover, the researchers explain the specifics of central methods and strategies utilized in the study, their results, as well as limitations and traverses faced during the fulfillment of the research.
Nathenson, R. A. (2020). Coverage mandates and market dynamics: employer, insurer and patient responses to parity laws. Health Economics, Policy and Law, 15(2), 173-195.
The article is concentrated on mental health as a considerable feature of the Affordable Care Act. However, the author being a researcher in the field of policy attracts attention generally to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and looks at the parity in coverage from its perspective. In addition, he compares the levels of mental health care services utilization before and after the implementation of new parity laws and concludes the laws’ benefits depending on the context. A considerable part of the article is provided to the background of those parity laws on both state and federal levels. Moreover, the author conducts his research by utilizing an empirical strategy, fully depicts his action plan and research methods in the corresponding subsections of the article. One of the most important examination outcomes depicted in the reading is the utilization of mental health services among self-insured and fully insured populations, the division of such populations based on the geographic factor as well.
Reference
Beronio, K., Glied, S., & Frank, R. (2014). How the Affordable Care Act and Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act greatly expand coverage of behavioral health care. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 41(4), 410-428.
Le Cook, B., Flores, M., Zuvekas, S. H., Newhouse, J. P., Hsu, J., Sonik, R., Lee, E., & Fung, V. (2020). The impact of Medicare’s mental health cost-sharing parity on use of mental health care services. Health Affairs, 39(5), 819-827.
Nathenson, R. A. (2020). Coverage mandates and market dynamics: employer, insurer and patient responses to parity laws. Health Economics, Policy and Law, 15(2), 173-195.