Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • July 9, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 21 OTHER VOICES Mental health insurance coverage is at risk By Kate Mattias M illions of Americans live with mental health and substance-use conditions. Unfortunately, they have struggled to receive the same level of care for their mental illness and substance-use disorders as for their other healthcare conditions. Until the last decade, they often faced blatantly discriminatory practices when purchasing insurance. Many Americans — including thousands in our state — still could not access mental health and sub- stance-abuse coverage because of restrictions on pre-existing conditions and unreasonable limits on care. The National Alliance on Mental Illness in Connecticut (NAMI Connecticut), part of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, successfully fought for passage of a federal parity law that helped im- prove coverage for mental health and addiction treatment. And locally our fight continues for improved imple- mentation of Connecticut's parity law. Although Senate Bill 384, which sought to strengthen monitoring of Connecticut's parity legislation, was defeated at the last moment in the past legislative session, we continue to work with other advocates to make this a reality. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) elimi- nated many of the inequities in health insurance by prohibiting discrimina- tion against people with pre-existing conditions. The ACA also required plans in the individual market to cover mental health and substance-use services. Consequently, millions were able to get — and afford — the mental health care they needed. The law currently protects people with pre-existing conditions. However, the federal government has advanced changes that roll back consumer protections. These changes would open the door to discriminatory health insurance plans and weaken protec- tions for pre-existing conditions — like mental illness — that would jeopardize mental health care and undercut insurance plans that provide fair coverage. A new report released by NAMI, "Mental Health Parity at Risk," looks at mental health and substance-use cov- erage before the ACA and shows just how dangerous it could be to remove these consumer protections, taking us back to a time when it was acceptable for insurers to treat mental health and substance-use conditions inequitably. For example, before the ACA was passed, over half of states had no requirement that individual-market plans cover or even offer mental health services. And before the ACA, if a per- son with a mental health or substance- use condition could get insurance and afford it, they often faced limits on outpatient visits, yearly or lifetime caps on coverage and limits on cover- age for mental health medications. Now, the federal government has proposed a rule to expand the sale of short-term limited duration plans, a type of health insurance plan that does not have basic consumer protections. These plans would not be required to cover pre-existing conditions like mental illness or cover mental health and substance-use care. And earlier this month, the Department of Justice announced that it will not defend the ACA's consumer protections for pre- existing conditions. The bottom line is that weakening insurance protections hurts people with mental illness. We call on legisla- tors and the insurance commissioner to protect our citizens that live with mental health and substance-use conditions by maintaining consumer protections and not allow plans that fall short, such as short-term plans, to be sold in Connecticut. Kate Mattias is the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Connecticut, which provides support and education programs and has advocated for individuals with mental health conditions in the state for over 30 years. HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM POLL LAST WEEK'S POLL RESULT: Is CT's goal to divert 60% of its waste through recycling smart public policy? NEXT WEEK'S POLL: Does your workplace have a plan in place in the event of a mass shooting? To vote, go online to hartfordbusiness.com BIZ BOOKS Why working less produces more By Jim Pawlak "The Hard Break — The Case for a 24/6 Lifestyle" by Aaron Edelheit (Ideapress Publishing, $24.95). "My name is Aaron and I was a workaholic." Early in his career, Edel- heit's career mantra was "work harder." When problems arose, he worked even harder. Always doubling down on work destroyed relationships with his business partner and the woman he loved. As work consumed time, time consumed him. One day, he stood in the shower drenched with water and depression's tears and fears. He realized something was wrong with him, but he didn't know what it was. He didn't make time to find out because the business wasn't performing to his too-lofty standards. Serendipity arrived, in the form of appendicitis. During his recovery from surgery, Edelheit was forced to signifi- cantly dial back his 24/7 schedule. "Idle" time shifted his thoughts to introspec- tion. He realized that "more hours worked did not equal more success." He began to understand that the econom- ic law of diminishing returns applied to hours worked, too. In fact, increasing hours worked resulted in negative pro- ductivity. Why? Think of the brain and the body as a smartphone; if it's not recharged periodically, it ceases to function. Edelheit cites a World War I study of British muni- tions workers to make the productivity point: When workers put in more than 50 hours a week, output rose at a decreasing rate, and there was no difference in output if a person worked 56 or 70 hours. Munition workers on a six-day schedule produced more than those working seven days. Why can't we "stop" working? The Zeigarnik effect. Psychologically, there's a tendency to dwell upon unfinished tasks. Since there's always something left unfinished at work, the tasks remain in our consciousness — much like the battery-draining apps running in the background on our smartphones. Subsequent research on the effect found that students, who interspersed study sessions with un- related activities, remembered study material better than those who com- pleted study sessions without a break. Business people study business. The Bottom Line: 24/6 increases productivity and reduces stress. 24.6% No 75.4% Yes READER COMMENTS: "If residents are willing to pay for it. It's environmentally good policy and it needs to be economically sustainable." "As long as there are markets to sell the recycled waste. Otherwise, it is a better use to incinerate the waste and produce energy." "Yes it is, however, with China reducing the amount of recycled materials it will accept, it might make it impossible to reach this goal without finding new outsource locations." Kate Mattias Jim Pawlak Book Review

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