Medicare mental health parity: a high potential change that is long overdue.
Recent changes in legislation regarding mental health parity in Medicare will revolutionize payment for mental health care and delivery systems. This commentary discusses why this policy change was essential to promote adequate care for populations served by Medicare and to address expected changes in beneficiary, provider, and plan behavior as more equitable payments by Medicare are implemented.
Ostrow
Laysha
L
Human Services Research Institute, 2336 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA. lostrow@hsri.org
Manderscheid
Ronald
R
D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011445:Prospective Payment System / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014481:United States