[ OUR OPINION ]
An inequity in health coverage
MENTAL illness has been largely slighted when it comes to coverage in health insurance plans, often to the detriment of people who suffer from them. Requiring health insurers to view mental and physical ailments equally would greatly increase access to treatment.
THE ISSUE Mental illnesses are treated as the stepchild in limited health-insurance benefits.
Congress is considering such legislation and President Bush is expected to endorse the idea in a speech today.
More than 30 million Americans suffer from mental disorders, some as severe as schizophrenia and similar ailments that can be debilitating. Others are diagnosed with less formidable difficulties that can be controlled with medication. The costs are personal as well as economic. Besides the estimated $69 billion spent in 1998 in direct treatment expenses, the U.S. economy lost $79 billion due to lower or lost worker productivity, according to a 1999 surgeon general's report on mental health.
About 84 percent of Americans have some sort of health-insurance coverage -- mostly through private plans provided by their employers -- but the adequacy of the mental-health benefits in those policies is "extremely variable," the report said. In Hawaii, parity in coverage for mental illnesses also varies from plan to plan with most containing some limits. The state Legislature has been lobbied annually by mental-health advocates to increase requirements, but changes have been slow and piecemeal.
Opponents to a federal law fear that it would impose too burdensome a cost on employers, but studies have estimated that premiums would increase as little as 0.9 percent. Legislation has yet to be worked out specifically, but provisions may allow employer exemptions if costs go up more than 1 to 3 percent.
Parity is needed if Americans are to receive proper treatment for mental illnesses. For example, health plans generally will cover drugs for physical diseases with a patient co-payment of about $4 to $5. However, co-payment for an antidepressive drug may run as high as $50. Patients are often allowed unlimited visits to a doctor for physical problems, but are restricted to just a few sessions with a psychiatrist when continuous therapy may be needed.
New research and understanding about brain chemistry have disproved many old notions about mental illnesses and treatment. Further, the stigma attached to mental disorders has ebbed in recent years and, as a result, people are less hesitant about seeking treatment. Moreover, many physical disorders have been linked to mental afflictions and treatments often go hand in hand.
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Don’t let bowls slip away again
FOOTBALL fans in Hawaii were frustrated last December when their excellent home team was left stranded on the island during the bowl season. The University of Hawaii is not likely to go unrewarded again in the near future. The NCAA has lifted a moratorium on new bowl games, which seems sure to result in at least one post-season game at Aloha Stadium.
THE ISSUE A moratorium on new football bowl games ends, raising hopes in Hawaii.
Complacency seemed to have caused the Aloha Bowl and its tandem bill for three years, the Oahu Bowl, to leave Hawaii after their 2000 doubleheader. Stadium attendance in the year when the UH team did not qualify had been embarrassing, and the state had refused to continue making up for the shortfall.
Although the Hawaii Rainbows last year recorded a fine 9-3 record, its failure to win the Western Athletic Conference championship outright left it with no bowl invitation because of the traveling distance to mainland bowls for Hawaii fans. That disappoint- ment was likely to recur after successful seasons in the future.
The NCAA's decision last week to lift its moratorium on new bowl games is drawing interest from three groups in organizing a bowl game in Honolulu. The most prominent group is comprised of ESPN, the WAC and Conference USA. The game would pit Hawaii or -- in the event of a losing season at UH -- another WAC team against a Conference USA team with a winning record.
In the years that the Warriors qualify for the bowl, it is virtually guaranteed success, with good television ratings and a sizable crowd. Hawaii officials should concern themselves with the down years, when a game between other teams is likely to draw to the islands only the hardiest of fans from the mainland.
Local fans were unwilling in those years to pay $50 for a single ticket to a game between unheralded visiting teams. The state contributed $100,000 to the Oahu and Aloha bowls in 2000 but made no offer the following year, so the planned Christmas doubleheader was canceled. The Oahu Bowl became the Seattle Bowl and the Aloha Bowl was not played.
The return of a Honolulu bowl game is something to cheer about, but it also is important to tourism. TV exposure of Hawaii's outdoors during the Christmas season is a valuable marketing tool. The Hawaii Tourism Authority should be prepared to lend its assistance in those years that the Warriors drop the ball.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
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