Barriers to Accessing Mental Health Parity Benefits and Quality Mental Health Services. Lessons from the Implementation of New York State's Mental Health Parity Law

Timothy's Law, New York State's mental health parity law, became effective in January 2007. The law extended mental health benefits and provided mental health coverage parity for employees of fully-insured companies and their dependents in New York State. The objective of this qualitative evaluation was to assess New Yorkers' awareness of their expanded benefits and to examine New Yorkers' access to mental health benefits and quality mental health services.

The evaluation consisted of confidential, in-depth, semi-structured telephone interviews. Eligibility criteria included the receipt of health insurance coverage from a fully-insured company, and the utilization of mental health services on a monthly basis at minimum, for a period of six months or more, since January 2007. A total of 54 participants were interviewed from October 2008 to May 2009; 32 were adults with mental illness and 22 were parents of children with mental illness. The majority of participants were not aware of the benefits mandated by Timothy's Law and less than 50% of participants were aware of their benefits expansion. Participants reported barriers to accessing mental health benefits and quality mental health services due to poor health plan communication, poor mental health provider quality, low “customary and reasonable” reimbursement for out-of-network mental health services, and additional effort necessary to access mental health compared to general health coverage. While these barriers must be addressed on a policy level, mental health service providers are in a position to educate their clients of their rights and enhance their access to quality mental health care.