Thu, Sep 25, 2008 (2:04 a.m.)

The notion that a gulf exists between physical and mental illnesses was prevalent decades ago before new methods for studying the brain were developed.

It was widely thought that people exhibiting mood swings, unexplained anxiety, depression and other such behavior could “snap out of it” if they had the will. This line of thinking led to a disparity in coverage provided by insurance companies that still exists.

After years of seeking a bipartisan bill that would satisfy mental health experts and insurance companies and other business groups, both houses of Congress this week approved legislation aimed at ending the disparity.

The bills would require a major change in group health insurance plans carried by companies employing more than 50 people. If the plans cover mental illnesses — for competitive reasons most of them do — that coverage would have to be comparable to what is offered for physical illnesses.

As it stands, a person with a physical illness is apt to have a much lower deductible than a person with a mental illness. Co-pays for seeing a mental health specialist are apt to be higher than for seeing other specialists. And mental health patients often find that only a set number of visits to a psychologist or a psychiatrist will be covered.

This is happening because many group insurance plans, covering an estimated 113 million people, are exempt from laws in most states, including Nevada, that require at least limited parity. A federal law would overcome that weakness.

The challenge for Congress is to find time before it takes its recess for the elections to work out the differences between the House and Senate bills. There are remaining questions, such as how to pay for the extra coverage publicly funded health care programs would offer, and whether to pass the legislation as one bill or as part of a larger one.

We believe Congress should make resolving these questions a priority. Otherwise, years of work to end the disparity — a polite term for discrimination — will have to start over.