There is broad recognition that the costs are minimal and studies continue to show untreated depression is the highest corporate cost (direct and indirect)of any expense outside of salaries.

I fail to see why people should be forced to pay for coverage for elective mutism, for example, or for selfishness disguised as narcissistic personality disorder.

The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (The “Wellstone-Domenici Parity Act”), enacted into law on October 3, 2008, will end health insurance benefits inequity between mental health/substance use disorders and medical/surgical benefits for group health plans with more than 50 employees.

Under this new law a group health plan of 50 or more employees that provides both physical and mental health/substance use benefits must ensure that all financial requirements and treatment limitations applicable to mental health/substance use disorder benefits are no more restrictive than those requirements and limitations placed on physical benefits.

This means that equity in coverage will apply to all financial requirements, including lifetime and annual dollar limits, deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket expenses, and to all treatment limitations, including frequency of treatment, number of visits, days of coverage and other similar limits.

you’re right when you say, “But the employer doesn’t have to cover mental health at all. And if there is coverage, employers can pick and choose which disorders they will cover.”

But surely, it doesn’t follow that “it does the opposite of what good public policy should be all about.”

It’s not the opposite. The opposite would be mandating the copayments and deductibles and insisting that mental health be covered. At least this law gives an employer a way to keep health insurance for a whole lot of other things and not cover mental health.