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A House committee yesterday advanced legislation requiring employers
to provide the same insurance coverage for mental illness as they do
for other medical services, a move insurers warn would lead to higher
medical expenses for businesses.
The House Energy and
Commerce Committee passed the bill 32-13, sending it to the floor. A
competing bill was approved last month by the Senate, which the health
insurance lobby and the Bush administration strongly support.
President
Bush has indicated he is in favor of parity for mental health care
coverage, but hasn't pledged to sign either version of the legislation.
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I HAVE not dreaded thin envelopes so much since applying to college.
They are showing up with alarming regularity lately: forms from our health insurance company inexplicably denying payment — or only partly paying — for something we believed was covered.
We read the codes and try to figure out why we are paid $30 for a $300 visit; they may as well have been written in Latin.
And when we try calling, all too often we end up in a voice mail maze.
There
is little comfort in knowing we are not alone. Mention the issue of
insurance reimbursement and almost everyone recounts a grim story about
being underpaid or overcharged or simply denied.
“Insurance is
really complicated and really expensive, so it’s never going to go
smoothly,” said Gary Claxton, vice president of the Henry J. Kaiser
Family Foundation.
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Following the death of a 4-year-old Hull girl from an overdose of
psychiatric drugs last December, state officials have set up a unique
early-warning system to spot preschoolers who may be getting excessive
medication for mental illness. In just the first three months, the
system has flagged the cases of at least 35 children for further
investigation, and the number is sure to rise.
The state Medicaid program is analyzing records of
82,900 children under age 5, looking for those taking at least three
psychiatric drugs or a single prescription of a powerful antipsychotic
drug. Mental health professionals will review the care of these
children and, if necessary, contact the prescribing doctor for an
explanation, say officials of the state insurance program for
lower-income families, known as MassHealth.
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Antidepressant drugs called
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which include Celexa,
Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft, can double the risk of gastrointestinal
bleeding, and the threat is more than six times higher if patients take
aspirin and similar pain medications at the same time as SSRIs, a new
study finds.
"Clinicians who prescribe these medications should be aware of the
potential risk and may need to consider alternatives," senior researcher
Dr. Sonal Singh, assistant professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest
University School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, N.C., said in a prepared
statement.
His team published the findings in the journal Alimentary
Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
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People who tend to the elderly, change diapers and
serve up food and drinks have the highest rates of depression among
U.S. workers.
Overall, 7 percent of full-time workers battled
depression in the past year, according to a government report available
Saturday.
Women were more likely than men to have had a major
bout of depression, and younger workers had higher rates of depression
than their older colleagues.
Almost 11 percent of personal care
workers — which includes child care and helping the elderly and
severely disabled with their daily needs — reported depression lasting
two weeks or longer.
During such episodes there is loss of
interest and pleasure, and at least four other symptoms surface,
including problems with sleep, eating, energy, concentration and
self-image.
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