The Fund supports networks of state health policy decision makers to help identify, inspire, and inform policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund supports two state leadership programs for legislative and executive branch state government officials committed to improving population health.
The Fund identifies and shares policy ideas and analysis to advance state health leadership, strong primary care, and sustainable health care costs.
Keep up with news and updates from the Milbank Memorial Fund. And read the latest blogs from our thought leaders, including Fund President Christopher F. Koller.
The Fund publishes The Milbank Quarterly, as well as reports, issues briefs, and case studies on topics important to health policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund is is a foundation that works to improve population health and health equity.
March 2006 (Volume 84)
Quarterly Article
M. Susan Ridgely
M. Audrey Burnam
Colleen L. Barry
Howard H. Goldman
Kevin D. Hennessy
December 2024
Dec 19, 2024
Back to The Milbank Quarterly
The government often uses the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program as a model for both public and private health policy choices. In 2001, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) implemented full parity, requiring that FEHB carriers offer mental health and substance abuse benefits equal to general medical benefits. OPM instructed carriers to alter their benefit design but permitted them to determine whether they would manage care and what structures or processes they would use. This article reports on the experience of 156 carriers and the government-wide BlueCross and BlueShield Service Benefit Plan. Carriers dropped cost-restraining benefit limits. A smaller percentage also changed the management of the benefit, but these changes affected the care of many enrollees, making the overall parity effect noteworthy.
Author(s): M. Susan Ridgely; M. Audrey Burnam; Colleen L. Barry; Howard H. Goldman; Kevin D. Hennessy
Keywords: parity; managed care; behavioral health; health insurance
Read on Wiley Online Library
Read on JSTOR
Volume 84, Issue 1 (pages 201–218) DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0009.2006.00443.x Published in 2006
