STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS

Re "9 Million Gaining Upgraded Benefit for Mental Care" (front page, Jan. 1):

Though the federal government has instituted a policy of "parity" for
federal employees' mental health benefits, as long as there remain
companies that manage the access to mental health services, the benefits of
parity will not truly be realized.

Patients with non-psychiatric medical illness are not denied access to care
even if the care is chronic. Nor are they shunted into the public sector to
receive care if the care gets too expensive for the insurance company.

The concept of limiting access to care for patients with mental and
substance abuse conditions is simply generated by bias and stigma. The idea
persists that all these people need to do is pull themselves out of it.

Kenneth R. Silk, M.D. Ann Arbor, Mich., Jan. 1, 2001

The writer is chairman of the Subcommittee on Universal Access to Health
Care, American Psychiatric Association.