Mandating Employer Coverage of Mental Health Care

Prologue: Roughly three-quarters of the estimated thirty-one million people who are uninsured in the United States work or are the dependents of employed persons. Given this and the fact that 64 percent of Americans currently receive their health insurance through their employer, the notion of requiring employers to provide insurance has become attractive to many policymakers. As legislators at the state and federal levels debate the benefits and problems of such a plan, one important aspect that bears discussing is the inclusion of mental health services. Here, economists Richard Frank and Thomas McGuire ask whether mental health care should be part of a broader health insurance mandate and look at the impact of such a requirement on the benefits and cost of coverage. (Spring 1990)