Effects of the Vermont Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Law

Table III.6: Spending for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, 1996-1999

  Before
Parity
After
Parity
Percent
Change
Mental Health (MH)
Average MH spending per member per quarter      
   Any MH services $13.98 $14.25 1.9
   Inpatient/residential MH services $1.04 $2.00 92.3**
   Partial MH services # $0.15 --**
   Outpatient MH services $12.94 $12.10 -6.5**
Average MH spending per user per quarter      
   Any MH services $445.68 $420.81 -5.6
   Inpatient/residential MH services $33.74 $59.16 75.3*
   Partial MH services # $4.61 --**
   Outpatient MH services $411.94 $357.04 -13.3***
Average unit cost per MH service      
   Average spending per stay $4,246.54 $4,134.16 -2.6
   Average spending per day $627.31 $643.95 2.7
   Average spending per visit $82.73 $74.16 -10.4***
MH spending as a percentage of total spending 2.31 2.31 0.0
Substance Abuse (SA)
Average SA spending per member per quarter      
   Any SA services $3.80 $2.03 -46.6***
   Inpatient/residential SA services $1.89 $0.60 -68.3***
   Partial SA services $0.30 $0.78 160.0
   Outpatient SA services $1.61 $0.96 -40.4***
Average SA spending per user per quarter      
   Any SA services $827.25 $600.45 -27.4*
   Inpatient/residential SA services $430.96 $155.40 -63.9***
   Partial SA services $73.15 $156.88 114.5*
   Outpatient SA services $323.14 $288.16 -10.8
Average unit cost per SA service      
   Average spending per stay $4,229.63 $3,039.91 -28.1***
   Average spending per day $468.36 $335.89 -28.3**
   Average spending per visit $74.66 $72.88 -2.4
SA spending as a percentage of total spending 0.37 0.24 -33.7***
Source: Original analysis of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont claims/encounter data by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
# Less than 0.005 dollars
-- Could not be calculated due to small baseline number
* Significantly different from zero at the .10 level, two-tailed test.
** Significantly different from zero at the .05 level, two-tailed test.
*** Significantly different from zero at the .01 level, two-tailed test.

Previous | Table of Contents | Next