The iaedp Symposium 2012 Offers Thought-provoking Review on Mental Health Parity

PEKIN, Ill., Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the most crucial issues today among those who suffer critically from eating disorders and other mental health conditions  is insurance coverage for residential treatment.  California lawyer Lisa Kantor, who in August 2011 won the landmark eating disorder case Harlick v. Blue Shield, will share her experiences and opinions during a Symposium 2012 preconference session called "Mental Health Parity: What Does It Really Mean?" on March 21, 2012 in Charleston, South Carolina. This special session, held at the Charleston Marriott, is available to Symposium 2012 attendees as well as to the public.  The cost for the 3-hour session is $95.  (Register www.iaedp.com.)

Kantor's devotion to justice for people with disabilities and chronic disease landed her at the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, creating one of the most influential health insurance decisions of our time. Kantor, who is one of the few lawyers in the country forcing insurers to comply with mental health parity legislation, will discuss the impact of the Harlick v. Blue Shield decision on the availability of insurance coverage for those seeking treatment for eating disorders, both in California and the country, and the role of the Federal Mental Health Parity Act. 

On August 26, 2011, the Ninth Circuit issued the landmark decision in Harlick v. Blue Shield, holding that the California Mental Health Parity statute requires insurance plans to cover all medically necessary treatment for eating disorders.  In January, Kantor won Burton v. Blue Shield of California, requiring Blue Shield to pay for residential treatment of the plaintiff suffering from depressive disorder and panic disorder.  "The Burton court is the first district court to cite Harlick as precedent," said Ms.  Kantor, a founding partner in the Los Angeles law firm Kantor & Kantor LLP. "The court's decisive approach in the Burton case, requiring residential treatment even though the policy expressly excluded coverage, is a clear indication of how district courts in California and hopefully around the country, will decide eating disorder cases against insurers."

Lisa Kantor has practiced law for over thirty years, recently becoming the country's premier advocate for patients with eating disorders who have been denied benefits by their health insurance carrier.

To register for Symposium 2012, visit www.iaedp.com.

Contact: Susie Lomelino/Sarah Drew
[email protected]/[email protected]
214.269.2092/972.248.9777

SOURCE iaedp