> ... So if you could go see the doctor once a week for physical complaints, you could now go that often for mental health complaints.

Nice :-)

> My insurance used to provide partial coverage for 20 visits per year to a therapist, but when parity hit, they raised that to 50.

Even nicer :-)

That really is terrific :-)

Because of where I'm situated in life... It was basically a matter of selecting between $300-$900 health insurance (for 12 months) which fulfilled my visa requirements or... about $300 per month for a 'decent' policy. (the latter being well out of my price range).

Visa requirements are mostly about expatriation of remains and hospital coverage in the case of emergency (so being hit by a bus is the thought and substantial exclusionary criteria on neurology / psychiatry / dermatology / optometry / dentistry / reproductive issues / pre-existing conditions etc etc etc). I went with the best one of those I could find (I have pre-existings that haven't required treatment in the last 6 months that are covered - important for me because if i damage my feet / legs there is a risk I could never walk again). Worst case: I'm landed with $1,000 in hospital bills for coverage up to $100,000 PER CONDITION. And... Only $160 surcharge (across the board rather than per condition - which of course makes a substantive difference) before I only have a 20% co-pay (and I pay a max of $1,000 across the board rather than per condition). But... Emergency services really...

$300 per month... Not affordable for me. That seemed to be the 'entry level' insurance option that included mental health care and neurology and stuff. Out of my bracket. Have to say kinda impressed with the 'charity care' in this state (though not terribly fond of the name).

I don't expect treatment parity will alter policies like mine (that have major exclusion criteria built in)... But I'm really glad to hear that it is making a more straight-forward difference to the health insurance of (at least some) people here. That is good. I guess I was worrying it would result in no practical changes, really... Nice to hear otherwise.