Health reform means busier mental-health centers

More than 18,000 people in Northern Colorado will seek help for a mental illness in 2014 – including many who, before the inauguration of the Affordable Care Act, did not have health insurance.

Under the health-insurance reform, effective Jan. 1, individual and small-group health plans must cover 10 essential benefits, which now include mental illness and substance use disorder services. These plans must meet health and substance use parity, as defined in the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, meaning coverage for mental health and substance abuse services generally cannot be more restrictive than those…