How ironic! The Tribune editorial board believes that “an active sex life is crucial to one’s `emotional and physical well-being’ ” and consequently supports “insurance plans–even taxpayer-funded ones–. . .” covering Viagra (Editorial, June 5).
Actually, the Tribune has never much cared about people’s emotional well-being since it has never supported mental-health insurance parity in its editorials. Brain diseases such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, panic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depression obviously have an impact on one’s emotional and physical well-being. Yet the board hasn’t seen fit to recommend that insurance plans stop discriminating against these devastating illnesses by providing the same level of inpatient and outpatient health care that they provide for equally debilitating physical illnesses.
With mental-health insurance parity, millions of Americans who suffer from these brain disorders would finally receive adequate, affordable and timely treatment, and their family members would finally have some sense of “emotional well-being.”
