Mentally ill struggle with lesser insurance; Mental health parity being debated in Congress

Mental illness threw David Harkins' life into reverse.

At 19, he was managing the basketball team at Florida College, where he received his associate degree in 1971. He got married, had children, became a computer support specialist and bought a home.

"Now I'm back to washing towels for a living," said Harkins, of Tampa, who is 55 and living in a private dormitory with a college student. "I make less than $9 an hour."

Harkins is bipolar, relying on prescription drugs to control his severe mood swings.

But because Florida is one of a handful of states that allow health insurers to cover mental illnesses at lower levels than they cover physical disorders, patients like Harkins must do what they can to maintain their psychiatric treatments and drug regimens, according to article in The Tampa Bay Tribune.