Mental Health Parity – How It Affects Us
In the past, many insurance carriers used to discriminate against mental health services by having different benefits for mental health than for medical services. For example, a patient could have a plan that paid 80% of covered charges for any medical services, but the insurance only paid a flat $10 for a visit to a psychoanalyst and the patient was responsible for the rest. The patient responsibility in some cases exceeded 80%. Many people felt this was a blatant form of health insurance discrimination.Some of the restrictions that were placed on these benefits were higher copays or deductibles, limited outpatient treatment, and a cap on lifetime benefits. Most psychiatric providers felt this limited proper treatment and hampered results. It certainly put a strain on the patients and the families of patients who couldn’t afford the recommended treatment. Over the years, lawmakers have passed many laws trying to even out the playing field.One such federal law was the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. MHPAEA is a federal law that provides patients who already have benefits under mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) coverage parity or equality with benefits limitations under their medical/surgical coverage. This stopped insurance carriers at a federal level from having separate reimbursement rates for these services and basically said that the benefits for such services must be equal with the benefits for medical services.Many of these laws were introduced because of a tragic situation. For example, Timothy’s law in New York State is named after Timothy O’Clair, a Schenectady boy who completed suicide in 2001, seven weeks prior to his 13th birthday. His parents felt that his suicide was due to the discrimination that he faced at the hands of his parent’s insurance company and they made it their personal crusade to make changes in insurance coverage. Many other states have also had laws passed due to tragic situations.Of course there are exceptions for these laws. For example, businesses with less than 50 employees, employers who do not currently offer psychiatric benefits, and small group health plans are all exempt from MHPAEA. That still excludes a lot of people.Most of the individual states also have mental health parity laws in effect too which are stronger than the federal law. The state psychiatric parity laws vary greatly from state to state. Some states exclude the V codes. The individual states also may set limits on the diagnoses they will cover. Some states parity laws will not cover the mentally handicapped or learning disorders. Most of the states have the 50 employee exemption while some have 25 employee exemptions. A few states have no such parity laws in effect so they are covered only by the federal law.Along with the mental health benefits the parity laws also cover substance abuse. If an insurance policy covers mental health and substance abuse benefits then they must now line up with benefits for medical and surgical treatment.Even with the new laws, it It is not uncommon for a patient to have different benefits for mental health than they do for medical visits. For example, they may have a $25 copay for primary care visits but they have a $40 copay for specialist’s visits including mental health visits.At any rate to be sure the provider is paid for any mental health services, benefits should be checked prior to seeing the patient. When asking for the mental health benefits, you will determine if there is a copay involved, if there is a deductible, if an authorization is required from the insurance carrier and if a referral is needed from the primary care physician.Overall mental health parity laws were a big step in the right direction toward making it possible for more people to be treated for mental health diseases. But we still have a way to go.
Why It Is Worth Choosing Local SEO Services
People will always seek convenience and they love to shop online. More than that, they want to interact with businesses and seek ultimate experiences. Brands that are not online and don’t have an e-commerce website lose a lot, especially plenty of traffic and potential sales volume. In order to remain competitive in this changing world, it is crucial to improve the online presence, to be always available to customers. How can this be achieved?
The key is SEO, and local SEO services have increased in popularity. One of the reasons is because businesses want to rank high in search engine results, and they want to achieve great results, to attract more potential buyers and build their confidence in the brand. Implementing the right marketing strategies has always been challenging, and this is why companies choose to hire specialists, because they know exactly how to come up with the right solutions.
Find Out More about Local SEO Services
SEO is already a term that many are familiar with. They heard about it, but the idea is still complex, and it involves so many factors that it is hard to keep up with everything. Businesses have a lot of aspects to look into, they need to manage their activity, focus on products and services, train employees, they must develop pricing policies, distribution, delivery, and so much more. It is understandable they are unable to focus on search engine optimization on their own. Instead, they focus on local SEO services.
What is SEO exactly? It is an array of practices and strategies used to improve the quality and organic visibility of a website on search engines. Whenever you search something online, you use keywords and two types of results show up, paid ones and organic. Some companies pay for every click on their website, and it is a way to guarantee a top position. On the other hand, organic searches imply improving the website, link building, and many other tactics.
It is not enough to place relevant keywords throughout the website, it is necessary to adjust the website, its functionality, speed, the content shown on every page, if it is mobile-friendly, interactive, and more. Optimization is about improving the site and pleasing the customers, but it also implies taking into consideration the guidelines and algorithms of search engines. Eventually, you will get to know more about your customers and what they are looking for.
Benefits of SEO
There are many benefits of local SEO services and the best part is that they are accessible to anyone interested. Some companies believe they have to hire a team to work within the department, to open positions, pay salaries, benefits, and invest in training. It is not the case, because these services can be outsourced without issues. It is even recommended, because it is cost-effective, and provides long-term value.
More than that, you have better control over the services, since you know exactly what you pay for, the specialists are already trained in the field, they are highly skilled, and know everything about optimization. You simply hand over the website, they will conduct an audit, suggest appropriate tactics, improvements that can be made, and eventually help you develop a strategy plan to improve your online business.
Increase relevant traffic
It is one thing to have plenty of traffic on the website, and another thing to have relevant traffic. When people need something, they type keywords, and once your website pops up, it means they trust it, they will browse through it, until they find what they want. Prospect buyers evaluate the functionality and speed of the platform, and if they like what they see, they will eventually buy.
The click-through rate is essential, and once you are on top positions, you can double it. If you want your site to be seen by customers, then it needs to rank high in search engine results. Think about your behavior as well, and how often you visit the next pages of results, how much do you trust those platforms, and how likely you are to buy from them.
Improve the web experience
Local SEO services will let you know that the web experience matters greatly to visitors and prospective buyers. So, you made it on top positions, people click on the site, but they don’t like what they see. They don’t enjoy the interface, they don’t find the website user-friendly, and they abandon it, going to the next result.
The success of your online business depends on many other factors, such as backlinks, page speed, content, interactivity, and such. If you follow the rules of search engines, then you need to keep the site in good health. This way, you obtain more exposure, and users will trust you more, believing that you do something right since you manage to be in top positions.
Local SEO Services Improve Brand Awareness
Perhaps you have some amazing products and services, and you want to show the world your portfolio. If people see you in top positions, then they will trust the brand more, because they think you deserve to be there, and your products and services are relevant. It takes some time and effort to achieve this, but it can be done. There is no pressure to do it on your own, especially when you can outsource the services and achieve great results.
SEO is traceable, and you can collaborate with an agency that will show you their step-by-step plan, and give you feedback after every process. This is the best way to know that you are doing the right thing to develop your business, the fact that you see the progress. An agency has years of experience in the field, it is fully aware of all changing algorithms, and it works close with businesses from all industries, which means it knows very well what works for each.
SEO expert: its importance in 2022
Is an SEO Expert an important figure in 2022? Find out in this guide, you will understand who he is, what he does and why he is essential for your online business!
As already mentioned in other articles, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the most important components for the success of a website.
In particular, in 2022 the importance of the SEO Expert will be even greater. Let’s see why.
First of all, it must be taken into account that more and more people are using the Internet to search for information on products and services: according to recent studies, over 90% of users search online before making a purchase.
In addition, search engines are increasingly used to find new websites: in 2017, 70% of total Internet traffic came from Google, Yahoo! and Bing .
For this reason, it is essential that your site is well ranked on search engines , in order to attract the attention of users interested in your products or services.
How to do? Through a correct SEO strategy
SEO Expert… do I need it?
The right SEO strategy allows you to improve the positioning of your site on search engines , thus increasing visits and conversions.
But how can you be sure you need an SEO Expert for your project ?
It only takes a few minutes to realize this: by launching a simple search on Google with the term “SEO” , selecting Italy among the countries, you will get almost 5 million results!
There are therefore a lot of people offering SEO services , and choosing the right agency or professional can be difficult.
An SEO Expert helps you find the right strategy to implement on your site, in order to make it more visible to search engines and attract new visitors.
Furthermore, it can advise you on the best keywords to use for your business and on the steps to take to improve the positioning of your site.
All this is achieved by planning the work to obtain the best result .
Why rely on an SEO expert to appear among the top search engine results?
The reasons are many: first of all, SEO is one of the most important components for the success of a website . In particular, in 2022 the importance of the SEO Expert will be even greater.
Secondly, more and more people are using the Internet to search for information on products and services: according to recent studies, as we wrote before, over 90% of users search online before making a purchase.
What does the seo expert do?
The SEO expert analyzes the site, studies the competition and plans a website positioning strategy suitable for achieving the set objectives.
In addition, the seo expert can take care of the drafting of optimized texts for search engines, the definition of strategic keywords and the implementation of changes on the site in order to improve its ranking.
To achieve these goals, the SEO expert uses a series of techniques and strategies ranging from content optimization to link building , from competition analysis to the use of social media.
In conclusion, relying on SEO experts allows you to achieve visibility on search engines and higher qualified traffic on the site and consequently many more potential customers.
Consequently, the number of conversions increases, leading to an increase in turnover.
How can the seo expert help me?
The SEO expert can help you improve the positioning of your website on search engines by defining a targeted marketing strategy and using appropriate techniques and tools.
In addition, the SEO expert can provide you with advice on optimizing your site’s content, defining strategic keywords and implementing changes aimed at improving visibility.
Online success largely depends on achieving high search engine rankings.