Mental Health Parity Legislation Included In Government Bailout Package
In addition to provisions allowing the federal government to provide stability
by purchasing and insuring troubled assets, the Emergency Economic Stabilization
Act of 2008 also included mental health parity legislation that has been a
priority of some lawmakers for over a decade.
The House and Senate both
passed different versions of mental health parity legislation earlier this year,
with the White House expressing support for the Senate bill in March. Supporters
of the legislation forged a compromise between the chambers on issues of
required coverage for certain conditions and out-of-network treatment over the
summer. Congressional leaders included the mental health parity proposal in a
revised version of the bailout measure (H.R. 1424) after an earlier bailout
package failed to pass the House on Sept. 29.
The Senate passed the
revised version of the economic bailout package that included the mental health
parity provisions on Oct. 1 by a vote of 74-25. The House followed and passed
the legislation 263-171 on Oct. 3. President Bush signed the measure into Public
Law No: 110-343 on Oct. 3.
The bipartisan mental health parity
legislation has been a long-standing goal for lawmakers in both chambers. The
measure stipulates that the financial requirements and treatment limitations of
insurers are to be no more restrictive for mental health conditions than for
physical health conditions. For example, deductibles and out-of-pocket payments
as well as limits on frequency of treatment would have to be the same.
For more information, visit thomas.loc.gov