House Passes Mental Health Parity Legislation

Press Release

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) welcomed House passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (H.R. 6983).

Named after mental health parity champion, the late-Senator Paul Wellstone, the bipartisan bill would ensure insurance companies cover mental illness on the same basis as physical illness. It would prohibit insurers and group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations when they offer mental health benefits that are more restrictive from those applied to medical and surgical services. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 33% of adults in Connecticut report poor mental health.

"Insurance companies need to stop pretending that it is okay to treat mental illness any less thoroughly than physical illness. Fortunately, this legislation will begin to address the discrimination patients experience when seeking treatment for mental illness," said DeLauro. "After years of working with my colleagues on this, I am pleased to join with them to pass this long-overdue legislation and bring down the barriers to mental health parity."

The legislation is modeled after the Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) Program, which covers Members of Congress and other federal workers and dependents. While the FEHB program implemented parity in 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services, found that the policy was implemented with "little or no increase in total MH/SA [mental health/substance abuse] spending".

According to the Government Accountability Office, nearly 90 percent of plans impose financial limitations and treatment restrictions on mental health and addiction care despite scientific research documenting the biological, genetic, and chemical nature of these diseases, and the effectiveness of treatment.

Key provisions of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 include:

Equity in financial requirements: an insurer or group health plan must ensure that any financial requirements - such as deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket expenses - applied to mental health and addiction benefits are no more restrictive or costly than the financial requirements applied to comparable medical and surgical benefits that the plan covers.

Equity in treatment limits: a group health plan must ensure that the treatment limitations - such as frequency of treatment, number of visits, and days of coverage - applied to mental health and addiction benefits are no more restrictive than the treatment limitations applied to comparable medical and surgical benefits that the plan covers.

Does not mandate mental health benefits: the bill's provisions only apply to plans that choose to offer mental health coverage.

Does not pre-empt stronger state parity laws: the bill establishes a federal standard, a floor of protections that would apply to job-based health coverage, but allows states to be more protective of their residents with stronger parity laws.

Source