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House passes
parity law
(April 2008
Issue)
By Ami Albernaz
A federal law mandating equal coverage for mental and physical
illnesses came one step closer to fruition on March 5 with the House
passing by a nearly two-to-one margin the Paul Wellstone Mental
Health and Addiction Equity Act. Named for the late Minnesota senator
who championed parity, the act prohibits insurance companies from
limiting outpatient mental health visits or hospital stays and from
charging higher co-payments for mental health services.
The House bill is the latest advance in a legislative struggle
for parity that has lasted for more than a decade. It would require
insurers that offer mental health coverage to include benefits for
all of the conditions listed in the latest version of the DSM. In
September, the Senate passed a looser parity bill that would allow
insurance companies to select the mental conditions they cover.
While President Bush said in 2002 that he supported the concept
of mental health parity, the White House opposes the House bill
because it "would effectively mandate coverage of a broad range
of diseases," The New York Times reported. Business and insurance
groups, not surprisingly, favor the Senate bill. The House and Senate
will attempt to work out their differences before a bill comes before
the president.
"When federal parity legislation becomes law, more than 113 million
Americans could benefit from greater access to treatment for mental
health and substance use disorders," Randy Phelps, Ph.D, interim
executive director for Professional Practice at the American Psychological
Association, said in a statement. "We call on Congressional leaders
to complete negotiations on a bill that can pass both chambers."
Yet despite the seeming momentum toward parity, the final hurdle
will likely be the toughest to clear, says Ken Libertoff, director
of the Vermont Association for Mental Health.
"There's a big divide between the two bills, and it's hard to figure
out how a compromise between two such different bills would be negotiated,"
he says. While his association supports the House bill, he says
it falls short of ensuring true parity.
"The House and Senate bills apply to insurance companies that choose
to cover mental health," he says. "No one's tested the notion that
if a bill passes, might insurers drop mental health?"
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