The-F-Word.org

Both the Senate and the House have passed a bill that would require group health insurance plans to cover treatment of mental illnesses as they would physical illnesses. The bill was passed in different ways in the Senate and House — the Senate approved it as part of a energy bill with a vote of 93 to 2, and the House passed it by a vote of 376 to 47 as a free-standing bill — but supporters say that a single mental health bill will soon emerge from Congress and go to President Bush for his signature. The president is reported to be in support of the measure.

“This bill provides mental health parity for about 113 million Americans who work for employers with 50 employees or more,” said Senator Pete V. Domenici (R-NM), who has a daughter with schizophrenia. “No longer will people with mental illness have their mental health coverage treated differently than their coverage for other illnesses like cancer, heart disease and diabetes.”

Under the bill, if a group health plan covers the treatment of mental illness or drug or alcohol abuse, the treatment limits and financial requirements for these services can be “no more restrictive” than those that apply to medical and surgical benefits. What this means, the bill says, is that co-payments, deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses for mental health services cannot be higher than those for treatment of physical illnesses.

The GOP-dominated 109th Congress (2005/06) failed to pass a similar measure, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act, which would have required insurance companies to treat mental and physical illnesses the same. I’m glad to see Congress has finally overcome its bipartisan differences to pass a law that will benefit all Americans.