Mental Health Insurance Parity, Finally
U.S. Congress isn’t always known for efficiency. They aren’t well-known for a consensus of support for any issue. But last week, lawmakers on Capitol Hill achieved both. In the matter of a little Congressional housekeeping, the mental health parity bill we have been following was included in the $700 billion Wall Street bailout legislation.
Surprisingly, the mental health parity bill had unanimous support in the House of Representatives, Senate and White House. This law ensures that Americans with health insurance will have better coverage for mental health conditions. This law is now in effect. This information was reported in the New York Times.
According the Times article, an estimated 113 million people will get better mental health coverage. The start-date for this new and improved coverage will be January 1, 2010 for most plans.
Initially, health insurance companies and employer groups opposed such legislation. But the bill’s creators, U.S. Senators Pete Domenici, Edward Kennedy, and Michael Enzi, brought all interested parties including mental health advocates to the negotiation table.
They came out with the bill that is now law.”It was an incredible process. We built the bill piece by piece from the ground up. It’s a good harbinger for future efforts on health care reform,” said one trade group vice president involved in the negotiation.
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