Mental Health Parity Legislation
LaMarr
On Tuesday, July 10, 2007, the Subcommittee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions of the House Education and Labor Committee held a
hearing on H.R. 1424, the "Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction
Equity Act," legislation to require equal health insurance coverage
for mental and physical illnesses when health policies include both.
The House and Senate have proposed separate versions of the
legislation (H.R. 1424 and S. 558) that have similar goals but differ
in the scope of benefits they would affect. The Senate bill would
leave it to employers to determine the scope of mental health benefits
to which parity would apply. The House version of the bill specifies
that if a plan provides mental health benefits, then it must cover
conditions provided by the health plan with the highest average
enrollment of federal employees. The Senate bill does not include
similar language. Another difference in the two bills is that the
Senate bill also calls for pre-emption of state parity laws in
treatment limitations and financial requirements.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and David Wellstone, son of late
Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) both testified at the hearing. In her
testimony, Mrs. Carter, who has championed mental health causes for
more than 35 years, said, "These laws have been long-fought battles
with some states managing wonderful successes," adding, "It is so
important than any federal legislation not pre-empty any of these
gains."
Wellstone is hoping to carry out the legacy of his father, who also
authored legislation to allow mental health counselors to be covered
under the Medicare program, who died in a plane crash in 2002. Sen.
Wellstone's passion for mental health parity was strong because his
own brother struggled with mental illness and it motivated him to
become an advocate for better mental health coverage laws when he was
elected to the Senate. In 1996, Wellstone and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-
NM) authored the federal mental health parity law that made it illegal
for plans offering mental health coverage to set lower annual and
lifetime spending limits for mental treatments than for physical
illnesses.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in
February 2007, passed their version of a mental health parity bill.
The full House Education and Labor Committee has will consider H.R.
1424 on Wednesday, July 18, 2007. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
has announced her commitment to passage of parity legislation this
year. AMHCA will keep its members up to date on the bill's progress.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please feel
free to contact Beth Powell at AMHCA at 800-326-2642, ext. 105 or by e-
mail at bpo...@amhca.org.