Advocacy Article

House Introduces Parity Bill On Wednesday, March 7, 2007, Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and 256 cosponsors introduced H.R. 1424, the "Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act" to Congress.  This bill expands the 1996 Mental Health Parity Act by requiring that group health plans* provide the same level of coverage for the treatment of mental health and/or substance use disorders as is provided for medical and surgical services.  In particular, this bill requires that a health plan provide both equal treatment limits and financial requirements for all conditions listed in the DSM-IV, as compared to medical and surgical benefits under that plan.  In addition, the bill requires that plans providing out-of-network benefits for medical and surgical treatment must provide the same level of out-of-network coverage for mental health and addiction treatment. While this bill does not satisfy some of ASAM's concerns (for example, it does not mandate mental health and addiction coverage in any group health plan), it does protect state bills that do provide stronger protections than federal legislation.  Go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ to find the text of the bill.  Select "Bill Number" in the search option.  Enter "HR 1424" and hit "Search."