Senate approves Mental Health Parity extension

Healthcare Financial Management, Jan, 2004

Congress has approved a measure to extend the provisions of the Mental Health ParityAct of 1996 an additional year. The act was due to expire December 31, 2003. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), cosponsors of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act (S 486), have received assurances from Senate leadership that the bill will be taken up early next year. The cosponsors have been working on modifications to the controversial bill to broaden its appeal. The bill would expand the Mental Health Parity Act to prohibit group health plans from treating mental health benefits differently from medical and surgical benefits. President Bush voiced strong support for parity legislation; however, the House version of the bill has yet to build momentum.

To read S486, go to www.thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/t2GPO/ http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi? dbname=108_cong_bills&docid=f:s486is.txt.pdf.