Mental Health Insurance Parity

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.

The new coverage is said to start January 1, 2010 for most plans. It is estimated that 113 million people will be getting better mental health coverage, says the Times article.

Health insurance companies, as well as employer groups opposed such legislation, initially. U.S. Senators that created the bill also brought all the interested parties to the negotiating table. Those senators are Pete Domenici, Edward Kennedy, Michael Enzi.

The Senators initiated the bill that has now become law. A trade group VP that was involved in the negotiations stated, “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.