On July 18, the House Education and Labor Committee voted 33 to 9 in support of H.R. 1424, The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007. The bill, introduced by Congressmen Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN), has bipartisan support of the majority of House Members with 268 cosponsors. Kennedy and Ramstad introduced the bill to help improve the overall health of all Americans by granting greater access to mental health and addiction treatment and prohibiting health insurers from placing discriminatory restrictions on treatment.
Earlier this year, the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) joined most other associations in the Mental Health Liaison Group in support of the bill.
The House bill expands the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 by requiring group health plans that offer benefits for mental health and addiction to do so on the same terms as care for other diseases. The legislation closes the loopholes that allow plans to charge higher copayments, coinsurance, deductibles, and maximum out-of-pocket limits and impose lower day and visit limits on mental health and addiction care.
The Kennedy-Ramstad legislation is modeled after the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, which covers Members of Congress and other federal workers and dependents and which implemented equality in mental health and addiction coverage in 2001.
Critics assert that the bill does not address how insurance companies assess the "medical necessity" of mental health claims. The processes—hence, decisions—are currently arbitrary. APsaA can add that at a more fundamental level, access to effective mental health services will not improve until the patient's right to health information privacy is recognized and protected. The right to privacy touches upon freedom, arguably the very foundation of Western democracy.
Click here for more information on the Mental Health Parity Act. |