Reply #50: After 12 years, Wellstone mental health parity act is law [View All]

[EFerrari]

After 12 years, Wellstone mental health parity act is law
by Fred Frommer, Associated Press
October 3, 2008



Washington DC — (AP) - Congress has passed legislation championed by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone to require insurance companies to treat mental health on an equal basis with physical illnesses.

Approval came Friday in the House as part of a $700 billion financial bailout, two days after the Senate approved the measure. President Bush signed the bill shortly afterward.

Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat, teamed up in 1996 with Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, to win passage of a law which banned insurance plans from setting lower annual and lifetime spending limits for mental health treatments.

They fought for years to also ban insurance companies from having differences in things like co-payments, deductibles and treatment limitations.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/03/parity_finalpassage/?refid=0