Mental Health Parity Bill Passes

Popular Progressive has some information on the Wellstone Mental Healh Parity bill that passed in the bailout bill last week.

The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 is a major step forward to end discrimination in insurance coverage for people with mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The legislation states that insurance plans may not place arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on mental health and addiction coverage as compared to medical/surgical coverage. Millions of individuals and families have been affected by the inability to access equal coverage for mental health and addiction care.

It's about time. This bill first passed in the Senate in 1996, so it's been 12 long years for it to become law.