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<http://www.apse.org>Visit APSE | <http://www.vcu.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/rrtcweb/birdcast.cgi>Send this Alert The following is forwarded from Justice for All, an electronic information program of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Senate Health Committee Approves Mental Health Parity Bill by 18-3 Vote Volume 12 Number 31 ISSN 1091-4021 Lead Report: Mental Health Thursday, February 15, 2007 By an 18-3 vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Feb. 14 approved legislation (S. 558) requiring business with 50 or more workers to offer the same medical benefits for mental health care as they do for other medical conditions. The proposed Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 would not require businesses to offer mental health benefits, but if they do, such benefit packages must embody parity with other medical benefits in the areas of patient deductibles, co-payments, and annual and lifetime coverage limits, as well in covered hospital days and visits. The bill's sponsors have said they hope the measure can be brought to the Senate floor soon. A similar bill is expected to be introduced into the House in March. "Access to mental health services is one of the most important civil rights issues facing the nation," Senate HELP Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said in his opening statement at the committee's markup. "For too long, persons living with mental disorders have suffered discriminatory treatment at all levels of society. They have been forced to pay more for the services they need and to worry about their job security if their employer finds out about their condition." Voting against the bill in the Senate committee were Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). Cost Exemption The bill includes a cost exemption for businesses. Health plans can be exempted from the parity requirements if they are projected to have increased health care costs exceeding 2 percent of total plan costs during the first year or exceeding 1 percent of the total plan costs each subsequent year, according to a summary of the legislation provided by the lawmakers. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that mental health parity will increase employers' health care costs by less than 1 percent, the summary said. The individual health insurance market is not covered under the legislation. Under the bill, state laws requiring mental health parity must have the same coverage as defined in the legislation. Mental health parity legislation approved by Congress in 1996 requires group health plans that offer mental health benefits to set the same annual and lifetime caps on mental health coverage as for other medical/surgical services. Mental health advocacy groups said the 1996 law has loopholes that need to be closed by barring group health plans from requiring higher co-payments, deductibles, and coinsurance payments for mental health services, compared to other health benefits. Groups including the American Psychiatric Association have criticized Congress for merely passing extensions of the 1996 law, rather than addressing the cost-sharing issues. Some employer groups have said passing more sweeping mental health parity legislation would increase health care costs for businesses. In March, Reps. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Jim Ramstad (R- Minn.) are expected to introduce companion legislation, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act. The legislation is modeled after the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, which covers members of Congress and other federal workers and dependents and which implemented parity in 2001, according to a Feb. 14 press release from Rep. Kennedy's office. Celane McWhorter, Executive Director APSE: The Network on Employment <mailto: [log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask] -- Bryan Dague, Ed.D. University of Vermont Center on Disability & Community Inclusion Mann Hall, 3rd Floor 208 Colchester Ave. Burlington, VT 05405-1757 Email: [log in to unmask] Phone: (802) 656-1345 Fax: (802) 656-1357 TTY: (802) 656-8499 Website: http://www.uvm.edu/~cdci/