On December 8, the House approved, by unanimous consent, a bill (S. 1929) to reauthorize for one year the Mental Health Parity Act (P.L. 104-204), which was set to expire at the end of this year. The Senate approved S. 1929 on November 21 (see The Source, 11/26/03). It will now go to the White House for the President’s signature.
Enacted as part of the FY1997 VA-HUD-Independent Agencies spending bill, the law requires employer-provided health insurance plans to impose the same lifetime limits on mental health benefits as apply to medical and surgical benefits. If a health plan does not provide a lifetime limit on medical benefits, it may not impose one on mental health benefits. Sponsored by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), S. 1929 would extend the law through December 31, 2004.
Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) stated that, “over the past seven years, the parity law has made significant improvements in mental health coverage. It has done so by striking a good balance, providing important mental health benefits to patients without placing unworkable mandates on employers. The legislation we pass today will preserve current law mental health parity benefits for another year, through December 31, 2004.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) agreed. “The fact that we are extending the mental health benefits and the mental health parity provisions is extremely important to those families who live in silence, suffering [for] a loved one with mental illness in need of mental health services, or the individual themselves.”
