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There are two things that the U.S. Congress is not known for, efficiency and consensus of support on an issue. Well, last week Capitol Hill lawmakers did both. The $700 billion Wall Street bailout legislation included the mental health parity bill we have been following.
Even more surprising, mental health parity had virtually unanimous support - in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House. The new law, now in effect, means over one-third of all Americans with health insurance will start getting better coverage for mental health conditions, wrote The New York Times.
The Times article states an estimates 113 million people will receive better mental health coverage. The new and improved coverage starts January 1, 2010 for most plans.
Initially, health insurance companies and employer groups opposed such legislation. But the bill’s creators, U.S. Senators Pete Domenici, Edward Kennedy, and Michael Enzi, brought all interested parties including mental health advocates to the negotiation table.
They came out with the bill that is now law.”It was an incredible process. We built the bill piece by piece from the ground up. It’s a good harbinger for future efforts on health care reform,” said one trade group vice president involved in the negotiation.
