Finally, Mental Health Insurance Parity

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.

The mental health parity bill had unanimous support, surprisingly, in the House of Representatives, Senate and White House. The new law is now in effect and means that more than one third of Americans with health insurance will have better coverage for mental health conditions. This came from the New York Times.

The new coverage is said to start January 1, 2010 for most plans. It is estimated that 113 million people will be getting better mental health coverage, says the Times article.

Health insurance companies, as well as employer groups opposed such legislation, initially. U.S. Senators that created the bill also brought all the interested parties to the negotiating table. Those senators are Pete Domenici, Edward Kennedy, Michael Enzi.

These Senators introduced the bill that is now law. One trade group vice president involved in the negotiation says, "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.