Soon health insurance mental health parity will become law in the United States.
Both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed bills that will require health insurance companies to provide equal coverage for mental and physical health conditions, reported The New York Times.
In the Senate, mental health parity is part of an alternative fuels, energy conservation, and renewable energy bill. In the mental health provision, group health insurance plans will be required to cover treatment for mental conditions equally to physical ailments.
The Senate’s energy bill, including the mental health parity provision, was approved in a 93 to 2 vote.
In the House, a stand-alone mental health bill that applies to all health insurance plans was approved yesterday by a vote of 376 to 47.
One single mental health bill is expected soon from the Senate and House to go to the president’s desk, wrote the Times article.
These mental health bills are supported by both Chambers of Congress, health insurance companies, mental health advocates, and the White House.
“No longer will people with mental illness have their mental health coverage treated differently than their coverage for other illnesses like cancer, heart disease and diabetes, ” said U.S. Senator Pete Domenici from New Mexico.