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U.S. Senate Passes Parity Act
On
September 18, the Senate passed the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 (S. 558).
Bill sponsors Pete Domenici (R-NM), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and Michael Enzi
(R-WY) were able to negotiate the release of the final “hold” on the bill, and
it passed by unanimous consent. Senate
passage is the culmination of literally years of work by Senators Kennedy and
Domenici and the late Paul Wellstone. Thanks to the unwavering support of its
elected officers, District Branches, and membership at large, the APA has been
a full partner every step of the way in this long process. S. 558 represents a
landmark compromise between healthcare organizations and the business and
insurance communities, providing a strong new federal floor of parity protections
for mental health and substance use disorder services: requiring that treatment limits (such as day
and visit limits) and patient cost sharing requirements (copays, deductibles,
and coinsurance) to be equal to those that apply to medical and surgical
services. In general, state parity laws that are more protective of patients
will not be preempted.
Parity legislation must also be passed by the House before proceeding to the
White House for the President’s signature. In late September, the
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