Mental Health Bill Misses The Point

Insurers and benefit managers, in an attempt to keep a lid on soaring mental healthcare costs, often place far more stringent limits on such coverage than those they routinely apply to treatment of non-psychological woes.

Congress tried to redress this injustice by passing the Mental Health Parity Act in 1996. But the law–which limits the restrictions that can be imposed by employers (that is, by those employers who still offer mental health benefits at all)–sunsets on Sept. 30.

In voting to extend the law earlier this month, a Senate committee expanded the law's scope beyond biologically-based disorders to virtually all mental health problems. The new law would also prohibit employers from applying specific limits on cost-sharing, number of visits, or days of coverage.