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Congressional Daily PM The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee today approved mental health parity legislation, and the full committee might consider the bill as early as Tuesday, an aide said. The House Education and Labor and Ways and Means committees approved the measure in the summer. The Health Subcommittee markup mirrored those in the two other House committees that have considered the bill sponsored by Reps. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Jim Ramstad, R-Minn. Republicans tried unsuccessfully to substitute the House bill with language that passed the Senate last month. That bill is sponsored by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Kennedy and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., pitting father against son in a similar effort to expand coverage of mental health and substance abuse disorders. Both bills aim to require most health insurance companies to cover mental health and substance abuse disorders on a par with medical and surgical benefits. The House bill ups the ante, requiring insurers to cover all disorders included in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental health disorders. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., offered an amendment to ax the coverage requirement, but it was shot down. "By requiring the plans to cover all conditions in the DSM IV, it makes it more likely that employers and health insurers won't cover any mental health conditions," said Wilson, who co-sponsored the bill in previous Congresses when the provision was excluded. Those conditions include jet lag and caffeine disorder, several Republicans pointed out. Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Wilson's amendment, like the Senate bill, would make the idea of parity pointless. "I don't understand the opposition to this provision simply because it is clear to me that there is nothing in this bill that prevents a covered plan from determining what treatment it will pay for using medical management tools," Pallone said. "While the bill requires coverage of all diagnoses in the DSM, health plans make the final determination of whether payment is made for a specific treatment." Wilson and other Republicans argued the Senate is not capable of getting the votes to pass the House version. Pallone disagreed and said the House should insist on its language in conference. -- by Anna Edney Health. A coalition of groups urging Republicans to reverse their positions on State Children's Health Insurance Program legislation estimate they will spend $1.25 million to $1.5 million on television ads in the two weeks leading up to the House's attempt to override President Bush's veto, Americans United for Change President Brad Woodhouse said this afternoon. Americans United unveiled a series of television ads that urged Reps. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Ginny Brown-Waite and Ric Keller, both R-Fla., to "think again" about their opposition to SCHIP legislation and to encourage them to vote to override the president's veto next week. "Bush vetoed health insurance for millions of America's children. And Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann voted with him," the ad states. "Bush and Bachmann would rather send half a trillion [dollars] to Iraq than spend a fraction of that here at home to keep our kids healthy." The ads, which are set to run today and Thursday, are part of a larger campaign that includes national television spots and ads targeting at least 21 GOP members. Other groups running ads include the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and U.S. Action. © 2007 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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