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Volume 13 Number 57 News: Mental Health A bipartisan group of 25 senators is asking the Senate leadership to put aside differences between House and Senate mental health parity legislation (S. 558, H.R. 1424) to reach a compromise that can pass Congress before lawmakers adjourn for the year. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the lawmakers expressed "strong support" for both bills and urged a bicameral, bipartisan deal be struck. "Both of these bills would give those suffering from addiction and medical illness greater access to treatment services by prohibiting health insurers from placing discriminatory restrictions on mental health and substance abuse treatment that are different from other medical and surgical procedures," the letter stated. "While we all recognize there are differences between these two pieces of legislation, we should not allow these differences to stand in the way of sending the strongest possible bill to the president before we end the 110th Congress," the lawmakers said in their March 18 letter. Landmark Legislation "We should not let any of the differences between these two landmark pieces of legislation prevent the U.S. Congress from finishing this important job," they added. By a 268-148 vote, the House March 5 approved its parity bill (No. 44 HCDR 3/6/08) a0b6d7y5c7; the Senate approved parity legislation in September 2007 via unanimous consent. Both the House and Senate bills would require health plans offering mental health coverage to provide the same benefits for mental illness as they do for other medical conditions. Employers with fewer than 50 workers would be exempt under the bills. But there are significant differences between the measures, and Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) March 18 offered a proposal to the House in an attempt to produce a compromise bill. The Kennedy/Domenici plan jettisons House language requiring employers to cover all illnesses listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, and offers several other key changes. The letter is available.
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