From the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal:

Passed as part of the Wall Street bailout this week was a measure, hailed by mental health advocates as a “great civil rights victory,” that makes it illegal for health insurance companies to discriminate against patients with psychological or behavioral disorders.

The mental parity law, one of many amendments included in the legislation to broaden legislative support for the bailout package, requires health insurance companies to charge the same deductibles, copayments, and out-of-pocket expenses for mental health treatments as for all other illnesses.

… The nonprofit Mental Health America estimates that 67 percent of adults and 80 percent of children requiring mental health services do not receive help, in large part because of discriminatory insurance practices.

UPDATE: Bailout provides more mental health coverage — New York Times

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, civil rights, insurance, law, mental health, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post