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ANAD Applauds Congressional Passage of Limited Parity Bill!
Law Becomes Effective Starting in January 2010
A federal mental health parity bill was enacted into law on October 3, 2008. The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act narrows the gap in eating disorders health coverage and is a giant step forward in the struggle to obtain equal coverage of eating disorders.
ANAD, along with a broad coalition of health organizations, has been working for over a decade to fight against insurance discrimination and lower the barriers to eating disorders treatment.
ANAD joins with its advocates and other health organizations in celebrating this hard-fought victory to gain better coverage of eating disorders and other mental illnesses.
The law will apply to group health plans with more than 50 employees.
The law will expand health coverage of eating disorders for employees whose group health benefits cover eating disorders diagnoses. It does not require employers to provide mental health benefits or cover specific mental health conditions.
The new law prohibits plans from imposing treatment limitations and financial requirements that are more restrictive than medical and surgical benefits. If a plan offers out-of-network benefits for medical or surgical care, the plan must also offer the same out-of-network benefits for mental health and addiction treatment.
The Act preserves stronger state mental health parity laws and consumer protections, mandates the disclosure of medical necessity criteria to current and potential beneficiaries, and authorizes federal study and reporting of mental health diagnoses that are excluded from coverage. _____________________________________________________________________
Advocates Celebrate Illinois Eating Disorders Parity Law
H.B. 1432, an Illinois bill to add anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa to the Illinois mental health insurance parity law, was enacted into law on September 25, 2008. The new law, Public Act, 95-0973, will become effective on January 1, 2009.
ANAD has been a stalwart supporter and leader in the fight for eating disorders mental health parity both in Illinois and across the nation.
“We are grateful for this step forward, however, we must continue to fight for better insurance coverage of all eating disorders,” stated Vivian Meehan, ANAD President.
The insurance mandate will add anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa as “serious mental illnesses” under Illinois state mental health insurance parity law. Persons suffering from anorexia and bulimia nervosa will get the benefits and protections of the Illinois parity law.
Under the parity law, insurers of hospital and medical expenses under a group policy of more than 50 employees are required to provide the same amount limits, deductibles, and co-insurance requirements for a “serious mental illness” as are provided for other illnesses and diseases.
The law also mandates a group health benefit plan to provide medically necessary coverage in each calendar year of 45 days of inpatient treatment and 60 visits for outpatient treatment.
Group health benefit plans are also prohibited from placing a lifetime limit on the number of days of inpatient treatment or the number of outpatients visits covered under the plan.
