Mental Health Parity Act of 2007: An Analysis of the Proposed Changes

Mental Health Parity Legislation: Implications for Children and Youth With Serious Emotional Disturbance

“…While this first law established equitable annual and lifetime limits for mental illness as compared to physical illness, it did not provide equitable coverage in regards to co-payments, deductibles, service charges, out-of-pocket expenditures, and treatment limitations Kjorstad, 2003;Marth, 2009). Moreover, it did not cover substance abuse or chemical dependency, did not apply to Medicare or Medicaid, and required parity only if such coverage was already offered by the insurer (Kjorstad, 2003;Marth, 2009). In its review of the MHPA, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) (2000) found that although 86% of employers complied with MPHA regulations, 87% of compliers included more restrictive mental health benefits compared to physical health benefits.…”

“…The first federal mental health parity law, the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA), took effect January 1, 1998, as an amendment to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (Marth, 2009). While this first law established equitable annual and lifetime limits for mental illness as compared to physical illness, it did not provide equitable coverage in regards to co-payments, deductibles, service charges, out-of-pocket expenditures, and treatment limitations Kjorstad, 2003;Marth, 2009).…”