New Rules Promise Better Mental Health Coverage

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: January 29, 2010
New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration issued new rules on Friday that promise to improve insurance coverage of mental health care for more than 140 million people insured through their jobs.

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said the new rules guard against “needless or arbitrary limits.”

In general, under the rules, employers and group health plans cannot provide less coverage for mental health care than for the treatment of physical conditions like cancer and heart disease.

Insurers cannot set higher co-payments and deductibles or stricter limits on treatment for mental illness and addiction disorders. Nor can they establish separate deductibles for mental health care and for the treatment of physical illnesses....finish article

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