Drug rehabilitation and mental health advocates have been trying for many years to get equal coverage through insurance benefits for these situations as there would be for regular illnesses and injuries. After several attempts to get this legislation passed it was finally attached to the "Senate Bail-Out Bill" in an underhanded political move to get signed into law.
Officially titled the the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, the bill forces insurers to pay more for substance abuse and mental health-related issues in relation to other covered services but does not require coverage for these circumstances on the policy.
The obvious benefit to such a law is that people who need help and have an insurance policy with benefits for drug rehab services can now access more treatment. The downside is that this also includes mental health-related problems. Substance abuse is a very definable and observable problem, yet there are no exact tests that can identify mental health disorders as being a disease.
In addition, mental health facilities do not believe they can cure mental illness, yet there are some very successful drug rehab programs that routinely prove that addiction can be overcome permanently. Putting people on more drugs for substance abuse and mental difficulties will never completely solve the problem, and the addition of more drugs often carries heavier side effects and consequences.
If you have insurance coverage with benefits for substance abuse treatment and are in need of finding effective drug rehab help, then this bill is a potential life saver, as previous caps on coverage may have prevented another attempt at treating the addiction.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Lucas A Catton, CCDC
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