ACCOUNTING Office, supra note 10, at 8; The
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, supra note 15.
(15) Detailed information about key provisions of the
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 can be found at the National Association of Mental Illnesses--The
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, on the Internet at http:// web.nami.org/update/parity96.html (visited March 18, 2004).
In 2001, Representative Marge Roukema reintroduced amendments to the
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 first introduced in 1998 that would, among other changes, expand the legislation to include substance abuse treatment.
The
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 has resulted in some gains in employee mental health coverage, but inequities remain, according to a report from the U.S.
(31) Although the Senate unanimously approved the Wellstone Amendment, debates in the House of Representatives regarding the excessive costs of mental health parity resulted in the passage of the
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 ("MHPA"), a heavily compromised version of the originally proposed Wellstone Amendment.
The old
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 required large and midsize group health plans that cover mental health care to offer the same annual and lifetime maximums for mental health care that they offer for other types of medical care.
543), which expands on the
Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 and resembles guidelines that apply to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
