OT: Wellstone Addiction/Mental Health Act 2008

[Guest guest]

OT: Just passing this on as addiction and mental health services affect many in our community.

Greetings:

Some students were making a presentation to all addiction study students yesterday on the Interim Final Rules under the Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 scheduled to go into effect July 1st, 2010 in the USA.

This will have a profound effect on workers, individuals and families that use addiction treatment and mental health services and for those that provide them.

SUMMARY: This document contains interim final rules implementing the Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which requires parity between mental health or substance use disorder benefits and medical/surgical benefits with respect to financial requirements and treatment limitations under group health plans and health insurance coverage offered in connection with a group health plan.

Insurance companies will finally be forced to provide the same benefits to families for addiction and mental health services as any other medical or surgical treatment stating there must be parity in the system.

They are requesting public comment. Is this a good or a bad thing as insurance companies are speaking out against this for obvious reasons?

For more information, you can go to www.hhs.gov or www.regulations.gov and under "search for" enter the Wellstone Act. ID # is required and is Cms-4140-IFC to learn more and leave a comment. There is also a .pdf file just released titled Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 21 / Tuesday, February 2, 2010 / Rules and Regulations.

Have a GREAT day!

Hi Ho, Hi ho, it’s off to school I go…