Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2003

Summary

Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2003 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act to prohibit certain employee group health plans or related insurances providing both medical-surgical and mental health benefits from imposing mental health treatment limitations or financial requirements unless comparable limitations and requirements are imposed upon medical-surgical benefits. States that the foregoing shall not be construed as requiring a group health plan (or related insurance) to: (1) provide any mental health benefits; (2) prevent the medical management of mental health benefits; or (3) require the provision of specific mental health services, except to the extent that failure to provide such services would result in a disparity between the coverage of mental health and medical-surgical benefits. Exempts specified small employers from such requirements. Requires that, in the case of a group health plan that offers a participant or beneficiary two or more benefit package options, the coverage requirements shall be applied separately with respect to each such option. Provides that, in the case of a plan or insurance providing in-network mental health benefits, out-of-network mental health benefits need not be provided at parity to medical-surgical benefits, as long as in-network mental health benefits are provided at parity with medical-surgical benefits and the plan or insurance provides reasonable access to in-network providers and facilities. Requires a General Accounting Office study of such requirements' effects upon health insurance costs, access, and quality and a cost estimation of extending such requirements to the treatment of substance abuse and chemical dependency.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

1. 6 November 2003

   Introduced

   Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.

   Source: Calendars

2. 6 November 2003

   Introduced

   Introduced in Senate

   Source: IntroReferral

3. 7 November 2003

   Calendars

   Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 382.

   Source: Calendars

4. 19 May 2004

   Introduced

   Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5730, S5731, S5732-5733)

   Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

• Placed on Calendar Senate · 7 November 2003 · Download file

Documents

3 official files

• Placed on Calendar Senate (text)

  Placed on Calendar Senate · EN · 7 November 2003

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Placed on Calendar Senate (PDF)

  Placed on Calendar Senate · EN · 7 November 2003

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 6 November 2003

  Open at official source

  Leesvertaling

  Vertaal dit document naar jouw taal. PoliticalRepo bewaart geen aparte kopie per EU-taal.

  Vertaal naarNL · DutchDE · GermanFR · FrenchES · SpanishIT · ItalianPL · PolishPT · PortugueseSV · SwedishDA · DanishFI · FinnishEL · GreekCS · CzechHU · HungarianRO · RomanianBG · BulgarianHR · CroatianSK · SlovakSL · SlovenianLT · LithuanianLV · LatvianET · EstonianGA · IrishMT · Maltese

  Vertaal document

  Documentvertaling op verzoek met downloadbare PDF (logo + link naar de officiële bron). Het bronbestand blijft leidend.

Sponsors

• Sen. Daschle, Thomas A. [D-SD] · D · Sponsor

Related records

• related to → Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2003