The House of Representatives overwhelmingly endorsed Domenici's plan to begin providing parity in health insurnce for people who suffer from mental illnesses.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 11, 1996
CONTACT: CHRIS GALLEGOS
(202) 224-7082

WASHINGTON -- Senator Pete Domenici today praised the vote by the House of Representatives endorsing his plan to begin to provide equity in health insurance coverage to the millions of Americans who suffer from mental illnesses.

The House of Representatives today voted 397-17 to instruct its Conference committee members to accept the Senate-passed amendments dealing with the mental health insurance parity (authored by Domenici), 48-hour maternal hospital stays, and spina bifida treatments for the children of veterans.

"This vote is significant because it means we have virtually everyone on board in terms of agreeing that the mentally ill should not be discriminated against when it comes to health insurance coverage," Domenici said.

"The strong vote in the Senate and the overwhelming support shown in the House vote demonstrates that the Congress is beginning to understand the obstacles that confront people suffering from mental illnesses and their families," he said. "The White House supported it when it was part of the Health Insurance Reform Act. It is my hope now that we can complete this bill and get it signed into law, and, finally, take that first step in ending the stigma of mental illnesses."

The Senate on September 5 voted 82-15 to include a Domenici mental health parity amendment to the 1997 Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies (VA-HUD) Appropriations Bill. A joint Conference committee will now begin work to resolve differences in the House and Senate-passed versions of the bill.

The Domenici amendment would provide insurance parity for the mentally ill in terms of annual and lifetime payment caps. It would require parity for aggregate lifetime and annual insurance payment limits. In general, most insurance policies include a $50,000 lifetime cap for treatments for mental illness while the cap for serious physical illnesses, like cancer or heart disease, might be $1 million or more.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cost of this amendment would be minimal, with employers incurring less than a two-tenths of one percent increase in health benefit costs--a 90 percent reduction from the cost of the original Domenici-Wellstone amendment that passed the Senate, 68-30, in April as part of the Health Insurance Reform Act.