Mental Health Parity Reauthorization Act of 2003

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 1929) to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act to extend the mental health benefits parity provisions for an additional year, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I am pleased to be here to manage House passage of S. 1929, the Mental Health Parity Reauthorization Act of 2003. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations with jurisdiction over employer-provided health care, the issue of mental health parity falls within the purview of this subcommittee. In fact, almost 2 years ago, we held the first House hearing on the issue of mental health.

In 1996, Congress enacted the Mental Health Parity Act to prevent employers and health insurers from establishing annual and lifetime limits on health insurance coverage for mental health benefits, unless similar limits were also established for medical and surgical health coverage. Today, the House will take an important step to extend mental health parity benefits for another year by passing this bipartisan reauthorization legislation, which will be ready for President Bush's signature once we pass it.

Over the past 7 years, the parity law has made significant improvements in mental health coverage. It has done so by striking a good balance, providing important mental health benefits to patients without placing unworkable mandates on employers. The legislation we pass today will preserve current law mental health parity benefits for another year, through December 31, 2004.

Mental health parity benefits offered through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, ERISA, and Public Health Services Act, were set to expire this December 31. In the coming year, my subcommittee will continue to examine the issue of mental health parity, as expanding this law is one of the many substantive changes proposed for our Nation's health care system.

Before endorsing any changes to current law, the House must carefully study the issue and consequences it may have on our Nation's employer- provided health care system. Any changes to the mental health parity law must be made in a balanced manner that does not jeopardize workers' existing health care benefits or discourage employers from voluntarily providing quality benefits to their employees. Because, as we all know, when employers' costs go up, workers often lose coverage. If the expanded mental health parity law is too burdensome and expensive, it is very likely employers will simply stop offering any type of mental health coverage.

Health insurance costs rose by 15 percent, the highest increase in a decade. In this environment, it is incumbent upon the Congress to carefully study the impact of new mandates before moving forward. However, reauthorization of the 1996 act is an important step to ensure that patients continue to have access to mental health care if they need it. Because of this, I am pleased to offer my strong support to S. 1929. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, although I do not intend to object, but I respectfully ask the gentleman to explain his request, and I yield to him for that purpose.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) for his explanation. And continuing under my reservation, I rise in strong support of S. 1929, which extends the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 for another year.

The original bill was pioneered and introduced by a great champion of mental health, a person of compassion and vision, the late Senator Paul Wellstone.

This legislation is based on a very simple idea: all health insurance plans should provide the same degree of coverage for mental health benefits as provided for medical and surgical benefits. The 1996 act did not require employers to offer mental health benefits; but it was, nevertheless, a huge step forward in the fight to ensure access for all Americans to comprehensive health care. Under the 1996 act, if mental health care benefits are provided, they have to be equal to those offered for medical care.

In particular, both aggregate lifetime caps and annual caps on mental health benefits had to be equal to those caps for the medical and surgical benefits, but if, and only if, the employer offered mental health benefits.

The 1996 act applies to both fully insured state-regulated health plans and self-insured plans. The act does not preempt State statutes that may provide stronger protections for mental health parity.

The 1996 act did not provide a complete parity. Employers and insurers can still restrict mental health benefits by imposing higher copayments and deductibles for mental health benefits than for medical benefits. There remains much room for improvement. We need to expand mental health parity to cover substance abuse disorders, to stop employers from charging different deductibles and co-payments to mental health services, and to stop employers from imposing different limits for inpatient stays and outpatient visits for mental health benefits. Much work remains to be done; but without this action today, the Mental Health Parity Act will expire on December 31.

I urge my colleagues to support this reauthorization of the Mental Health Parity Act, extend these provisions for at least another year; and I urge us to all redouble our efforts to pass comprehensive mental health care parity in the coming year.

Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

Mr. Speaker, continuing the objection, I do not intend to maintain my objection. I thank the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens), and I thank the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson). I simply want to add my support to what we are doing here today.

I come from Texas; but I know all of our colleagues, wherever they come from, realize that the lack of mental health services and intervention services is really a silent killer. The fact that we are extending the mental health benefits and the mental health parity provision is extremely important to those families who live in silence, suffering, a loved one with mental illness in need of mental health services or the individual themselves.

And I will simply say that we can do no less than to pay tribute to our fallen colleague, Senator Paul Wellstone, who lived his legislative career around the ideas of providing more legislative assistance in creating mental health parity. I hope that we will work in the next year for a comprehensive mental health parity package for all of America.

Let me just simply say on behalf of the work of the Mental Health Association, let me thank them for pressing the point about these needs. I would hope, Mr. Speaker, that as we support this particular legislation today, it will give us enough momentum and enough inspiration to realize that these individuals with broken lives cannot survive without our assistance and without intervention and mental health services.

Mr. Speaker, I do not intend to object, and I yield back to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens), removing my objection.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1929, which was introduced earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on and include extraneous material on S. 1929.