Even though the House and Senate both passed Ramstad’s so-called mental health parity bill last week, the two chambers are still squabbling over how to pay for the program. House members want to subsidize the $3.9 billion measure, which would require health insurers to cover treatment for mental health disorders just as they do physical ailments, by a change to the tax code.
The Senate, however, has passed the parity measure as part of a bill to extend tax revenue, some of which would cover the cost of the new requirements.
Ramstad says he’s still hoping the Senate will ultimately take up the language passed in his chamber, which would effectively end the battle over funding. But on the eve of a long Congressional recess, it’s unclear if the two chambers can come to a consensus or will chose to punt the measure to a post-election lame duck session.
State of the stalled mental health parity bill
Here’s an interesting Minnesota Post article about Rep. Jim Ramstad who is sponsoring the House mental health parity bill. The article explains that