Governor Gregoire Signs Legislation Expanding Mental Health Parity

For Immediate Release: March 30, 2007

OLYMPIA - Governor Chris Gregoire today signed into law a measure to extend existing mental health care coverage requirements to small companies and individual health insurance policies.

�Mental illness, like any illness, must be treated seriously, with timely attention and care,� said Governor Gregoire. �Requiring coverage for mental health care is common sense and means that Washingtonians will get better and more comprehensive care, which is less expensive.�

House Bill 1460 expands a mental health parity law signed by Governor Gregoire in 2005, which required that mental illnesses be treated the same as physical illnesses by doctors and insurers, in co-pays, prescriptions, coverage and access to care. The 2005 law applied to all large group health insurance policies. The new law extends the requirement to individual insurance plans and to companies with fewer than 50 employees.

Washington now has some of the strongest mental health parity requirements in the nation, providing our citizens the best access to high-quality mental health care.

As advances in medicine explain more about mental health, doctors are finding new ways to balance brain chemistry, more people are becoming aware of mental health symptoms and treatments, and the old-fashioned reasons for treating mental health differently from physical health are disappearing.

Engrossed House Bill 1460, sponsored by Rep. Shay Schual-Berke (D-Normandy Park), passed the House with 75 votes and passed the Senate with 41 votes. The bill takes effect January 1, 2008.

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