Many employers, for example, now limit the number of annual outpatient visits to mental health care providers but do not impose comparable limits for other medical conditions. The House bill would require coverage for all mental health care services listed in the most recent edition of a diagnostic treatment manual published by the American Psychiatric Association. The Senate’s version, however, would let employers decide what conditions would be covered.
The two bills will go to a House-Senate conference committee to hash out the differences and draft legislation that would be approved by both sides of Congress.