The Cost of Healthcare

Drivers:

The House approved legislation that would extend until December 31 the requirement that group health plans treat mental health benefits on par with other benefits. The bill (H.R. 4848) would extend a 1996 act that requires group health insurance plans to provide the same degree of benefits for mental health services as for medical and surgical services. Under the act, insurers and employers with more than 50 employees that offer mental health benefits are prohibited from establishing annual and lifetime limits on those benefits unless they establish similar limits for medical and surgical coverage.

Expensive.