New US rules set parity for mental health care

Employer-provided group health plans must offer the same level of coverage for mental illness and drug abuse treatment as for other ailments, according to federal regulations issued on Friday. The measures, known as mental health parity, ban group health plans from applying different coverage standards for mental health disorders or substance abuse treatment than those for general medical treatment or surgery. "The rules we are issuing today will, for the first time, help assure that those diagnosed with these debilitating and sometimes life-threatening disorders will not suffer needless or arbitrary limits on their care," US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. Some 150 million Americans are enrolled in employer-provided group health insurance plans, the government says. The new rules, which stem from a bill passed by Congress in 2008, exempt group plans covering 50 or fewer workers.