New Federal Law Levels the Playing Field on Mental Healthcare
By Nancy Shute Access to mental-health care should soon be cheaper and easier for millions of Americans, thanks to a "mental-health parity" law signed by President Bush this month. After a 10-year battle by mental-health advocates, depression and bipolar disorder, for example, will reach equal footing with heart disease or cancer on Jan. 1, 2010. The new law doesn't cover everyone; most notably, employees of companies with 50 or fewer workers are excluded, as well as people who buy their own policies. But it comes as a great relief to those who will benefit. "It's really going to affect me when I go out into the workforce," says Marley Prunty-Lara, a 23-year-old graduate student in Minneapolis. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 15. After her parents were unable to find treatment for her in Sioux Falls, S.D., they had to take out a second mortgage in order to afford an out-of-state hospital. As a result of treatment, Prunty-Lara was able to get ...