The McGuinty government is making changes to the way OHIP insures routine eye exams, Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman announced today. Effective today (November 1, 2004) people with medical conditions affecting eyesight will
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the availability of a qualified health claim for monounsaturated fat from olive oil and reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).There
The government's forthcoming public health white paper should consider other options aside from imposing personal obligations on individual citizens to take responsibility for their own health, if it is to succeed in improving the health of the nation,
NHS staff from England who are planning health projects in the world's poorest communities are being supported by a new Department of Health fund, now opening its second wave (3 November 2004).The Humanitarian Fund, run by the
The NHS has reached a landmark agreement with Microsoft on the renewal of the licensing of its desktop products in line with the OGC's framework agreement with Microsoft. The arrangement will allow
The British Medical Association today (4 November 2004) calls on Health Secretary John Reid to deliver tough action to protect the nation's health, as he finalises the White Paper on Public Health for
Under previous law, Medicare covered chemotherapy as well as radiation treatment for cancer patients, but did not pay for oral-dose anti-cancer drugs, unless they were available in both oral and injectable form. Medicare Part B covered a total of seven
GPs working in Community Hospitals Community Hospital GPs are underpaid and feel undervalued and exploited, says the British Medical Association (BMA) in its evidence to the Doctors' and Dentists' Pay
The California Nurses Association condemned a decision by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today, at the behest of the multi-billion dollar hospital industry, to suspend major provisions of California's la
To prevent the spread of flu in the coming peak season, it is important that the public and private sectors work together to provide influenza vaccinations to members of the public.The remark was made by the Hong Kong's Secretary for Health, We
Date: Wednesday, 7-Feb-2007
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee likely will pass legislation that would require health insurance companies to cover mental illnesses at the same level as they cover physical illnesses, committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said, CQ HealthBeat reports.The legislation would bar insurers that cover mental illnesses from imposing limits on care not applied to physical illnesses, but it would not require all insurers to provide mental health coverage.
Mental health parity legislation has had support from a majority of both chambers for the past decade, but it never moved out of conference committees, CQ HealthBeat reports.
Employers and health insurers have lobbied to defeat the legislation, saying it would raise costs. Kennedy said the legislation has a "very good" chance of being passed by the HELP Committee.
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), the bill's original author, said the legislation likely will pass this year because of the Democratic majority in the House. He added, "It's not going to die in conference this time.
That House will not let it die in conference." Andrew Sperling, director of federal legislative advocacy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said, "We don't have the opposition from House Democratic leadership" that was present when the Republicans were in the majority.
He also said that the "regulatory landscape has changed dramatically," noting that 40 states already have mental health parity laws in effect.
President Bush in 2002 indicated that he would sign mental health parity legislation, CQ HealthBeat reports (Spieler, CQ HealthBeat, 2/5).
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