[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 77 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 77

  To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to provide for equal 
 coverage of mental health services under the State Children's Health 
                           Insurance Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 6, 2009

 Mr. Kerry (for himself and Ms. Snowe) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to provide for equal 
 coverage of mental health services under the State Children's Health 
                           Insurance Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Children's Mental Health Parity 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PARITY FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN SCHIP.

    (a) Assurance of Parity.--Section 2103(c) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1397cc(c)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (6); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (4), the following:
            ``(5) Mental health services parity.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of a State child 
                health plan that provides both medical and surgical 
                benefits and mental health or substance abuse benefits, 
                such plan shall ensure that the financial requirements 
                and treatment limitations applicable to such mental 
                health or substance abuse benefits are no more 
                restrictive than the financial requirements and 
                treatment limitations applied to substantially all 
                medical and surgical benefits covered by the plan.
                    ``(B) Deemed compliance.--To the extent that a 
                State child health plan includes coverage with respect 
                to an individual described in section 1905(a)(4)(B) and 
                covered under the State plan under section 
                1902(a)(10)(A) of the services described in section 
                1905(a)(4)(B) (relating to early and periodic 
                screening, diagnostic, and treatment services defined 
                in section 1905(r)) and provided in accordance with 
                section 1902(a)(43), such plan shall be deemed to 
                satisfy the requirements of subparagraph (A).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 2103 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
1397cc) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph 
        (1), by striking ``subsection (c)(5)'' and inserting 
        ``paragraphs (5) and (6) of subsection (c)''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)(2), by striking subparagraph (B) and 
        redesignating subparagraphs (C) and (D) as subparagraphs (B) 
        and (C), respectively.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section take 
effect on October 1, 2009.
                                 <all>