US Senators say it’s time to implement a 7-year old law

Sen. Chris Coons is just the latest law maker to sign on to a letter, urging the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services to fully implement a law concerning mental health treatment  that was signed into while George W. Bush was in office.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008  was supposed to ensure that individuals seeking behavior health treatment have the same access to health treatment as individuals seeking physical health treatment.    

The problem is, that equality still hasn’t happened.    

According to the letter which was signed by 24 U.S. senators, including Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, patients continue to report denials of care and great difficulties in accessing substance use and mental health disorder treatment and services.    

The senators note that both the Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor are the most responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the law.     

Essentially officials say, the letter is asking those departments to report on how they plan to implement this act going forward.