Ready or Not-Here We Go Into Our FUTURE

Betts talks about the Wellstone Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In October 2008, after decades of tireless federal advocacy by professional organizations such as the American Nurses Association (ANA), the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA), and the American Psychiatric Association, and consumer and civil rights groups such as the National Alliance for Mental Illness, Mental Health America, and the Bazelon Center, the MHPAEA was passed into law and provides a national standard that mental health and substance abuse (mh/sa) benefits will no longer be more limited than a health plan's medical and surgical benefits and that deductibles, co-pays, service limits, and out-of-pocket maximums are unified within each plan. However, inclusion of mh/sa benefits was not mandatory and parity rules were not applicable to all health plans.