last year the obama administration issued new rules that prohibit group health-insurance plans — typically offered by employers — from restricting access to care by limiting mental-health benefits and requiring higher patient costs than those that apply to general medical or surgical benefits. the rules implement the paul wellstone and pete domenici mental health parity and addiction equity act of 2008 (mhpaea). in other words the mhpaea states that a group health plan may not impose annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental-health benefits that are less favorable than any such limits imposed on medical surgical benefits. the affordable care act also takes steps to help people access the mental health services they need: right now if you haven’t been able to find health insurance due to a pre-existing mental-health condition you may be able to access the new pre-existing condition insurance plan. starting in 2014 substance abuse or mental illness can no longer be used by insurers to deny coverage as a “pre-existing condition” – and insurers also won’t be able to use those conditions to raise your premiums. also in 2014 mental-health and substance-use disorder services will be part of the essential benefits package a set of health-care service categories that must be covered by certain plans including all insurance policies that will be offered through the exchanges and most coverage in medicaid. these reforms all work to make the health-insurance marketplace a more accessible affordable place for people with mental-health and substance-abuse disorders.
under health-care reform when will there be fewer restrictions on mental-health sessions? . why is an insurance company allowed to limit how many therapy sessions a patient can have a year?