New U.S. rules require equal insurance coverage for mental ills

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New U.S. rules require equal insurance coverage for mental ills

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most Americans with health insurance will be guaranteed access to mental health services, including for depression and alcoholism, equal to medical and surgical treatment under long-delayed rules issued on Friday by the Obama administration. The rules implement the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which took on greater urgency with the administration's vow to address gun violence after a series of mass shootings across the United States in the past few years. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius estimated that 90 percent of Americans with substance-use disorders do not receive the care they need. "For way too long, health plans openly discriminated against" Americans with mental illness, she said in a call with reporters on Friday.

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