About the bill
The Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) is legislation signed into United States law on September 26, 1996 that requires annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental health benefits to be no lower than any such dollar limits for medical and surgical benefits offered by a group health plan or health insurance issuer offering coverage in connection with a group health plan. Prior to MHPA and similar legislation, insurers were not required to cover mental health care and so access to treatment was limited, underscoring the importance of the act.
The ...
Sponsor and status
Jerry Lewis
Sponsor. Representative for California's 40th congressional district. Republican.
- Introduced:
Jun 18, 1996
104th Congress, 1995–1996- Status:
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Enacted — Signed by the President on Sep 26, 1996
This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on September 26, 1996.
- Law:
Pub.L. 104-204
History
Jun 13, 1996
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Ordered Reported
A committee has voted to issue a report to the full chamber recommending that the bill be considered further. Only about 1 in 4 bills are reported out of committee. |
Jun 18, 1996
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Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber.
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Jun 25, 1996
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Rules Change —
Agreed To
This activity took place on a related bill, H.Res. 456 (104th). |
Jun 26, 1996
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Passed House (Senate next)
The bill was passed in a vote in the House. It goes to the Senate next. |
Jul 11, 1996
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Text Published
Updated bill text was published as of Reported by Senate Committee. |
Sep 5, 1996
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Passed Senate with Changes (back to House)
The Senate passed the bill with changes not in the House version and sent it back to the House to approve the changes. |
Sep 6, 1996
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Text Published
Updated bill text was published as of Public Print. |
Sep 24, 1996
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Conference Report Agreed to by House (Senate next)
A conference committee was formed, comprising members of both the House and Senate, to resolve the differences in how each chamber passed the bill. The House approved the committee's report proposing the final form of the bill for consideration in both chambers. The Senate must also approve the conference report. |
Sep 25, 1996
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Conference Report Agreed to by Senate
The bill was passed by both chambers in identical form. It goes to the President next who may sign or veto the bill. The vote was by Unanimous Consent so no record of individual votes was made. |
Sep 26, 1996
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Enacted — Signed by the President
The President signed the bill and it became law.
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H.R. 3666 (104th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
This bill was introduced in the 104th Congress, which met from Jan 4, 1995 to Oct 4, 1996. Legislation not enacted by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
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“H.R. 3666 — 104th Congress: Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997.” www.GovTrack.us. 1996. April 22, 2018 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/104/hr3666>
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.