I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1367 
To amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act, and section 
9812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require equity in the 
provision of mental health and substance-related disorder benefits under 
group health plans. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 7, 2007 
Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ACKER-
MAN, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. ARCURI, Mr. 
BACA, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BAIRD, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BARROW, Ms. BEAN, 
Mr. BECERRA, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BERRY, Mr. BISHOP of 
Georgia, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BORDALLO, 
Mr. BOREN, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. BOYD of Florida, Mr. 
BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of 
Florida, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CARDOZA, 
Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. CARNEY, Ms. CARSON, Ms. CASTOR, Mr. CHAN-
DLER, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. 
CLYBURN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. 
COSTELLO, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. CROWLEY, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. CUELLAR, 
Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. 
DAVIS of California, Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. DEFAZIO, 
Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DICKS, Mr. 
DOGGETT, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. ELLSWORTH, 
Mr. EMANUEL, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsyl-
vania, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. FARR, 
Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. FILNER, Mr. FRANK of Massachu-
setts, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. GERLACH, Ms. GIFFORDS, Mr. 
GILCHREST, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GORDON of Ten-
nessee, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HALL of New York, Mr. HARE, Ms. 
HARMAN, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. HERSETH, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. 
HINCHEY, Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. HODES, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. 
HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. HOYER, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. ISRAEL, 
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. JEFFERSON, 
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mrs. 
JONES of Ohio, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. KANJORSKI, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KELLER 
of Florida, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. KIND, Mr. KING of New 
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York, Mr. KIRK, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LAHOOD, 
Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, 
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. LATOURETTE, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEVIN, 
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. LOEBSACK, 
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. 
MALONEY of New York, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. MATHESON, 
Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Min-
nesota, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. MCIN-
TYRE, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. MEEK of Flor-
ida, Mr. MEEKS
of New York, Mr. MICA, Mr. MICHAUD, Ms. 
MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. MOL-
LOHAN, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MORAN 
of Virginia, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEAL of Mas-
sachusetts, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. OBEY, Mr. OLVER, Mr. 
ORTIZ, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 
PERLMUTTER, Mr. PETERSON
of Minnesota, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. 
PLATTS, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. 
RANGEL, Mr. RENZI, Mr. REYES, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, 
Mr. ROSS, Mr. ROTHMAN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, 
Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. SALAZAR, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ 
of California, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. 
SAXTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. SCHMIDT, Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. 
SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. SHAYS, Ms. SHEA- 
PORTER, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SKELTON, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. 
SMITH of Washington, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SNYDER, Ms. 
SOLIS, Mr. SPACE, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. STARK, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. SUL-
LIVAN, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. TANNER, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. THOMPSON of 
Mississippi, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. 
UDALL of Colorado, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. UPTON, Mr. VAN 
HOLLEN, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. WALSH of New York, 
Mr. WALZ of Minnesota, Mr. WAMP, Ms. WATERS, Ms. WATSON, Mr. 
WATT, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WEINER, Mr. WELCH of Vermont, Mr. 
WEXLER, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Ms. 
WOOLSEY, Mr. WU, Mr. WYNN, Mr. YARMUTH, and Mr. YOUNG of Alas-
ka) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education 
and Labor and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health 
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Service Act, and section 9812 of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 to require equity in the provision of mental 
health and substance-related disorder benefits under 
group health plans. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act 
of 2007’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. 
Sec. 3. Amendments to the Public Health Service Act relating to the group 
market. 
Sec. 5. Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 
Sec. 5. Government Accountability Office studies and reports. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT IN-
COME SECURITY ACT OF 1974. 
(a) EXTENSION OF PARITY TO TREATMENT LIMITS 
AND BENEFICIARY FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS.—Section 
712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
1974 (29 U.S.C. 1185a) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 
following new paragraphs: 
‘‘(3) TREATMENT LIMITS.— 
‘‘(A) NO TREATMENT LIMIT.—If the plan 
or coverage does not include a treatment limit 
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(as defined in subparagraph (D)) on substan-
tially all medical and surgical benefits in any 
category of items or services, the plan or cov-
erage may not impose any treatment limit on 
mental health and substance-related disorder 
benefits that are classified in the same category 
of items or services. 
‘‘(B) TREATMENT LIMIT.—If the plan or 
coverage includes a treatment limit on substan-
tially all medical and surgical benefits in any 
category of items or services, the plan or cov-
erage may not impose such a treatment limit on 
mental health and substance-related disorder 
benefits for items and services within such cat-
egory that are more restrictive than the pre-
dominant treatment limit that is applicable to 
medical and surgical benefits for items and 
services within such category. 
‘‘(C) CATEGORIES
OF
ITEMS
AND
SERV-
ICES FOR APPLICATION OF TREATMENT LIMITS 
AND
BENEFICIARY
FINANCIAL
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—For purposes of this paragraph and 
paragraph (4), there shall be the following four 
categories of items and services for benefits, 
whether medical and surgical benefits or mental 
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health and substance-related disorder benefits, 
and all medical and surgical benefits and all 
mental health and substance related benefits 
shall be classified into one of the following cat-
egories: 
‘‘(i) INPATIENT, IN-NETWORK.—Items 
and services furnished on an inpatient 
basis and within a network of providers es-
tablished or recognized under such plan or 
coverage. 
‘‘(ii) INPATIENT, OUT-OF-NETWORK.— 
Items and services furnished on an inpa-
tient basis and outside any network of pro-
viders established or recognized under such 
plan or coverage. 
‘‘(iii) OUTPATIENT, 
IN-NETWORK.— 
Items and services furnished on an out-
patient basis and within a network of pro-
viders established or recognized under such 
plan or coverage. 
‘‘(iv) 
OUTPATIENT, 
OUT-OF-NET-
WORK.—Items and services furnished on 
an outpatient basis and outside any net-
work of providers established or recognized 
under such plan or coverage. 
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‘‘(D) TREATMENT
LIMIT
DEFINED.—For 
purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘treatment 
limit’ means, with respect to a plan or coverage, 
limitation on the frequency of treatment, num-
ber of visits or days of coverage, or other simi-
lar limit on the duration or scope of treatment 
under the plan or coverage. 
‘‘(E) PREDOMINANCE.—For purposes of 
this subsection, a treatment limit or financial 
requirement with respect to a category of items 
and services is considered to be predominant if 
it is the most common or frequent of such type 
of limit or requirement with respect to such cat-
egory of items and services. 
‘‘(4) 
BENEFICIARY
FINANCIAL
REQUIRE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(A) NO
BENEFICIARY
FINANCIAL
RE-
QUIREMENT.—If the plan or coverage does not 
include a beneficiary financial requirement (as 
defined in subparagraph (C)) on substantially 
all medical and surgical benefits within a cat-
egory of items and services (specified under 
paragraph (3)(C)), the plan or coverage may 
not impose such a beneficiary financial require-
ment on mental health and substance-related 
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