The "Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act," which was incorporated into H.R. 1424, the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act," was signed into law by the President on October 3, 2008.

This legislation, which has taken more than a decade to enact, prohibits insurers from imposing treatment limitations or financial requirements on mental health and substance-related disorder benefits in group health plans that are not similarly imposed on substantially all medical and surgical benefits that they cover.