Fairness in Treatment: The Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Act of 2001

This bill, introduced in 2001, sought to ensure that health insurance plans provide the same level of coverage for substance abuse treatment as they do for other medical and surgical procedures. It would have prohibited insurance companies from imposing stricter financial requirements, such as higher co-pays, or more restrictive treatment limits on drug and alcohol addiction recovery services. For citizens, this meant that if their insurance plan offered addiction benefits, those benefits would have to be administered with the same fairness and transparency as coverage for a physical injury or illness. The legislation applied to most private group and individual health plans, though it included an exemption for small businesses with 25 or fewer employees.