On October 3, 2008, President Bush signed into law the “Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008” as part of the broad Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (H.R. 1424). The measure prohibits health plans that offer mental health coverage from imposing more restrictive financial requirements or treatment limitations for mental health and addiction benefits than are applied to comparable covered medical and surgical benefits.