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WASHINGTON - The House voted Wednesday to require equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses when policies cover both.

The 268-148 roll call was cheered by advocates who have been fighting more than a decade for what has come to be called mental health parity.

Supporters said the measure would help end the stigma of mental illness and create greater access for people needing mental health and addiction treatment.

Opponents warned it could drive up health care costs and force some employers to drop insurance coverage.

The "Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007" was named for the late Minnesota Democratic senator who championed the issue for years and who was killed in a 2002 plane crash.

"It's a historic step," said the late senator's son, David, 42. "It's a civil rights bill for people with mental illnesses and chemical addiction. It forces insurance companies to treat them as they treat others."

Forty-seven Republicans

joined 221 Democrats in voting for the bill. Three Democrats voted against it.

The House vote sets the stage for talks with the Senate, which passed a narrower version of the bill last September with support from business and insurance groups.

The White House said it favors the Senate bill because it addresses the need to treat mental illnesses with the same urgency as physical illnesses but wouldn't significantly raise health care costs.

The House bill was sponsored by Reps. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., who has battled depression, alcoholism and drug abuse, and Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., a recovering alcoholic who is Kennedy's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.

"It's about opening up the doors and ending the shadow of discrimination against the mentally ill," said Kennedy.

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, a longtime mental health advocate, said the bill would help erase the stigma of mental illness that prevents many people from seeking treatment.

The Senate bill was sponsored

It means that mental illness would now have to be treated like any other illness. For example some insurance carriers will not cover any mental health related issues. Some limit the amount of care you can get for mental health issues. This changes that. Now mental health issues are treated the same as other health issues.