Last week President Bush signed the economic bailout bill, but what you probably don’t know is that attached to that bill was a requirement that health insurance groups provide equal coverage of physical and mental illnesses. What this means is that any insurance provider whose coverage includes treatment for mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, or even alcoholism must offer equal coverage for those illnesses as for physical ailments such as pneumonia or broken bones.

Of course this makes any Estate Planning Attorney’s mind turn to the health provisions we provide our clients in their estate plans, specifically the Advanced Health Care Directive. Most people, when they consider what to include in their Advanced Health Care Directive, think for the most part about what instructions to give their agents about pulling (or not pulling) the plug when a doctor declares you brain dead. But perhaps it’s time to make the Health Care Directive more comprehensive. If insurance providers will soon be addressing mental illnesses, shouldn’t we?

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