---
title: "Psych News Alert: New Laws Improve Treatment Options for Mentally Ill in Illinois"
description: Illinois residents suffering from mental illness and substance abuse disorders will now have greater access to mental health care services...
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Illinois_1441814-Jun-24-2025-07-44-34-2816-PM.jpg
---

 8/19/11 12:00 AM

# New Laws Improve Treatment Options for Mentally Ill in Illinois

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

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Illinois residents suffering from mental illness and substance abuse disorders will now have greater access to mental health care services under a set of new laws enacted August 18 by Governor Pat Quinn. Among the new measures is a law requiring insurance companies to provide equal coverage for mental health and substance abuse treatment—a law that exceeds the requirements of the recently enacted federal mental health parity legislation.

Another new law signed by Quinn creates a task force charged with developing a strategic plan for state mental health and developmental disabilities services. Additional measures establish regional mental health networks and new local community health advisory committees.

For the latest on efforts to finalize federal parity law regulations, read more in today's issue of *Psychiatric News* at [http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/16/5.1.full](http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/16/5.1.full).

Additional information about the parity rule-making process can be found at  [http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/45/15/9.2.full](http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/45/15/9.2.full) .

(Image: Shutterstock)

[mental health parity](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/mental-health-parity)

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