COLUMBIA, S.C. - A House panel has approved a bill that would require insurance companies to cover mental illness treatment but it limits how long the coverage would last each year.

A House subcommittee on Wednesday approved the bill that would require coverage for nine mental disabilities including major depression and bipolar disorder. The proposal would limit coverage to 105 days a year. Key lawmakers insisted a cap was the bill's only chance of passing.

The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce has led strong opposition to the bill, forcing legislators and mental health advocates to compromise. Attempts to pass a state law adding mental health coverage to insurance policies have failed since 1996.

The bill also directs the state Insurance Department to calculate how much the new coverage adds to the cost of insurance premiums over time.

Rep. Skipper Perry, R-Aiken, was the only legislator that voted against the compromise bill.

"This amendment guts the bill," he said. "You can compromise things out of existence."

Mental health advocates were concerned the bill was discrimination.

"You would never tell somebody with a heart condition, 'You can only go in 10 times a year, and if you make it, fine; if you don't, too bad,' " said Joy Jay, executive director of the Mental Health Association of South Carolina.