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eNewsletter - December 20, 2007
Ending Insurance Discrimination
Congress did not act on the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act before it adjourned. Because of your advocacy and the advocacy of allied organizations, the issue will be on the front burner when members return to Washington at the end of January.
We have learned that the House Leadership remains strongly committed to taking action to ending insurance discrimination facing people with addiction and mental illness early next year. The pending bills, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 in the US House of Representatives and the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 in the Senate, will be taken up at the same place in the legislative process that they are now when Congress reconvenes. That means that all of the progress toward enactment of a strong, meaningful bill to tackle insurance discrimination that was made this year can be used for a final push in 2008.
In the House and in the Senate, two leading Republicans who have spent many years on Capitol Hill advocating to end insurance discrimination are retiring from Congress at the end of 2008 – Representative Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM). Both have pledged to do everything that they can to ensure passage of a bill. According to Representative Ramstad’s chief of staff Dean Peterson, Representative Ramstad “wants to see his mental health and addiction treatment legislation become law before he leaves Congress.”
Evidence of the need for a strong bill continues to grow. In an article in the most recent issue of Health Affairs, there’s new support for the House version of the bill. According to the authors, “The version of parity legislation passed by the Senate would allow plans to vary the types of mental disorders covered under parity and to drop out-of-network MH coverage altogether if they decide that offering such benefits is not in their best interest. In contrast, the parity bill moving through the House would require plans to cover all mental disorders and to cover out-of-network mental health treatment at the same levels as other out-of-network treatment.”
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please take advantage of the Congressional recess to set up a meeting with your members of Congress. You can use our guide for step-by-step tips on setting up a meeting.