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Recovery in the News
Representatives gather support for health reform
Shaun Bishop
Palo Alto Daily News
February 22, 2007
Theresa Bassett, a counselor who has bipolar disorder, had two things in common with two members of Congress she spoke to at a hearing Wednesday.
Like Reps. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., she has battled alcoholism. And, like Kennedy and Ramstad, Bassett, who is with San Mateo County's Pathways program, came to Redwood City to speak in favor of a mental health and addiction treatment bill. The hearing was part of a national tour by the congressmen to gather an official record of support for the legislation.
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, also sat in on the testimony at the county government center and, much in line with the sentiment of the room, praised Kennedy and Ramstad's cause.
"This is something that's part of the American family. I believe firmly that the American family can help change this," Eshoo said.
The bill, named the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equality Act after the late senator who worked on similar legislation, would require health insurance companies to offer benefits for mental health and treatment for addiction.
Currently, officials said, insurers impose higher co-payments, deductibles and out-of-pocket limits and apply other restrictions for mental health and addiction treatment. The bill died in committee during the last Congress, but supporters are optimistic that it will be reintroduced and heard on the House floor this session.
"This is not just another public policy issue. This is a matter of life or death for millions of Americans," Ramstad said. "We've got to deal with America's number-one public health crisis, and this is it."
The congressional field hearing in the Board of Supervisors' chambers drew dozens of experts in the mental health and addiction fields, along with people who have had such issues affect their lives.
The proceedings were often emotional, including one by Victor Ojakian, former mayor of Palo Alto, whose son Adam committed suicide in December 2004 while a student at UC Davis.
"I've given a lot of speeches but this one's always the hard one to do," Ojakian said, choking back tears. Eshoo dabbed her eyes while Ojakian spoke of his and his wife's efforts to reform the university's mental health services.
Kennedy pointed out that three members of Congress had experienced suicides in their families last year.
"This is an epidemic that knows no boundaries in our society," he said.
Other speakers shared their struggles and successes with treatment for various mental ailments and addictions while experts and county officials laid out the impacts of the afflictions on the community.
The effects of untreated substance abuse and mental health problems cost San Mateo County an estimated $725 million annually, said Steve Kaplan, director of substance abuse and shelter services for the county.
Steve Winter, an Arizona resident whose mentally ill mother shot him when he was 16, leaving him in a wheelchair for life, said changing the law could have profound effects on peoples' lives.
"Insurance companies don't care and the only chance it's going to change is legislation," he said.
E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.
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