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Recovery in the News
Murphy takes on critics of proposed mental health bill
Jerome L. Sherman
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
October 17, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania's Rep. Tim Murphy yesterday defended a bill that would use a weighty handbook from the American Psychiatric Association to define the range of mental health and substance abuse disorders covered by private insurance plans.
The bill, which is aimed at giving more Americans the same access to coverage for mental health needs as they have for physical health problems, is receiving broad support among House lawmakers.
But during a committee hearing yesterday, some other Republicans expressed concern that the association's book would play such a prominent role in the legislation.
Mr. Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, a child psychologist, sided against his GOP colleagues. "I don't understand why, on this issue of health, we somehow don't want to look to experts on mental health to help us with some decisions," he said.
The bill's lead sponsor is Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., who has a history of depression and substance abuse. His father, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is a sponsor of a similar bill that passed in the Senate last month.
Some business and insurance organizations support the Senate version because it doesn't rely on the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, a standard guide for mental health professionals.
GOP lawmakers yesterday mocked the book for going beyond serious conditions, to include jet lag and caffeine withdrawal disorder.
"Having a bad day -- could you actually bill your health provider for those circumstances that are listed in this 880-page manual?" asked Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla. "It appears to me that this bill is not about parity, but rather it's a bonanza for mental health professionals."
Mr. Murphy said critics were misreading the DSM, noting that it includes a condition such as jet lag only to differentiate it from far more serious sleeping disorders.
Thousands of doctors are involved with compiling the manual, according to Dr. Darrel Regier, the association's director of research.
"What was missing was an appreciation of how a diagnosis is used in general medicine or in psychiatry," Dr. Regier said of yesterday's hearing. "The mere fact of having a diagnosis does not necessitate treatment."
Mr. Murphy joined House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats to block an amendment by Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., that would have removed the DSM standard.
Some Republicans also complained about the projected cost of the legislation and worried that it would push some private insurers to drop mental health coverage altogether.
Mr. Murphy noted a Rand Corp. study that says untreated depression alone costs employers billions of dollars a year.
While a federal mental health parity law was approved in 1996, the new legislation would address disparities that still exist -- for example, in co-payments and deductibles.
The full House must now vote on the bill.
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