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Recovery in the News
Law on mental-illness coverage near fruition as details ironed out
Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Orlando Sentinel
November 23, 2007
Washington- The House is expected to pass legislation in December that would require health-insurance plans to cover mental illnesses the same way they treat physical ailments, but the initiative is hung up by a father-son dispute about just what types of disorders should be included.
Both Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., are the chief champions in Congress of "mental-health parity" legislation.
But the senator is pushing for a bill that would allow insurers to decide for themselves what mental illnesses to cover, while his son wants the equal-treatment rule to be extended to every disorder recognized by the American Psychiatric Association -- the same list of illnesses covered in health plans used by members of Congress.
"Anybody who pays their health-insurance premiums is entitled to expect their plan to be there when they get sick," said Rep. Kennedy, "whether the disease is in their heart, their kidneys or their brain."
For Rep. Kennedy, the issue is a personal one.
A seven-term lawmaker, Kennedy's long struggle with depression and addictions to drugs and alcohol became very public last year when he crashed his car into a security barricade on Capitol Hill and later said he was addicted to prescription medicines.
Fellow Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., became Kennedy's AA sponsor.
The two they later teamed up to support legislation mandating equal insurance treatment for mental health.
Many health plans now offer different treatment for mental and physical ailments.
Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel