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Heard in the Halls is an E-mail service of NAMI North Carolina to provide updates on state legislative and policy issues. Heard in the Halls is produced for community advocates at least monthly and more frequently during sessions of the General Assembly. To be added to the Heard in the Halls list send an E-mail to heard@naminc.org with only one word “subscribe” (no quotes) in the subject header. Because of problems with some E-mail systems, we now send Heard in the Halls only in plain text. You can view a formatted version of this or previous issues of Heard in the Halls at our web site www.naminc.org
April 30, 2004
2nd Anniversary of President's Call for Congress to Act on Parity Legislation
April 29th marked the two-year anniversary of President Bush's call for Congress to pass mental illness insurance parity legislation. Despite overwhelming congressional support for this legislation, action in Congress on parity legislation (S 486/HR 953) has stalled. Currently, the Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act has 69 Senate cosponsors, and 245 House cosponsors. This inaction in Congress is occurring despite public support from President Bush. In 2002, he publicly declared his support for parity and called on Congress to act.
Action Required
NAMI advocates are strongly urged to E-mail President Bush to express support for mental illness parity legislation and to urge him to renew his pledge of support and press Senate and House leaders to move S 486/HR 953 forward immediately.
Click on the link below for a sample letter that you can send to the President.
Also, advocates can call the White House comment line at 202-456-1414.
You might also contact your Senators and your Representative, urging the leadership to move this legislation forward.
Advocates are urged to remind President Bush that:
· Two years have gone by since you declared support for federal mental illness insurance parity legislation yet Congress has refused to act,
· A recent national poll found that 83% of the American public believes that insurance policies should provide equal or greater coverage for mental illnesses,
· According to this same poll, 78% believe that placing routine limits on benefits for the mental illness treatment and requiring people to pay more out-of-pocket money for their mental health care is unfair,
· Untreated mental illness costs American businesses, government and families at least $79 billion annually in lost productivity and unemployment, broken lives and broken families, emergency room visits, homelessness and unnecessary use of jails and prisons,
· Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and severe anxiety disorders are real illnesses,
· Treatment for mental illness works, if accessible - treatment efficacy rates for most severe mental illnesses exceed those for heart disease and diabetes,
· There is simply no scientific or medical justification for insurance coverage of mental illness treatment to be on different terms and conditions than other diseases,
· Discriminatory insurance coverage of mental illness bankrupts families and places a tremendous burden on taxpayers through higher expenditures for public disability and health benefits, chronic homelessness and inappropriate "criminalization" of mental illness, and
· 34 states have enacted parity laws similar to S 486/HR 953, but even these laws offer no protection for workers and their families covered under self-insured Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plans.