ACTION NEEDED ON PARITY ACT

An important item is percolating through Congress: the Mental Health Parity Act.  We encourage all NAMI members to contact their US Congressman (for most NAMI Barrington Area members that would be either Rep. Melissa Bean or Rep. Mark Kirk) as well as Senators Durbin and Obama on this issue.    Links which make contacting your legislators very easy are included in this article.

This bill would provide that employer provided health insurance programs must cover mental health services the same way they cover other illnesses.   According to the latest e-newsletter from Mental Health America...     

Enactment of a parity law this year is within reach. The House bill, H.R. 1424, moved forward with the Committee on Labor and Education adopting a modified version of the bill in a July 18th meeting.  Two other House committees must still act on the bill, and in the Senate, that bill’s sponsors are still working to resolve issues to enable that body to pass S. 558, the “Mental Health Parity Act of 2007”.
   

In the Senate, the sponsors (Senators Domenici, Kennedy and Enzi) have worked to tighten S. 558 since it won committee approval in February, and Senator Kennedy (D-MA) is working toward offering a modified version of the bill on the Senate floor.  S. 558 would close loopholes in existing law and provide full parity for both treatment limits (such as day and visit limits) and out-of-pocket costs (such as copayments and deductibles) for some 113 million Americans in health care coverage sponsored by larger employers (over 50 employees, as in current law).  Importantly, the bill, as modified, preserves a wide range of state laws including those that mandate provision of mental health benefits, those requiring coverage of specific mental disorders, and those providing broader patient protections.  (Take Action)

There was some concern that the Senate version of the bill would override provisions in state laws which provided better coverage than the US bill would require.  The bill has been amended, however, to make it clear that the US law will allow states to require better coverage than the minimums in the federal law.  As a result we urge everyone to contact their Representative and Senators and urge them to support HR 1424. 

It’s easy to do.  Just click on one of the links above, and your e-mail will be on its way.  Or if you prefer, write your letters on paper and put it in the US mail.  If you’re not sure how to do that, just go to the NAMA Barrington Area webpage at http://namibarringtonarea.org/advocacy.html