Mental Health Parity and Ohio Legislative Advocacy

[Guest guest]

Dear Friend of ASO:

A great update and reminder from "Grassroots Advocates" regarding Mental Health Parity. Remember that this was a recommendation of the Ohio Autism Taskforce and could be the first step in securing insurance parity for autism.

One point that the update makes is that in 2006, all of the members of the state House of Representatives are up for election or re-election as well as half of our state Senators. Since I have been working with the various people at a statewide level on the recommendations, I have come to realize that it is imperative that we in the autism community make our voices heard to our state legislators. And nothing speaks to our legislators like money and votes! As private citizens, we can contribute $50 per person or $100 per couple to the candidate of our choice and receive a dollar for dollar tax credit! If you have a support group, or your place of employment serves persons with autism, schedule a “meet the candidate†night. Opposing candidates can come to meet with your group together separately to share their views with you on areas of concern. You can also make legislators aware of the challenges that face persons with autism and their families in Ohio and the barriers to getting needed services. Remember – be constructive and considerate. Don’t invite legislators in for a complaint session, but for positive dialog on the issues – we want them on our side and thinking how they can be part of the solution.

Not sure how to find your state legislators? Visit www.house.state.oh.us, click on “Your Representatives†and enter your zipcode. Visit www.senate.state.oh.us, click on “Your Senators†and enter your zipcode.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! We expect to be pushing several items related to autism in the next budget and this will help lay the ground work for our efforts.

Sincerely,

Barbara C. YavorcikPresidentAutism Society of Ohio701 S. Main St.Akron, OH 44311(330) 376-0211fax: (330) 376-1226email: askASO@...home: byavorcik@...web: www.autismohio.org Please note: This is provided for information purposes only. The ASO does not endorse or recommend any providers, methodologies or services. Providing this information should not be construed as an endorsement by the ASO, either explicit or impiled.

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Mental Health Parity Advocates

As Ohio’s primary election season approaches, the campaign to win support for HB 180 and SB 116 (Mental Health Parity) will shift to the scene of the local district races. On May 2nd, we will vote on all 99 of Ohio House of Representative seats and half of the 33 Ohio Senate seats. That means that we will have a great opportunity to discuss the need for Mental Health Parity in the Ohio with candidates for each of these seats in every community in the state.

The Coalition for Healthy Communities has developed a new Toolkit for Mental Health Parity Advocates that can be used to take advantage of the access we will have to candidates during community forums and candidates nights in the coming months. This Toolkit is posted on the NAMI Ohio Website at http://www.namiohio.org/ and can downloaded and printed as a guide for advocates to use during this coming primary election season.

As you know, parity advocates have been working tirelessly for many years on this important legislative initiative and have made significant progress over the past several years. HB 180 sponsor Representative Jon and SB 116 sponsor Senator Bob Spada have been our champions in Columbus, but they desperately need our help in order to maintain the momentum we have created on this piece of legislation. While we have many supporters of Mental Health Parity in the House and Senate, leadership has continued to block hearings and the opportunity to place this legislation up for a vote. With your help, we can change that with an aggressive campaign to place this issue before every legislative candidate in Ohio at local candidate forums all across the state.

Please pass this email along to all advocates in your local network and ask them to join you in this effort. When you have identified an event that you will be actively participating in, please contact Blair Young at blair@...

Thank you for all that you do for the Ohioans we all represent.

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