Ohio Mental Health Parity Update

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Dear Friend of ASO:

An update on Mental Health Parity Legislation in Ohio. While this legislation does not address autism specifically, it will help our population, especially adolescents and adults. FYI - Please share.

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--------------------------

Mental Health Parity Advocates We are now in the home stretch in our race to have Ohio join the 36 other states in the country that have enacted Mental Health Parity legislation. In the next 30 days, New York is expected to become the 37th state, passing ’s Law, eliminating the discrimination that is allowed to exist there. The legislation is named for O'Clair, a Schenectady boy who took his life in 2001. The O'Clair family's health insurance for his mental illness had run out, and his parents gave up custody of him so he could get more treatment. Proponents of the bill say it is long overdue and, if passed, will bring New York in line with dozens of other states. Our best opportunity in Ohio may present itself after the elections in the session that will end no later than December 31st. If we are to win legislative support for for HB 180 and SB 116 (Mental Health Parity), our advocacy campaign must shift to the scene of the local district races. On November 7th, 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 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 canbe downloaded and printed as a guide for advocates to use during this coming general 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 put 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. Pleas 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, or if you have any questions, please contact Blair Young at blair@... Thank you for all that you do for the Ohioans we all represent.

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