Mental Health Bill to Face House Vote

[Guest guest]

Mental

Health Bill to Face House Vote

Email this Story

Dec 28, 3:50 AM (ET)

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER

WASHINGTON

(AP) - After years of trying, advocates think they have a good chance of

getting Congress to pass legislation next year that would require equal health

insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses, if their policies include

both.

The legislation, named for the late Sen.

Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat who championed the cause, has strong support in

Congress but has run into GOP roadblocks. In the last congressional session,

231 House members - more than half of the chamber - signed on as co-sponsors.

The GOP leadership, which in the past had expressed concern that the proposal

would drive up health insurance premiums, wouldn't bring it up for a vote.

In 2003, Senate Democrats tried to win passage

of the bill as a tribute to Wellstone, who died in a plane crash the previous

year. Republicans blocked an attempt to pass it by unanimous consent.

" I'm very optimistic that 2007 will

finally be the year that our health care system recognizes that the brain is,

in fact, a part of the body, " said Rep. Kennedy, a Rhode Island

Democrat who sponsored the bill in the last Congress. " We've had majority

support for this legislation six years in a row, and now we have a chance to

bring it to the floor and pass it. "

Kennedy has worked to erase the stigma of

depression and other mental health problems. He has been candid about his own

mental health, including being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he has won

praise for speaking publicly about suffering from depression since his teenage

years, taking antidepressant medication and regularly seeing a psychiatrist. He

has also acknowledged being in recovery for alcoholism and substance abuse.

Kennedy's lead co-sponsor, Minnesota

Republican Jim Ramstad, said a " silver lining " to the Democrats

winning both houses of Congress is the increased chances of passing the bill,

known as mental health parity.

" The Republican leadership would not give

us a vote, " said Ramstad, a recovering alcoholic who has pushed for

improved treatment for those with alcohol and drug dependency.

Ramstad said that incoming House Speaker

Pelosi, D-Calif., has told him the bill will come up for a vote on the House

floor, which Pelosi spokesman n Daly confirmed.

" We need to deal as a nation with America's No. 1

health problem, " Ramstad said. " It's not only the right thing to do,

but the cost-effective thing do. "

Prospects have also improved in the Senate.

Incoming Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is a big backer of mental health

parity, as is Kennedy's father, Massachusetts Democrat M. Kennedy, who

will chair the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next year.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who worked with

Wellstone on the legislation, called the bill one of his top priorities in the

next Congress.

A 1996 law already prohibits health plans that

offer mental health coverage from setting lower annual and lifetime spending

limits for mental treatments than for physical ailments. But backers want to

see that expanded to things like co-payments, deductibles and limits on doctor

visits.

Mohit M. Ghose, a spokesman for America's

Health Insurance Plans, said that the trade group hopes to tackle the country's

challenge of providing coverage to the uninsured in the next Congress.

" To accomplish this goal, we believe that

consumers and employers must have the ability to choose the type of health care

coverage they can afford and that most suits their needs, " he said.

" We hope that any discussion of mental health and other health care

legislation will occur in this context next year. "

J.P. Fielder, a spokesman for the National

Association of Manufacturers, said his group doesn't support " additional

mandates to health care coverage that will drive up these costs to

employers. " He declined to say whether he considered this bill to be a

mandate, saying the group was still reviewing issues that will come up in the

next Congress.

Sperling, a lobbyist for the National

Alliance for the Mentally Ill, said the bill was not a mandate because it

doesn't require insurance plans to provide mental health coverage.

" We don't want to get in the trap of

making this a mandate, " he said. " We believe this is a coverage

condition. "

He added: " We believe the brain is an

organ like any other, and coverage should be equitable. Treatment is

effective. "

L. Shern, president and CEO of Mental

Health America

(formerly the National Mental Health Association), said cost should not be a

concern. He pointed to a study this year in the New England Journal of

Medicine, which found that the government's decision to provide parity to

federal employees in their health insurance plans did not drive up the cost of

mental health care.

" I'm hoping we

have nailed all of the concerns, " Shern said. " It's the right thing

to do, we have the data that says it's affordable, so our hope is this will be

the year to set this benchmark nationally. "

1f u c4n r34d th1s u

r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d.