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(Washington D.C.)- Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk), Co-Chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus, joined her colleagues Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN) as an original cosponsor of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007, introduced into the House of Representatives today as H.R. 1367. The Senate version of the bill has been introduced as S. 558 by Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM).
“For the past several months we have collected information through testimony from ordinary Americans who have been victims of insurance plan skullduggery and greed,” explained Congresswoman Napolitano. “Americans with mental illnesses pay their premiums like everyone else and deserve the same rights from their insurance on these conditions as everyone else receives for other physical conditions.”
Often health insurance plans impose limits on mental health and addiction coverage, leaving families and individuals to fight for obtaining care as they face the burdens of these illnesses on their own. The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act is aimed at ensuring equal coverage for mental health and addiction treatment, and eliminates discriminatory provisions that erect obstacles for Americans with mental health and addiction disorders.
This life-saving legislation would eliminate disparities in health coverage, while at the same time providing safeguards for employers, by:
- Guaranteeing that plans cover the same range of mental illnesses and addiction disorders offered by the federal employee health plan that Members of Congress use.
- Ensuring that any financial requirements and treatment limitations applied to mental health and addiction benefits are no more restrictive or costly than the financial requirements or treatment limitations applied to medical and surgical benefits.
- Excluding from coverage requirements businesses of less than 50 employees and those that experience an overall premium increase of 2 percent or more in the first year and 1 percent in subsequent years.
“More than 57 million Americans suffer from mental illness and 26 million with chemical addiction,” noted Congresswoman Napolitano. “Last year untreated addiction cost our economy $400 billion and untreated mental illness over $150 billion, yet an exhaustive study found that it is not the treatment of mental illness and chemical addiction that is expensive, rather, it’s the failure to treat them.”
“Mental illnesses are diagnosable and treatable, and Congress must act not only to erase the stigma, but also to ensure that insurance companies are providing adequate coverage and proper long term treatment that will lead to healthy and productive lives, versus the risk of relapses which ultimately cost insurance companies much more.”
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