“On Friday, they won an enormous victory when Congress passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
The law doesn’t require health insurers to cover mental health care. But if they do, they’ll have to treat psychological and addictive disorders just as they do other medical conditions.
Put another way, insurers will no longer be able to limit the number of visits or charge higher deductibles and co-payments for mental health and substance abuse services.
“If you have insurance, then your mental health care must be equal to the benefits you get for any other disease,” said Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), quoted in a Reuters article. His daughter has schizophrenia.”
I meant to blog this, but forgot. And I’m glad others did. This is incredibly important bill and I am really excited to see this implemented. What is more incredible is the story behind it. As mentioned above, Domenici’s daughter was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, and although the family was well off, it still cost them a great deal of money. As the WSJ reports, Domenici began crusading for this bill n 1996, 12 years ago. The original Co-sponsor and the other person the bill is named after, Sen. Paul Wellstone, died in a plane crash in 2002. The man who took up the co-sponsorship after Wellstone, Sen. Edward Kennedy, is currently battling brain cancer and was not there when the bill was voted on. Domenici, himself 76 years old, is retiring after being diagnosed with an incurable, degenerative brain disease. The struggles that went into making this bill a reality are breathtaking.
Also interesting is that this bill was passed along with the $700 billion bailout, so let’s not bash that so much. It had been contested for years by lobbyists for the insurance companies and many house Republicans. That it finally passed is a true testament to Domenici’s character and perseverance about a cause he is truly and passionately devoted to. It is rare to see such altruism and goodness in politics and I wish that it were more common.
“Kennedy keeps telling me, ‘Domenici, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done here, all these budgets and balanced budgets. This is the best thing you’ve ever done,’ ” Mr. Domenici said in an interview last summer.
Interesting fact: I went to DC in April and lobbied on this exact piece of legislation. I really didn’t expect it to get enacted any time soon. Although, I do find it ironic that they passed the mental health parity bill with the economic bailout - some people are going to rely on mental health treatment to get through the even tougher times ahead.
