As you know, Congressman Kennedy and Congressman Ramstad introduced The Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act (H.R. 1402). This legislation to end insurance discrimination against mental health and addiction treatment has a bipartisan majority of 230 Representatives cosponsoring. The House leadership has refused to give it a fair up-or-down vote. Representatives Kennedy and Ramstad have launched an effort to force a vote and your help is NEEDED!

Under House rules, if 218 Representatives sign a "discharge petition," the bill is automatically brought to the Floor for consideration. Representatives Kennedy and Ramstad recently launched a discharge petition and in two days 165 signatures were on the petition. To get the remaining 53 signatures, they need your help.

Kennedy-Ramstad bill, H.R. 1402, addresses discrimination in group health plans against persons with mental or substance use disorders. It would expand the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 by prohibiting group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations on mental health benefits that are different from those applied to medical/surgical services. The legislation closes the loopholes that allow discrimination in the copayment, coinsurance, deductible, maximum out-of-pocket limit and day and visit limits. It applies only to group health plans already providing mental health benefits, and excludes (as does current law) health plans sponsored by employers of fewer than 50 people.

New data has proven that parity in the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program has had minimal cost. Members of Congress and their staffs are among the 8.5 million federal employees, retirees and dependents who have had parity for BOTH mental health and substance use disorders since January 2001. H.R. 1402 was modeled on that federal employee benefit.

Members of Congress are campaigning this month and attending many public forums. These are perfect opportunities to ask them to commit to signing the discharge petition, or asking new candidates to pledge their support for the Wellstone bill in the next Congress. Calls and emails to Representatives' offices also help. Please do what you can, and ask others to do the same.

Message: “I am a child and adolescent psychiatrist from your district and am calling to ask that Representative __________ sign discharge petition #18 for immediate passage of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act when the House returns in November. I appreciate his/her support for improving access for the many families and children with mental illnesses.”

Please contact the AACAP Dept. of Government Affairs at 800.333. 7636, x. 108, or e-mail aschopick@aacap.org, with questions and to let us know when you have contacted your Representative. Thank you for your action!

Department of Government Affairs
Kristin K. Ptakowski, Director
Nuala Moore, Deputy Director
Abigail Schopick, Legislative Assistant