Home Federal and Wisconsin Political Information

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NAMI has a federal legislation page that provides information on national issues and helps you write a letter to them to email or print to fax or mail.  Emailing officials is not recommended, as they receive huge amounts of email and some do not read them.  Fax, mail and phone contact information is provided below for our representatives.  Please contact them to express your views on the issues below.

• Keeping Families Together Act, S380/HR 823/HR 2865  Funds state grants to provide services to prevent parents from having to relinquish custody.  Parents being forced to give up custody of their children to obtain medical benefits for them is a national scandal.  While relinquishing custody to gain medical coverage is illegal in Wisconsin, parents in many other states are forced to give up custody to get their children treatment.  Contact our federal representatives to stop it in the rest of the country.
• Dylan Lee James Act, S183/HR 1443   Allows families to purchase Medicaid coverage for disabled children.
  Call Sen Herb Kohl at (800) 247-5645  to thank him for cosponsoring this bill.
  Call Rep. Ron Kind at (888) 442-8040 to thank him for cosponsoring this bill.
  
• Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2005 HR 1402:  Insurance parity for mental health.  Requires mental health care to be covered by insurance in the same way as other physical illnesses.  It would add about 1% to insurance costs, but save some families from financial ruin.  It is currently in committee in both the House and Senate.
  Call Sen Herb Kohl at (800) 247-5645  to thank him for supporting parity.
  Call Rep. Ron Kind at (888) 442-8040 to thank him for cosponsoring this bill.
  Call Pres. George W. Bush at  202-456-1111 to thank him for supporting parity.
• Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act  Supports jail diversion programs.  Ask our representatives to work to have this funded in next year's budget. 
  This is became law in 2004 but was not funded in the budget.
• Positive Aging Act of 2004, Grants to find ways to improve service provision for senior citizens.

• Our Federal Representatives and their contact information is below. 

The two major State of Wisconsin issues are that we do not have parity and the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). 

Parity requires insurers to pay for mental health problems in the same way as they pay for other physical illnesses.  The closest approximation to parity currently before the legislature is a COLA to the 1985 law requiring insurers to cover a minimum amount of mental health treatment. It is SB 128/ AB 252.  If you live in Iowa County, Call Assemblyman Stephen Freese at  (888) 534-0051 to thank him for cosponsoring this bill.

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights would reduce the ability of county and local governments to provide necessary services.  State and federal funding cuts are straining local governments already!  NAMI Wisconsin opposes TABOR. 

Please contact your Senator and Representative to discuss the importance of parity and the damage TABOR would do to our local services.  Contact your represenatives to discuss the importance of these issues and to find out what their views are. 

Our area is represented by two State Senators and three State Assembly members. If you are not sure what district you are in, Wisconsin has a website that will tell you when you enter your address.  The Wisconsin State Senators are:

Wisconsin State Assembly Representatives Garthwaite and Hilgenberg are Democrats. 

Rep. Nerison is a Republican.  Their contact information is

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