National Alliance on Mental Illness
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(800) 950-NAMI; info@nami.org
©2013
Help Us Pass Parity This Year!
September 19, 2008
With only a week left before it plans to adjourn, Congress is set to take final action on legislation to require groups health plans to equitably cover treatment for mental illness. The House may vote as early as Monday on a compromise parity bill, while the Senate is expected to vote on Tuesday on an omnibus tax package that includes the same bill. This could place parity in a procedural impasse between the House and Senate with barely a week remaining in the current congressional session.
ACT NOW!
We need your help today to make sure that Congress passes parity and sends it to the President! Call 1-866-PARITY4 (1-866-727-4894) and tell your House member and Senators to take action on mental illness parity legislation – the Paul Wellstone-Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Demand that Congress:
- NOT adjourn without completing action on mental illness parity (HR 1424/S 558) and sending it to the President,
- NOT hold parity hostage as part of negotiations over unrelated legislation – children and adults with mental illness and their families have been waiting nearly two decades for Congress to act on legislation to ensure that mental illnesses are equitably covered in health insurance.
Remind all members of Congress that:
- Mental illnesses are real,
- Treatment works – if you can get it,
- There is no justification for a health plan to impose limitations or conditions on mental illness treatment that do not apply to all other medical conditions, and
- There is broad agreement on a compromise version of the mental illness insurance parity bill (S 558-HR 1424), now Congress just needs to finish the job and pass the bill so it can be signed in to law this year.
The toll-free Parity Hotline-- 1-866-PARITY4 (1-866-727-4894) -- reaches the U.S. Capitol switchboard, which can connect callers to the offices of their members in both houses of Congress. If you don’t know the names of your Senators and Representative, click here and enter your ZIP code.
Learn More
Click here to learn more about the current status of mental illness insurance parity legislation in the House and Senate.