In the middle of this swindle, someone wrote Mental Health Parity into the bill.

[EFerrari]

It would be nice to know who had the presence of mind to write this in. We've been trying to get this passed for many years with no luck at all. Whoever it was was thinking of us while the rest of the bastards were stuffing pork for their corporate owners:


Mental Health America Hails Approval of Federal Parity Legislation
Last update: 1:32 p.m. EDT Oct. 3, 2008

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct 03, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Bill Broadly Outlaws Health Insurance Discrimination; Recognizes Importance of Mental Health to Overall Health

Mental Health America today hailed as "a great civil rights victory" the approval of a mental health parity legislation that will broadly outlaw health insurance discrimination against Americans with mental health and substance-use conditions in employer-sponsored health plans.

The legislation, which recognizes the importance of mental health to overall health, bans employers and insurers from imposing stricter limits on coverage for mental health and substance-use conditions than those set for other health problems. It will provide parity for 82 million Americans covered by self-insured plans and another 31 million in plans that are subject to state regulation.

It is estimated that roughly 67 percent of adults and 80 percent of children requiring mental health services do not receive help, in large part because of discriminatory insurance practices

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/mental-health-america-hails-approval/story.aspx?guid=%7BC653BF6F-BFCB-4A33-A657-AC4132467F35%7D&dist=hppr

[soulcore]

1. Well at least SOMETHING good came out of it. n/t

[derby378]

2. And now, a brief pause as we await the President's veto...

Either that, or a signing statement that effectively guts this portion of the bill as "pork." More Carribean rum, anybody?

[EFerrari]

7. There may well be a catch but the Executive has no valid reason

to "disregard" this part of the bill. He's not in that loop.

[Lancer]

3. GREAT victory. Long time coming.

I want to know who deserves the credit!

[EFerrari]

13. It may be Domenici. If Teddy were at work, it certainly would have been him

as well. :)

[Hannah Bell]

4. $ to pharma.

[EFerrari]

11. If it were only that, it would have passed long ago. n/t

[Marie26]

5. Looks like it was Sen. Domenici - a Republican

WASHINGTON (AP) — Talk about going out with a win.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., has spent years fighting for legislation that would require insurance plans to treat mental health patients on par with those who have physical ailments. No more higher copays or deductibles for the mental health treatments. No more limits on visits to the doctor that differ from the caps for other patients.

Domenici, after six terms, is leaving office this year. One of his final votes was on the mental health legislation he fought so hard for over the years.

The mental health protections are part of a massive bill designed to help the economy. Dominici senses that somehow the bill will become law, even though many lawmakers from both parties are unhappy with the economic bailout.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5imxoTLxgROPF147hv7m0M4LPustAD93J0E600

[EFerrari]

10. Teddy Kennedy worked hard on this, too. He's going to be happy

about this bit of it.

[Marie26]

30. Chris Dodd introduced the amendment

that folded the "mental health parity" provision into the bailout bill. I'm glad at least some good will come out of this bill.

From the Cong. Rec.:

S.AMDT.5685
Amends: H.R.1424
Amendments to this amendment: S.AMDT.5687
Sponsor: Sen Dodd, Christopher J. (submitted 10/1/2008) (proposed 10/1/2008)
AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
In the nature of a substitute.

TEXT OF AMENDMENT AS SUBMITTED: CR S10340-10386

PAUL WELLSTONE MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION EQUITY ACT OF 2008 -- (Senate - October 01, 2008)


--- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to H.R. 1424, which the clerk will report by title.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (H.R. 1424) to amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act, section 9812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require equity in the provision of mental health and substance-related disorder benefits under group health plans, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment, and for other purposes.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR01424:@@@X

[EFerrari]

32. Blessings on Chris Dodd's head.

Thanks.

[Swamp Rat]

6. THEY expect the level of pharmaceutical/drug abuse to rise sharply now

[NNN0LHI]

12. Abbie Normal?

:rofl:

[Night_Nurse]

66. LOL... I LOVE that movie! Halloween staple!

[librechik]

8. maybe after a couple of generations of better mental health care, our leaders won't be so insane.

something to look forward to...

[Jamastiene]

108. Well said.

:thumbsup:

[doyourealize1]

9. I applaud this

We Buddhists believe the body is composed of two parts: the physical body and the mind. I am blessed for having the nest egg that helps me treat my illness. I am glad that I am able that others will have help in battling mental illness, as well.

[EFerrari]

14. This is what discrimination has meant to our country:

It is estimated that roughly 67 percent of adults and 80 percent of children requiring mental health services do not receive help, in large part because of discriminatory insurance practices

[HEyHEY]

15. Nice!

[enlightenment]

16. Only helpful if you have insurance.

And expect the insurance companies to cut back on other coverages - "parity" can be achieved more than one way.

[EFerrari]

18. Lighten up, enlightenment!

LOL! :)

If things go well, we'll have a new industry standard. And one less battle for an Obama presidency.

Insurance companies are vampires. But, this one step is an important one.

[enlightenment]

51. Wish I could . . .

but that's a big damn "if" there, sfexpat - and my rose-coloured glasses lost their tint a long time ago.

no offence intended.

[EFerrari]

54. Let's take it where we can get it.

:hug:

[ColbertWatcher]

17. (K+R) Until we can convince our friends, family members and co-workers ...

... that the GOP has been lying to them all these years and that they shouldn't be supporting them, we have to sneak parity into the laws.

Sad, but true.

[Renew Deal]

19. Is that Wellstone's original bill?

Is this his orginial bill from like 8-9 years ago? Wellstone Action has been trying to get it passed forever. I think it got stalled.

[Davis_X_Machina]

20. Backwards.

The bailout was added to the mental-health-parity bill, which was already passed by the House in an earlier form. The Senate cannot originate a money bill.

Think of the bailout as a sweetener used to get final passage of the Wellstone bill.

[Renew Deal]

21. That is correct

But is this Wellstone's bill?

[EFerrari]

24. Thanks, Davis. I guess *that* is how hard it was

to get mental health recognized as a real thing in this joint. :crazy:

[Renew Deal]

40. After everyone loses all their money

They're gonna need it. :crazy:

[razors edge]

22. I think so.

If I heard right, they could not start the legislation in the Senate, so they took up his bill and raped it.

[EFerrari]

28. From all the folks that have been working to get the mofo passed

thanks for your enthusiasm.

[razors edge]

49. Sorry, I never learned to just

enjoy it if I couldn't stop it. That is so McCainish and not my style.

[EFerrari]

50. After 12 years, Wellstone mental health parity act is law

After 12 years, Wellstone mental health parity act is law
by Fred Frommer, Associated Press
October 3, 2008



Washington DC — (AP) - Congress has passed legislation championed by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone to require insurance companies to treat mental health on an equal basis with physical illnesses.

Approval came Friday in the House as part of a $700 billion financial bailout, two days after the Senate approved the measure. President Bush signed the bill shortly afterward.

Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat, teamed up in 1996 with Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, to win passage of a law which banned insurance plans from setting lower annual and lifetime spending limits for mental health treatments.

They fought for years to also ban insurance companies from having differences in things like co-payments, deductibles and treatment limitations.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/03/parity_finalpassage/?refid=0

[razors edge]

59. Looks pretty week.

Employers and insurers were concerned that legislation would have required plans to cover a "telephone book" of conditions, raising costs beyond what companies and their workers could afford and potentially negating companies' ability to offer any health coverage at all.

The legislation does not mandate that group health plans cover mental health or addiction treatment, only that when plans do so, the coverage must be equitable to other medical coverage.

The insurance industry is now a strong supporter of the parity legislation.


So it would not negate the companies' ability to offer health insurance, but leaves the barn door wide open for a company to drop existing mental health coverage completely. Watch what you ask for, you just might get it.

[EFerrari]

61. What existing mental health coverage?

Please.

[razors edge]

63. Uh, the limited coverage I now have

through BCBS. And since this doesn't extend coverage to those without it now, just how is this a good thing to anyone except the insurance companies who love it?

I can understand how those who benefit from the bailout directly in the private sector support this.

Please tell me what I'm missing here.

[EFerrari]

64. You're missing the work that Wellstone, Domenici and Kennedy

fought for, full tilt bogey, along with millions of families.

You're missing the reframing of mental illness in this country.

Have you ever tried to use your "limited coverage"?

This has nothing to do with the bailout except that someone, Domenici likely, decided this was his price.

Shame on Congress and on all of us that it took this kind of blackmail to get it passed.

And, if the insurance companies "loved it", it would have been passed twelve years ago.

[razors edge]

69. I respect the fighters for entering the ring.

I'm just tired of loosing because the coaches behind the scenes throw in the towel every time the ref starts a ten count on the opponent.

Reframing the mental illness issue would only be an attempt to educate the idiots on the right, don't waste your time. No person who has ever cared for a family member needs the education, no person who dismisses the needs of the disabled is educable.

I have not tried to use my insurance for this purpose yet, but a I fear I may need to soon if the Dems keep screwing the nation for their own self interests. This bill was dead, and Obama and the Democratic Congress will be seen as the ones who resurrected it after a shit-load of pork was added to get it passed, it won't matter where the money went or who pushed it in that direction.

Shame anyone who believes blackmail is an appropriate means of passing bad legislation that will only serve the opposite purpose it was sold as. Clear Skies, Healthy Forests, PATRIOT Act...

Finally, I see the Insurance Industry as being a bit more conniving than apparently you do, They have made great headway in slashing coverage and increasing profits over the last several decades, this was small change to them as their liability from the bill not being passed was minimal in comparison to their overall obligations. They saved it for a rainy day when they or their friends needed to pull a bigger ripoff with some cover of doing something good, even if it wasn't.

[EFerrari]

84. I dealt with the insurance industry for most of my adult life.

They're vipers. Believe me, no love lost and the sooner we make them obsolete the better.

It is telling to me, though, that this gain that has been so hard fought, gets so little understanding at DU. I hope you nor most DUers ever have to try to get treatment for mental illness.

[razors edge]

92. What gain?

I have no doubt that my employer will drop what limited coverage I have now as soon as the present contract is up. Thanks for nothing.

I'm pretty sure that any person receiving insurance on the public dole will now have increased coverage while those few of us paying their wages in the production industries who still had some coverage will be kissing it goodbye.

At least the cops who abuse the populace and find it too disturbing to continue will receive whatever treatment is necessary to get back to normal. They'll be up early to beat the crowds in no time.

Edit:


:sarcasm:



Kind of.

[EFerrari]

95. Today, the United States admitted that mental health is part of health.

If you can't absorb that, well, I understand. There are a lot of other things going on. But, we can't allow that admission to be lost.

[razors edge]

100. I don't need DC to admitt anything.

Their actions speak loader than words. When a battle rages there over a person's right to chose to have an unwanted child or decide the time of your own death with the help of the medical field under our own pay, they have lost all credibility to begin with.

I don't care what the US recognizes, authorizes, condones or turns a blind eye to. They have proven to the population they don't care what happens to us and if we continue to care what happens to them or what they accept then we only give them the power to continue the abuse.

This country has a bad fucking case of battered citizen syndrome. Does insurance cover that?

[EFerrari]

101. You shouldn't care unless you want your concerns institutionalized. n/t

[razors edge]

105. The inmates are running the asylum.

We have had institutionalized slavery, segregation, racism, sexism, etc.

One bad institution replaced by another. That is all the powerful will ever allow.

I can't support any of them anymore, those who suck up to power to get power.

I have a mailer from the GOP telling who their remaining incumbents are, I will vote for whoever is running against them.

But I will not vote for anyone who supported this bill, luckily for my rep, she didn't.

[EFerrari]

107. I'm sorry you feel your choices are so limited. n/t

[razors edge]

110. My choices?

I was born in Appalachia, joined the Marines under economic conscription at 17, then worked liked a slave for 25 years to put food on my family. I think if you made the choice to look into that statement you would find that situation is still occurring at a disproportion rate to the states outside that area of neglected America. They need someone on that gun, why not them inbreeders? Or some other such nonsense that allows the majority of America to avoid the reality of it all. Killing you nation's kids is bad enough, keeping a pocket of sacrificial lambs hard and stupid is what we have going on. Joe Bageant could bring you up to speed.


http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2006/01/revenge_of_the_.html

Thus, at sixteen and choosing options, I decided that launching fighter jets from the deck of an aircraft carrier to kill gooks and the notion of pussy and booze on some exotic foreign shore looked damned good. When I think about what happened to my boyhood friends who stayed home and put in 30 years at Rubbermaid, my choice doesn’t sound that bad even today. They all became redneck ultra-conservatives, mostly out of some sort of fear and bitterness that I can never seem to put my finger on. But I knew these people in a younger and more hopeful time. I know they were capable of -- not to mention deserved -- more than they got out of life. Maybe their bitterness stems from that.



I have a central government who gave me $30,000.00 of debt without my prior consultation now telling me they want to attack another nation without nukes because the 5 trillion they spent to build a nuclear deterrent doesn't work.

The candidate I spent 3 months convincing my conservative friends would actually bring them change just made a fool out of me by strapping us all with another 3 grand and you want talk about my choices?

[EFerrari]

113. Yes. And this thread is about something else.

You have 500 other threads to whine in. This thread was to celebrate that one kind of discrimination has been ended, even if by accident and by criminals.

[razors edge]

114. You are self deluded.

Pulling a shelved bill and using it to give the Senate the power to act outside the constitution and screw the American people has somehow ended discrimination.

Check your meds.

[EFerrari]

115. Check my meds? Gotcha. n/t

[razors edge]

116. Your on meds? Sorry didn't know, n/t

[EFerrari]

118. That would be "you're", not the freeper "your".

It's funny. Most of the even most out of control people I've dealt with in the fifteen years I've worked as a counselor had more empathy for others than you do.

And you couldn't have better illustrated the stigma against mental illness in this country if I had written your posts for you. Thanks, you did one good thing today.

[razors edge]

119. Bill Frist, Is that you?

Can't be, he at least looks at video before making outlandish diagnoses and claims.

Rush Maybe?

You have supported the diminished care this bill will produce in the long term for those who have to provide their own insurance. How empathetic is that?

If resorting to calling me a freep is the best you got left, maybe you should call it a knight.

I addressed you point by point and you refused the same courtesy. Epic Fail.


Edit: My sister won the spelling bee, but she likes Bush.

[EFerrari]

120. Have a good knight!

[razors edge]

121. Good knight sis.

[EFerrari]

23. Wellstone and Domenici.

We've been working on this so long.

[Renew Deal]

34. Is this the original bill

or was it "raped" as someone said above?

[mzmolly]

39. It has his name on it.

It's largely unchanged from what I gather? ... :hi:

[Renew Deal]

41. That's great news!

Really great news!

[proud patriot]

25. well that is good

:)

[KoKo]

26. Thanks for posting. That is one very good thing put in that bill that's been

impossible to pass for reasons I never could understand. I saw a blurb on Yahoo last night about it...but this article tells more detail.

[Davis_X_Machina]

33. It was not put in the bill...

...it was always there, along with the R&D tax credits, the repeal of the excise tax on toy arrows, and all the other pork people keep claiming -- erroneously -- were added as sweeteners.

The only addition -- besides the bailout proper -- was the raising of the FDIC ceiling.

But you can't kill a good story.

[EFerrari]

35. I didn't mean to misrepresent.

Was it in the House bill that didn't pass Monday? I didn't hear about it until the Senate got to "work".

[Renew Deal]

43. No

The Senate had to go this route because they couldn't initiate the bill (or something like that).

[EFerrari]

44. I know a lot of things suck right now. But this is one thing that doesn't.

Medical care just opened up for millions of people. 10% or so of our people have just been recognized. I don't care what Pelosi says about the party being over -- I don't believe her. I don't care why Chris Dodd went this way.

There's no way this would have been made law unless they effin' HAD to do it. This parity could lead to saving more lives of kids like the Yates' kids. Of preventing deaths like the VTech killings. Taking better care of our vets whose PTSD is ignored, ridiculed or insulted. Of taking mental health more seriously.

[KoKo]

70. What my reading was is that some Senators "slipped it in" and the House just voted

the whole package along with NASCAR Race Tracks...but that it was in the Bill that Bush signed.

Maybe, something happened later that took it out of the bill...(and, I'm sure it's weakened from original) and maybe Bush will do a "Signing Statement" that throws it out....but so far what I've seen is that that and other "pork" did sweeten the bill so that the House passed it.

:shrug: Who knows they always change things at last minute.

[Kurovski]

Amazing. And we're gonna need it, too.

K&R. :hug:

[EFerrari]

29. Talking about creating a need!

:hug:

[Night_Nurse]

68. I was thinking the EXACT same thing...

while I applaud it, I wonder how many more are going to need to use it now? Prozac Nation...

[mzmolly]

27. This is GREAT news! Was it actually part of the "rescue" legislation?

:shrug:

[EFerrari]

31. I'm hearing on this thread that the Senate attached the bailout

to the MHP bill. I don't know if that's right.

All I know is, we got NOWHERE for YEARS and now it's been signed into law.

[mzmolly]

36. A great day!

Paul Wellstone would be proud. :D

[Renew Deal]

38. Would he?

I'm not sure if he would laugh or cry.

[mzmolly]

I think he'd remind us to keep our eye on the prize in Novemeber

and tell us that the Presidency matters? He'd also reassure us we could make changes to any legislation at that time? All, IMHO of course as I can't speak for him.

[Renew Deal]

37. That is correct.

It was in the news on the night it passed the Senate. I thought it was strange, but it's procedural.

[EFerrari]

42. I've worked with many families that were casualties of this discrimination.

It's still hard to take in that it happened. I know everyone is upset about the bigger picture and that's probably right. But, this will be a very good thing for our people.

[question everything]

45. My (R) Congressman who is retiring Jim Ramstad

Ramstad, who voted no on Monday, voted yes today. He had said he would vote yes in part because the new version of the bill requires equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses when policies cover both, a cause Ramstad has long championed.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/30312944.html

[EFerrari]

46. I heard him talking on the floor and he is mentioned in the linked article.

Good people like him are rare and deserve all the credit in the world. :)

[EFerrari]

47. Kick

[Kurovski]

48. Kick. (nt)

[EFerrari]

53. Thank you, Sir. (Missed you in the debate last night.)

I must have talked for hundreds of hours to dads who were counting change to feed their kids because their wives had no coverage. To moms who were selling their clothes to buy meds for their kids. And every variation you can think of -- up to and including managing 300lbs of psychotic fear because there was no one to call, and especially no doctor.

Maybe you had to be there.

lol

[Kurovski]

55. , Panic, desperation and fear will spread-out in other directions.

I think they know well that this nation is ripe for an epidemic of mental illness, a triggering of symptoms, I think they've somewhat sidestepped an enormous looming disaster within a disaster.

A neighbor told me the other day of how an Iraq vet shot at a group swimming in a Wisconsin lake. People were killed

[EFerrari]

57. We never know when someone is going to be stupid enough to do the right thing

by accident.

That was one of the your campaign planks, wasn't it?

:)

[Kurovski]

60. They've stolen our goddam platform!!!

Again!!! :rofl:

[bluesmail]

52. HA! A victory for one group is a victory for all!

Thank yous to who ever had the 'nuts' to sneak it into the legislation. Little by little, we can collectively take back our country.:thumbsup:

[Ilsa]

56. Autism needs this level of parity also.

Right now insurance companies treat it purely as developmental as if all victims will recover from it. Not so. Parents of autistic get rooked on getting therapies paid for by their insurance companies.

[EFerrari]

58. Omg, they found a way around it. I didn't know that, Ilsa.

I thought it was covered.

[ddeclue]

62. HAH! POISON PILL THAT WILL FORCE BUSH TO VETO...

There is no way he will accept this because the health care insurance people will go ballistic.

[Dorian Gray]

65. It's the one piece of

"pork" that I love that was included in that bill.

Why it couldn't be passed on its own, I have no idea. But I'm glad something good came out of this debacle.

[EFerrari]

67. People might not be able to get it just now but it will soon be much harder

to deny benefits to people and especially to our returning vets.

[ibegurpard]

71. Great! Antidepressants for all!

To cope with the complete fuckery on the horizon...assuming we have jobs that provide medical insurance
Because there certainly won't be any chance of universal healthcare.

[EFerrari]

73. The mlllions of families that need mental health care

appreciate your considered opinion.

[ibegurpard]

75. And where are they going to get it??

With the economy heading into the shitter? With the massive debt we've just incurred insuring no money will be available to spend on universal healthcare??
With the disappearing jobs leaving MORE people without insurance??
A very hollow victory indeed...no wonder Republicans had no problem with this provision.

[EFerrari]

76. I'll use small words so you can understand what I'm saying.

A new industry standard has been laid down.

Mental health is now, by law, on par with other kinds of illness.

They can't deny coverage any more.

It doesn't matter if you have insurance or not because the standard creates a new threshhold for not only insurance companies but also for government, for municipalities, for every entity that already services any kind of health care.

My god. We are a stupid, self absorbed bunch.

[ibegurpard]

77. Answer my question:

How is mental health coverage going to help with MORE people lacking overall coverage???
Is it that difficult to understand???

[EFerrari]

80. Because the industry standard has changed.

That industry standard ripples out and effects even the services covered by community health clinics.

Did you read my post?

Really. If you need to wail and rend your clothes, go ahead. But, you can't do it over this piece of good news unless you don't understand the significance of finally getting mental health parity.

[ibegurpard]

82. And who pays for community health clinics?

tax dollars that will be going to pay off our debt.

[EFerrari]

85. Yes, because our govenment runs to pay off our debt! LOL!

[fascisthunter]

72. Oh My God!!! Crumbs!!!!!! Oh Thank You, Thank You, Thank You......

the have pitty afterall..... :puke:

[EFerrari]

78. When you figure out what just happened, get back to me.

And, please clean up your own mess. Thanks!

[fascisthunter]

79. whatever.... I am Well Aware of What Just Happened

and I know when I see smoke being blown up people's asses.


PS - this mess wasn't created by me.... it was created by those who think they know better than me or any other average American.

[EFerrari]

81. Then you must know better than the millions of people. beginning with Wellstone,

that have been fighting for this for years.

Congratulations.

[fascisthunter]

87. game of words... all meaningless to this bill you try to defend

"lipstick on a pig".... that's how I feel. I bid you good evening....

[EFerrari]

88. Then you have missed the point. ETA:

when was the last time *I* tried to soften anything the Bush mafia did?

Surely you can find it in your heart to be happy for people that have been fighting this battle for years. This is probably the only decent thing that will come out of this week.

[fascisthunter]

102. I Did.... I Apologize

I'm just sickened and angry.... I feel... I feel much more than my shitty writing skills allow me. I do apologize for coming off the way I did. You are not one to soften anything for the Bush mafia. In no way, did I mean to imply such a thing. At least you are doing something positive by highlighting something positive. I do apologize...

[EFerrari]

103. I am so with you.

And most of my heart is with the families I've talked to for the last fifteen years. Invisible families that struggle and have no voice.

:hug:

[bobbolink]

74. Sadly, when everything tanks, parity won't be worth a damn.

How are people going to go for mental health treatment, when their disability has been erased to pay the $700 billion?

That's for starters.

It's really shit that something this important has to be tucked into a bill like this!

[burythehatchet]

83. In related news, a new study by the APA reveals

that 28 days is no enough time for treatment.

:sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

86. 28 days? Try, three or try 14.

Really. Try it!

[burythehatchet]

91. I've always seen 28 days as the insurance limit on most health policies.

[EFerrari]

93. Oh my dear! Beware of the Paper!

Even getting a person seen is a major battle. Getting them admitted is an Act of God. Getting them treated for the minimum number of days is like seeing the Virgin Mary on a torilla.

I know most people don't know this and that's cool. I hope most people never have to know these things.

If you have a mentally ill family member, you are fucked. No matter your insurance. Because they are treated like so much hamburger and tossed out of the system at the earliest opportunity -- if they are ever able to get into the system, no matter how much they pay for "insurance".

I can't tell you, even on this awful day, how important it was that this thing was passed. I've no doubt that it was passed because the vampires' attention was elsewhere.

[burythehatchet]

96. Oh I totally agree with you.

I imagine there is a great deal of disparity between "good" insurance and "bad" insurance. Having spent my career in the corp world I've always enjoyed the good kind. I even had to use the mental health benefit myself ;) and had very slight impediment to care.

[EFerrari]

98. I think people are reading my OP as "this bailout was good because"

when I really mean "look what these f#cking bastards did when they were distracted".

[burythehatchet]

99. screw 'em. :) This is a very good thing that was put in.

[Jeanette in FL]

89. It was just the opposite, they attached the bailout to the already passed bill

It is just the opposite. The Mental Health Bill was already passed by the house. The Senate used a loophole attaching the bailout to this bill. That is how they got around this. I think Paul Wellstone would be furious at this. As hard as he fought for the Mental Health and Substance Abuse he fought equally hard against the Banking Industry and the little guy getting the shaft.

http://wordout.computergeekservices.net/2008/10/02/senate-attaches-bailout-to-mental-health-bill/

Appropriate: It Became An Earmark Attachment
Can Anybody Say ‘Oink?’

The Senate attached the provisions of the failed House bill we’ve all come to abhorrently know as ‘The Bailout’ to the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Act (HR 1424), and passed it by a vote of 74-25. Both Barack Obama and John McCain voted in favor of the bill.


The Chipping away at the stigma http://www.twincities.com/opinion/ci_10549093
Pioneer Press

Article Last Updated: 09/24/2008 06:10:02 PM CDT


Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses are diseases of the mind in the same way that multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system. Yet a stigma still attaches to someone with a mental illness that does not apply to a person with MS. That stigma may be why some health plans adopted different rules for coverage of 'mental' and 'physical' maladies.

Changing those rules was a longtime cause for two Minnesotans — the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone and outgoing 3rd District U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad. Ramstad's career-long campaign on behalf of help for chemical addictions ensured that coverage for addictions was part of the same battle.

This week, the House joined the Senate in approving the bill, and advocates believe victory is within sight. The fact that a conservative Republican like 2nd District Rep. John Kline could join moderate Republican Ramstad and his Democratic colleagues in supporting the bill shows that it had broad bipartisan support.

The bill is known as the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act. Wellstone worked with the Arizona senator on the bill before Wellstone's death in 2002. It is important to understand that the bill does not require insurers to offer coverage for mental health or chemical dependency. But it states that if they do, they must offer it in the same way as they do medical and surgical benefits.

[EFerrari]

90. Yes, we figured that out up thread.

But, thanks for your good wishes, anyway.

[Jeanette in FL]

94. Of course I am happy about the Mental Health Bill

And I know how hard that Paul Wellstone fought for this. But I also know that he would have never in a million years allow his Bill to be used like this. And they used him and his core issue.

Wellstone was 1 of 100 Senators that stood against the Savings and Loan Bailout and the Bankruptcy Bills of 1998 and 2000. He was not too popular at that time.

I just think it was a cheap, real cheap shot and low for the fucking Senators to attach the bailout to this already passed bill.

We're still friends aren't we? :pals:

[EFerrari]

97. Jeanette: I hate this bailout.

But, having worked for Mental Health Parity for so long, and having seen so many families destroyed because there was no care, none, not even in easy cases, I am a little happy today.

I didn't mean at all that this bill is justified in any way. Not at all! It's just one of those crazy good things that happens when the criminals aren't looking.

:pals:

[Jeanette in FL]

104. I understand what you are saying

I, too, have seen families destroyed by mental illness or addiction. I have a relative in Rhode Island who has been going through this with no help from the state. They would rather criminilize and jail her son for drug addiction instead of addressing his bipolar condition which is what real issue is. He should be hospitalized and treated.

I came to know Paul Wellston back in 1997, when I was very close to declaring bankruptcy because of medical bills when I didn't have medical insurance after starting my business. I heard him introduce legislation on bankruptcy. I wrote him my story and he returned a handwritten letter asking if he could use my story as an example of how the majority of bankruptcies are not because people are deadbeats but because of the lack of medical insurance available. That too, unfortunately has not changed either.

I ended up not having to declare bankruptcy, but that didn't stop me from working to help others that were also in the same boat.

In his book, "The Conscience of a Liberal", he talks about many times votes would come up and though even though the bill would be a great cause, he would not vote for it and why. He spoke about bills standing on their own.

I would bet my bottom dollar that if he were still alive and this bailout vote came up in congress attached to his Mental Health bill he would vote against it.

He would be on the Senate Floor tonight explaining why and how wrong it was to attach the bailout to his bill and the reason why he voted against it. Of course the chamber would be empty. How many nights I watched that.

He was the Soul of our Congress, they don't have one now.

[EFerrari]

106. Paul would be furious with the bailout

but there is no way he would leak that onto the millions of families that will have more of a chance in hell because parity has passed. And so, the title of my OP:

"In the middle of this swindle, someone wrote Mental Health Parity into the bill."

[Jeanette in FL]

109. Did you look at the money that they are appropriating for his bill

There is no way that he would be advocating for this. The original bill threw peanuts our way, then the Senate attached their 700 Billion to it.

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/86xx/doc8608/hr1424.pdf

They offered 322 Million Dollars for the years 2008-2017. 9 years at 322 Million. 322 Million. I am not great at math but this amount of money doesn't go very far. It stands to reason then, this bill was much less than what was passed. 800 Billion and we saw all the pork that was added. How much could the money alloted be for the original bill

Then read all of the exemptions to this bill.

My point is that Wellstone would not allow this. He would never be on board for these kind of shenenigans.

[EFerrari]

112. You've missed the entire point of this thread. I don't know what to do about that. n/t

[woo me with science]

111. Mental health parity could begin to force accountability in mental health treatment.

Get rid of the woo woo practitioners once and for all, because insurers will resist paying for the garbage. Bye bye to the recovered memory quacks, past life hypnotists, facilitated communicators, and the "energy" therapists. Insist on evidence-based treatment for real mental health disorders, finally.

Dare we begin to hope?

[Forkboy]

117. I wish it didn't take this bill to do this, but this is an important step.

Talk about the epitome of mixed feelings.

Thanks for posting it. :hug:

[Kurovski]

122. Kick. (nt)