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The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has honored six members of Congress who were instrumental in passing legislation that moved the United States a huge step closer to achieving full parity coverage for the treatment of mental illnesses.
The awards were presented at NAMI's Helpline Benefit at the Shakespeare Folger Library in Washington, D.C., in late February.
Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.Mex.) and Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) were recognized for coauthoring the parity legislation and working tirelessly for its passage. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Representatives John Kasich (R-Ohio), Bill McCollum (D-Fla.), and Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) were recognized for their leadership as the legislation was debated in Congress.
The parity provision passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton last September mandates parity between mental and physical disorders in the lifetime and annual dollar limits on treatment costs (Psychiatric News, September 20, 1996). The law takes effect on January 1, 1998.
While Domenici and Wellstone were disappointed that full parity_that is, mental illness coverage equal to coverage for other illnesses in all aspects_did not win Congressional approval, they are not giving up the fight. According to Margy Heldring, Ph.D., Wellstone's senior health policy adviser, the two Senators are now working on a new, more inclusive mental illness parity bill. She expects the legislation to be introduced in Congress within the next few months.
Among those attending the NAMI ceremony from APA were APA President Harold Eist, M.D., his wife, Ann, and Jay Cutler, J.D., director of APA's Division of Government Relations.
"I am thrilled that NAMI has honored these six individuals," Eist told Psychiatric News. "The parity legislation is an important beginning in ensuring the rights of those suffering from mental illness, but our efforts will be unrelenting until we accomplish full parity. We have maintained consistent contact with all the legislators, both in the House and Senate, who have been involved in this first phase of achieving full parity, and we will maintain that effort until we win."
The awards were presented by Mistress of Ceremonies Alma Powell and ABC News correspondent Cokie Roberts. Powell praised the lawmakers for their integrity and perseverance.
"These individuals put partisan politics aside to enact legislation that marks the beginning of the end of discrimination against our fellow citizens who have mental illness," she said.
Powell's struggle with depression became widely known when her husband, retired General Colin Powell, announced his decision not to run for U.S. president last year.
Powell also praised NAMI's Helpline. "Each caller receives help and hope_for support, hope for the future, hope that only an all-volunteer army of people who have been there can bring," she commented.
According to NAMI, its Helpline provides emotional support, information on treatment options, and referrals to community organizations to more than 60,000 persons with mental illness and their families each year.
NAMI is the nation's largest grass-roots organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons with severe mental illness. NAMI now has 1,140 state and local affiliates and more than 140,000 members.
(Psychiatric News, May 16, 1997)