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End Insurance Discrimination Against Mentally Ill and People With Addictions
To the Editor:
Congress shouldn't settle for less when it comes to ending insurance discrimination facing people with alcohol and drug problems and their families. I am one of the millions of Americans who are no longer using alcohol and other drugs and am in long-term recovery from addiction (28 years). Unfortunately there are far too many other people in Putnam County who need help to get on with their lives but can't get it.
I know that we can't wait any longer to require insurance companies to pay the same benefits for mental illness and addiction care as they do for other health care. Unfortunately, for most Americans treatment is the exception rather than the rule. Too often, there is a severe lack of private resources and public dollars for people who struggle with depression, an eating disorder, schizophrenia, or addiction to alcohol or other drugs. Ironically, even for working families who pay premiums for private insurance, coverage is restricted or non-existent. The result: they fall into the already frayed safety net of public programs, leaving even fewer resources for everyone else.
Now Congress is poised to finally bridge the gap between what people need and what they get. The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity of 2007 would expand access to treatment by ending practices like higher co-pays and deductibles, restrictive day and visit limits and lower and annual lifetime caps on people seeking mental illness and addiction treatment and recovery services. Nearly 60 percent of all House members support the bill, named after the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who championed similar legislation before he died in a plane crash in 2002.
Making it possible for more people to get help with their addiction and mental illness is a bi-partisan issue. Ending insurance discrimination will make a difference in our community. It's very likely someone you know needs help and can't get it.
Sidney J Gibson
Garrison
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