On Tuesday, April 4, Deirdre, Carrick and I are hitching a ride on a bus hired by Long island Recovery Advocates to travel to Albany to advocate for Timothy's Law, the legislation that would mandate parity in insurance coverage for substance abuse and mental illness in New York.

Timothy's Law is named after Timothy O'Clair, a 12-year-old boy with a long history of mental illness. Despite his father's better-than-average insurance coverage, the family was not able to afford the treatment that Timothy needed. His family was advised to place Timothy in the New York State foster care system so he could get adequate care. Timothy hung himself in his closet on a visit home a few weeks before his 13th birthday.

We are going to pay a visit to our representatives Tuesday, particularly Sen. Nick Spano, who is widely viewed as the third most powerful legislator in the senate. He narrowly won re-election in 2004 in a surprising near-upset, and he is facing a stiff challenge again this November from Democratic state assemblywoman Andrea Stewart Cousins. Until the last election, I voted for Spano, even though he is a Republican and I am a Democrat. Bottom line: He delivered the bacon to our district, and seemed accessible.

But Spano is also a part of the Senate leadership that has attempted to water down Timothy's Law in past years. The result is that the legislation perennially stalls in the Senate, despite overwhelming support in the Democrat-controlled assembly. Informed sources tell us that Spano is poised to introduce a Senate version of the bill that will again water down the coverage that Timothy's Law provides.

The main argument against insurance parity legislation is that it is an "unfunded mandate" that will be a burden on small businesses. Just in the Nick of time for our meeting, a new study has determined that parity does not raise insurance costs. Read Join Together's story, which also reports that that "parity did not result in greater utilization of services when coupled with managed care." An abstract of the study itself is available on the New England Journal of Medicine site; you must be a subscriber to read the full text.

The study did not consider the cost benefits of providing coverage for chemical dependancy issue. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, however, has summarized the economic benefits of providing access to treatment and insurance parity for substance abuse.

Last week I posted the testimony that Deirdre delivered in support of the passage of Timothy's Law at a Senate hearing in 2003. Insurance parity is law in 35 states, but some have unfortunate exclusions. If there's no parity in your state, consider advocating and rattling the cages of your elected officials to make it happen.

I'll keep you posted on how things go on Tuesday. I hope Sen. Spano sees the light. Last election, we limited our campaigning to close friends and relatives. Deirdre's mother, for example, who was married to the late founder of the American Eagle Republican Club in the Bronx, voted for Stewart-Cousins, the Democrat, because of her support for Timothy's Law. There are a lot of things we'd rather do this fall than spend our time making Timothy's Law a major issue in this election campaign.

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