Deirdre and I testified at the congressional field hearing on parity for mental and addictive disorders in Manhattan last Friday. You can read our testimony by clicking here.

It was good to reconnect with some people we've met in the trenches during the battle in New York for Timothy's Law, particularly Tom O'Clair, whose 12-year-old son, Timothy, hung himself exactly six years before the day of the hearing.

Tom revealed that his father, who died three weeks ago, had been in recovery for 22 years. He vowed, as he has in the past, to keep fighting until chemical dependency is included in New York's legislation — and asked the congressmen present to make sure that any federal legislation would not undo what has been done in the states that have already passed strong parity bills.

All of the speakers were excellent, but we were preaching to the converted. We've got to get the word out to people to contact their federal legislators — particularly senators — about the importance of this legislation. The bill in the Senate is much, much weaker than the House bill sponsored by Reps. Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Patrick Kennedy (D-RI).

The New York Times covered the differences between the two bills in a story last Monday, March 19.

The House version of the bill is called the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act (H.R. 1424).

Ramstad and Kennedy were at the hearing with chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY). Ramstad and Kennedy spoke quite eloquently not only about their own recoveries but also about the need to provide access to treatment to people who are not as well off as they are. Rep. Rangel, as chair of the Ways and Means committee, virtually assured the audience that the bill would get to the House floor, but that's the easy part of the battle.

For further information and updates, bookmark this page at Faces and Voices of Recovery.

Other blog items about parity:

Old White Men

Timothy's Law Bulletin

White Plains Rally

Insurance Parity

Insurance

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