Press Release - Mental Health Parity Bill Passes
OFFICE OF FIRST LADY JEANNIE RITTER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
CONTACTS:
Matt Lee-Ashley (Salazar) -- 202-228-5905
Evan Dreyer (Ritter) -- 720-350-8370
Sen. Salazar, First Lady Jeannie Ritter Laud Passage of Long Overdue Mental Health Parity Bill
WASHINGTON, DC-- Today, United States Senator Ken Salazar and Colorado First Lady Jeannie Ritter lauded the passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which was included in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and has been signed into law. The bill bars insurance plans covering mental health services from providing different financial requirements or treatment limitations than they would for medical or surgical benefits. It ensures the right to non-discriminatory mental health coverage. Senator Salazar was a cosponsor of the bill and has been a strong advocate of mental health parity. In her role as First Lady, Jeannie Ritter has become a strong advocate for the mental health community.
"For an America where benefits for mental health services should be on the same footing as those for physical health, this day has been too long in coming," said Sen. Salazar. "We are correcting a longstanding inequity in our healthcare system, and building on the legacy of two great champions of this issue in the United States Senate: the late Paul Wellstone and the retiring Pete Domenici. Senator Kennedy has also been a leader in the fight to get this bill to the vanish line. This new law means that 113 million people across the country, including more than eighty million people who are not protected by State parity laws, will have the right to non-discriminatory mental health coverage. This is the right thing to do."
"Mental health issues will affect 1-in-5 Coloradans each year," stated First Lady Jeannie Ritter. "The consequences of inadequate mental health and substance abuse services are serious. The results are increased hospitalization and insurance rates, increased homelessness, excess burden to the correctional system, lost productivity in the workplace, and higher suicide rates."
In 2007, the Colorado legislature passed, and Gov. Ritter signed into law, the Senate Bill 36 parity law. This law requires the coverage of, or that treatment of, certain disorders be covered at parity. When combined with the Federal parity law, the majority of Coloradans will now have the ability to have comprehensive behavior health insurance coverage and insurers will now be barred from imposing any caps or limits on behavioral healthcare services that are not applied to other health conditions.