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(AP) - After a 12-year fight, mental health advocates
won passage of legislation championed by the late Minnesota Sen.
Paul Wellstone to require insurance companies to treat mental
health on an equal basis with physical illnesses, when policies
cover both.

      Approval came Friday in the House as part of a $700 billion
financial bailout, two days after the Senate approved the measure,
and President Bush quickly signed it into law.


      "I'm ecstatic," said Wellstone's son, David Wellstone, who has
been furiously lobbying Congress for mental health parity since his
father's death in a 2002 plane crash. "Amazing. I want to pinch
myself. In my family, this was a huge moment. To have my dad's
legacy be this law is a great thing."


      Another Minnesotan, Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad, has sponsored
the bill for years in the House, bucking his own party's
opposition.


      "I never thought any bill would take 12 years to pass," said
Ramstad, who is retiring after this year. "It has been 12 long
years, but it's worth every minute of the effort."


      Ramstad said he thanked the Democratic House speaker, Nancy
Pelosi of California.


      "It didn't happen for 10 years of a Republican Congress," he
said. "I couldn't get a hearing, let alone a vote."


      He called passage of the bill his most important accomplishment.

      "It's very gratifying - as many as 16 million people could now
have access to complete treatment for their mental illness or
addiction," said Ramstad, a recovering alcoholic.


      Kitty Westin of Chaska, Minn., started working with Sen.
Wellstone on the parity cause after her 21-year-old daughter, Anna,
who had battled anorexia, committed suicide in 2000. 

The family's
insurance company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, had
denied some coverage for Anna's condition. The company settled with
the family, and also agreed to cover far more mental health claims
in a separate landmark settlement with the state.


      Westin said that passage of the legislation brought tears to her
eyes.


      "It doesn't bring Anna back, and it doesn't stop the pain, but
it gives some meaning to something that is meaningless," she said.
"This will help millions of people."


      While Wellstone worked to carry out his father's legacy, Sen.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.,
helped get the bill through Congress.


      "This legislation is one more step in the long civil rights
struggle to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to reach
their potential," said Patrick Kennedy, who has battled
depression, alcoholism and drug abuse. "For far too long, health
insurance companies have used the stigma of mental illness and
substance abuse as an excuse to deny coverage for those biological
disorders."


      Edward Kennedy called the passage "historic," adding,
"Congress has finally agreed to end the senseless discrimination
in health insurance coverage that plagues persons living with
mental illness for so long."


      In 1996, Wellstone teamed up with Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to
win passage of a law that banned plans from setting lower annual
and lifetime spending limits for mental health treatments. The new
law builds on that by banning differences in things like
co-payments, deductibles and treatment limitations.


      It's named for both men - the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici
Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Domenici is
retiring after this year.


      "Those who stood to lose fought hard and that was principally
insurance companies and businesses," Domenici said. 

Sens. Mike
Enzi, R-Wyo., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., also helped lead the
legislative effort.


      David Wellstone, who lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., said he
initially thought that Congress would pass mental health parity in
the final weeks of the 2002 session, as a tribute to his father.


      "There were a ton of commitments that were made in his name,"
he recalled. "Then the reality set in. This process has been one
of the most up-and-down things I've ever been through. There were
times I went to bed feeling great, only to wake up to feel like the
rug had been pulled out."


      Wellstone said in a strange way, it made sense to include the
bill in a $700 billion financial bailout.


      "This is a really good fit because of the state of the country,
where people are," he said. "Everybody is nervous, you'll have
more issues with mental health and substance abuse."

      Both Minnesota senators had pushed for the legislation.


      "The passage of this bill is an important victory in the fight
to end discrimination against people with mental illness by making
sure they have access to the mental health services they need,"
said Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.


      Added Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar: "It's a bittersweet
victory since Paul Wellstone isn't here to celebrate it with us.
But millions of Americans and their families will benefit because
of his efforts."

Gallery

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U.S. House passes mental health bill named for Wellstone

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Fred Frommer

Author

Congress passed legislation championed by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone to require insurance companies to treat mental health on an equal basis with physical illnesses -- 12 years after Wellstone and Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico first began pushing the issue.

After 12 years, Wellstone mental health parity act is law

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