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HELP PASS THE WELLSTONE BILL FOR
MENTAL HEALTH PARITY

What is the Wellstone Bill?
The bill we now refer to as the Wellstone bill is one that Paul Wellstone championed for years in the U.S. Senate.
The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act is legislation that would end the practice of insurance companies discriminating against people suffering from mental illness. Sponsored by Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Wellstone's friend Representative Jim Ramstad (R-MN), the bill would compel insurance companies to treat mental illness the same as physical illness, given the overwhelming scientific evidence that mental illness is a disease every bit as real and serious as physical illness. This practice is often referred to as "mental health parity."

Wellstone worked on mental health illnesses extensively in the Senate, and collaborated for a decade with his colleague Senator Pete Domenici (R-MN) on parity legislation. Despite differing political views, the two senators shared the common experience of watching close family members struggle with mental illness.

Domenici and Wellstone quickly agreed that the most serious problem facing people suffering from mental illness is the discrimination they face from insurance companies, who treat mental illnesses differently than physical illnesses. As a result, people with mental illness and their families are often left with impossible choices when confronted by the high costs of treatment: either pay for the services out of pocket, or allow the disease to go untreated.

In 1992, the senators introduced the Mental Health Parity Act, which would require insurance companies to treat physical and mental illnesses equally. After four years of pushing the bill, they succeeded in passing a weakened version that was signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. The bill’s passage was a major victory, but Wellstone and Domenici were disappointed that the final version allowed employers to shift the cost to employees by raising co-payments and deductibles on insurance policies.

The two senators immediately began crafting new, broader legislation that would apply “full parity” to the treatment of illnesses. Although the bill passed both houses of Congress in 2001, it was gutted in conference committee in favor of a one-year extension of the original bill. In 2002, Wellstone and Domenici reintroduced the bill, but it languished in Congress until the end of the year, when yet another one-year extension passed.

In the wake of Wellstone’s death, the bill was renamed the Paul Wellstone Equitable Treatment Act. With 68 cosponsors in the Senate and 245 cosponsors in the House, the Wellstone bill enjoyed widespread bipartisan support, including that of President Bush, who in the spring of 2002 expressed his support for “full mental health parity” and has publicly committed to signing it into law.

Yet the bill was held up in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, chaired by Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH). Despite repeated assurances from Senator Gregg and Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), the bill failed to move out of committee in the last Congress.

With the arrival of new leadership in Congress, chances for passing the Wellstone bill are better than ever. Wellstone Action is engaged in a national effort to urge Congress to pass the Wellstone bill and to make sure that whatever bill does pass isn't weakened by the insurance lobby. We ask for your help in passing this important legislation that is a fitting tribute to Paul Wellstone's legacy.

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