BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

By Nancy Shute Access to mental-health care should soon be cheaper and easier for millions of Americans, thanks to a "mental-health parity" law signed by President Bush this month. After a 10-year battle by mental-health advocates, depression and bipolar disorder, for example, will reach equal footing with heart disease or cancer on Jan. 1, 2010. The new law doesn't cover everyone; most notably, employees of companies with 50 or fewer workers are excluded, as well as people who buy their own policies. But it comes as a great relief to those who will benefit. "It's really going to affect me when I go out into the workforce," says Marley Prunty-Lara, a 23-year-old graduate student in Minneapolis. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 15. After her parents were unable to find treatment for her in Sioux Falls, S.D., they had to take out a second mortgage in order to afford an out-of-state hospital. As a result of treatment, Prunty-Lara was able to get ...

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, t...