[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 51 (Friday, April 19, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S3738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE DOMENICI-WELLSTONE MENTAL HEALTH PARITY AMENDMENT

  Mr. BRADLEY. Mr. President, last night Senators Domenici and 
Wellstone introduced an amendment to establish parity in treatment 
between mental health and physical health. I want to thank them for 
their leadership. Their remarks, along with those by Senators Conrad 
and Simpson, were moving and sometimes very personal. I know they were 
inspiring to me, and I believe to many others, as the strong vote in 
favor of their amendment suggests. I congratulate them.
  There is little doubt remaining even among the most skeptical people 
that biochemical disturbances are major precipitating factors for the 
major mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major 
depression. Nonetheless, longstanding biases, which are really fears in 
disguise, still frame our understanding and treatment of mental health 
disorders and mental illness. As Senators Domenici and Wellstone have 
said so well, it is time for this country to speak more openly and 
forcefully about the broad scope of mental health issues. Mr. 
President, last night we began the important work of reforming our 
health insurance practices so that more Americans have access to health 
insurance and greater protection against losing coverage. We will 
complete this step of that work on Tuesday. With this work, we have an 
excellent opportunity to begin to build a healthcare insurance 
structure that recognizes both physical and psychological factors in 
health and illness.
  One of the most promising directions in healthcare is the increased 
recognition of social and psychological variables. We know that 
depression is a better predictor of relapse among coronary patients 
than is a high cholesterol level. We know that breast cancer patients 
who participate in support groups experience greater longevity than 
those who do not. We know that 50 to 60 percent of patients who visit a 
primary care physician do not have a physical condition that can be 
diagnosed. Instead, they bring the sequelae of trauma, violence, and 
abuse. They bring masked drug and alcohol problems; they bring rage and 
impulse control problems that are often amplified by the loss of 
employment, marital and family strains. They bring a sense of 
hopelessness that can get so bad that suicide seems like the only way 
out.
  Mr. President, we know that emotional and behavioral factors, 
including tobacco use, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle are ones 
contributing to physical health problems and huge healthcare costs.
  By treating physical, psychological, and other factors together in a 
collaborative setting, we can begin to control and change many of the 
manifestations of illness.
  This insurance reform debate has provided an occasion to highlight 
this model of health and subsequent opportunities to work toward 
greater parity for mental health treatment.
  Last night Senator Domenici has called the inequities in the 
treatment of mental illness and physical illness ``one of the real, 
continuing injustices in America today * * * someone with schizophrenia 
is just as sick as your neighbor with cancer.''
  Senator Domenici is right. Serious mental illness is devastating in a 
way that few of us can imagine. Enough of the discrimination we have 
shown toward those who are mentally ill. Enough of the blind eye and 
deaf ear we have turned toward mental health. Today, Mr. President, I 
am asking that this country catch up with science, catch up with the 
reality of who goes to the doctor with what kind of problem. Today, Mr. 
President, we need to understand that compassion does not have to be 
costly. We can use our brains and show our heart and say it is time to 
work toward parity between mental health and physical health. We can 
work toward health care treatments that show that mind and body are not 
separate.
  As Senator Wellstone said last night, ``for too long mental health 
has been put in parentheses.'' I agree. I ask that we take away those 
parentheses that are more like prisons to those suffering and begin to 
study how we can provide better, comprehensive health care that is fair 
to all.

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