[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 115 (Tuesday, July 28, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H8906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               MENTAL HEALTH PARITY IN HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. KENNEDY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, the health care bill that we are now 
considering contains a very important item, and that is mental health 
parity, requiring all health insurance plans to treat mental illness 
and addiction on the same grounds as other physical illnesses. If we 
are to do this and also to include prevention, it's important that we 
have the appropriate education and medical education for all doctors so 
that they may be able to properly screen and treat all patients. 
Irrespective of their specialties in some other areas, doctors ought to 
be able to identify and to treat, at least in the primary care setting, 
mental health challenges before referring them to specialists. This has 
been an issue within the Institute of Medicine report, and I encourage 
my colleagues to support this in a section for medical education and 
training within the base of the bill.

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