[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25983]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          MENTAL HEALTH PARITY

  (Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, as of today, a bipartisan 
majority of the House has cosponsored the Paul Wellstone Mental Health 
Equity Treatment Act. This marks the fifth year in a row that the 
majority of our colleagues have supported ending this arbitrary 
insurance limit on the treatment of a whole category of what this 
poster makes clear are neurological, physical diseases.
  In the last 5 years, more than 150,000 Americans have lost their 
lives to suicide, 90 percent of them with serious mental illness.
  In the last 5 years, American employers have lost over $150 billion 
of productivity to depression alone. That is more than the GDP of 28 
different States during the same period.
  In the 5 years, well over 60,000 American families have been broken 
apart by the absence of insurance because the only way for parents to 
get treatment for their children is to turn the custody of those 
children over to the State.
  And, in those 5 years, Mr. Speaker, the leadership of this House and 
the committees of jurisdiction have yet to even give this bill an up 
and down vote. We need a vote on the Paul Wellstone Equity Act for 
mental health insurance.

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