[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 18488-18489]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          MENTAL HEALTH PARITY

  (Mr. KENNEDY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page 18489]]


  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in favor of the health care 
bill this Congress is considering. It would cap out-of-pocket expenses. 
It would eliminate preexisting condition discrimination. It would give 
patients a choice between our own physician and a government plan. It 
would eliminate lifetime caps for health care. It would eliminate the 
ability for people to no longer have the choice of having to choose a 
job and not be able to leave that job because of health care 
discrimination, no more denial because of a preexisting condition, and 
mental health parity for all insurance plans, irrespective of mental 
health preexisting condition.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to have mental health screening annually 
covered, and that is what this bill does so that we treat it as a 
preventive item. For the 130 million Americans with mental health 
conditions, this will act as a preventive measure, saving us millions 
and millions of lives and dollars from suicide and the like.

                          ____________________