Mental Health Parity - The Psychs are at it again.

[Guest guest]

URGENT URGENT

ACTION ALERT UPDATE!!!

21 November 2001

 

HELP DEFEAT MENTAL HEALTH PARITY RIGHT NOW!!!

What is Mental Health Parity? This is where Psychiatric Diseases (such as Fear of Garlic), (see a more extensive list below) will then be covered by Health insurance causing the existing insurance rates to skyrocket, and further psychiatric abuses of the already extremely expensive health system.

UPDATE: Congress is recessing for Thanksgiving and will return on November 27th and take up the Federal mental health parity issue. This gives us a window of opportunity to contact the Senators and Representatives in their own district offices over the Thanksgiving recess.

Many of the Senators and Representatives do not receive their e-mail in their district offices, so we need to deluge the district offices of Senators and Representatives with faxes and phone calls telling them to vote “NO” on mental health parity.

Don’t let the mental health parity advocates win!!!

Fax and call and get all your friends, family members, work colleagues, etc. to fax and call their U.S. Senators and Representative daily during the Thanksgiving recess. Especially at this time, Congressmen will be accessible to their constituents. They will read their local newspapers, keep in touch with their local offices, and listen to local opinion leaders, businessmen and political office holders.

 

These are the things you need to do:

1. Call daily (until the amendment is defeated)

Fax and call the list of Congressmen below (which are the members of the Conference Committee and the House and Senate Leadership) and the local offices of your own Representative and two Senators in Congress. You can find the phone number of the district office for your U. S. Senators and Representative listed in the Federal Government section of the "Blue Pages" in your local phone book.

Following are the 8 congressman who are still undecided or need to be firmed up even more, please call them as a priority:

Rep David Obey (D WI) 715-842-5606

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WVA) 304-342-5855

Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) 803-765-5731

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 504-589-2427

Sen Arlen Specter (R- PA) 215-597-7200

Rep Mike DeWine (R-OH) 614-4698-5186Rep Bill Young (R-FL) Chair of the House Appropriations Committee

Rep Ralph Regula (R-OH) Subcommittee Chairman of the bill 727-893-3191

Rep Dennis Hastert (R-IL) Speaker of the House - is the most powerful person in the House 603-406-1114 - Fax (630) 406-1808

 

The following messages are recommended, (to be put in your own words):

Calls - make it very short and to the point - such as:

I urge the [Representative or Senator] to make it known to the Labor, Health & Human Services Appropriations conferees that the Senate’s mental health parity amendment (S. 2020) puts too great a load on an already overburdened economy and should be taken out of the Appropriations bill. I don’t want parity.

THIS IS VERY EASY TO DO. YOU WILL ONLY BE LEAVING A MESSAGE, NOT ACTUALLY SPEAKING TO A CONGRESSMAN.

 

Other suggested messages are:

a. I don’t want any increased costs for our businesses or employees because of mental health. I don’t want to pay for more mental health coverage, mine or anyone else’s,

b. I am opposed to any mental health parity. Parity will cause insurance premiums to rise even more and yet Congress is trying to force businesses to cover it.

c. Some of us can’t afford to pay for health insurance now. I don’t want to give the mental health industry a blank check to cover their so-called “disorders” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) like “Caffeine Related Disorder”, “Mathematics Disorder” and “Disorder of Written Expression.” These are not on a par with medical diagnoses. They don’t meet medical or scientific proof as physical illnesses do. I just want my insurance to cover me when I get hurt or physically sick.

d. Covering all these “mental illnesses” nobody can really define will make premiums go up, as they have in the past, and health insurance is too expensive now

e. Do not saddle the nation’s companies with yet another financial burden during these times of terrorist threats and economic upheaval. Mental health parity will hurt the economic recovery effort.

 

Here is a complete list (if you can call more than the top 8 above):

List of House and Senate leadership to fax and call:

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert - in Illinois - 603-406-1114 - Fax (630) 406-1808

House Majority Leader Dick Armey - in Texas 972-556-2500,

Tom Delay - in Texas 281-240-3700 Fax 281-240-2959

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle - in South Dakota - 605-225-8823

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott -in Mississippi - 601-965-4644

Chairman House Education and Workforce Committee - John Boehner - In Ohio toll free 800-582-1001

Chairman Subcommittee on Employee/Employer Relations - Sam Johnson - In Texas (3rd district) 972-470-0892

Chairman House Energy and Commerce Committee - Bill Tauzin - In Louisiana toll free 800-352-2890

Chairman Subcommittee on Health - Michael Bilirakis - In Clearwater 727-441-3721

Chairman House Ways and Means Committee - Bill Thomas - In California - (21st district) Bakersfield, 661-327-3611, Fax 661-637-0867 and in Visalia, 559-627-6549, Fax 559-627-6924

Chairman Subcommittee on Health - Nancy Johnson - In Connecticut (6th district) 860-223-8412

Members of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Conference Committee listed below also need to get your calls and faxes:

Senate:

Robert Byrd (D-WV) 304-342-5855 Arlen Specter (R-PA) 215-597-7200

Tom Harkin, (D-IA) 515-284-4574 Thad Cochran (R-MS) 601-965-4459

Larry Craig (R-ID) 208-342-7985 Mike DeWine (R-OH) 614-4698-5186

Judd Gregg (R-NH) 6034-225-7115 Ernest Hollings (D-SC) 803-765-5731

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) 214-361-3500 Daniel Inouye (D-HI) 808-541-2542

Herb Kohl (D-WI) 414-297-4451 Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 504-589-2427

Patty Murray (D-WA) 206-553-5545 Harry Reid (D-NV) 702-388-5020

Ted Stevens (R-AK) - 907-271-5915

House

Appropriations Chairman - C.W. "Bill" Young (R-FL) - in Florida at 727-893-3191.

Subcommittee Chairman - Ralph Regula (R-OH) - in Ohio at 330-489-4414.

Randy Cunningham (R-CA) 760-737-8438 Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) 203- 562-3718

Kay Granger (R-TX) 817-338-0909 Steny Hoyer (D-MD) 310-474-0119

Ernest Istook (R-OK) 405-942-3636 Jesse Jackson, Jr.(D-IL) 708-798-6000

Nita Lowey, (D-NY) 914-428-1707 Dan Miller (R-FL) 941-951-6643

Anne M. Northup (R-KY) 502-582-5192 David Obey (D-WI) 715-842-5606

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 415-556-4862 John Peterson (R-PA) 814-238-1776

Don Sherwood (R-PA 570-346-3834 Roger Wicker (R-MS) 662-844-5437

If your Senators and Representative are not on the lists above, please contact them also and tell them you do not want mental health parity. You can find the phone number of the district office for your U. S. Senators and Representative listed in the Federal Government section of the "Blue Pages" in your local phone book.

If you are sending a fax to your own Senators or Representative, please include your home address so that the office staff know that you are writing as the Congressman’s constituent.

2. Write letters to the editors of your local papers and contact the editorial boards.

Right away as time is short, and based on the messages below, or your own message, get letters and editorials to your local papers. Also contact the editorial boards of your local papers and make an appointment to meet with them right away. They can express the opinion of the newspaper and come out against parity in the Editorial Pages of the paper. When you meet with them make your points on why parity should not be passed now or ever.

3. Call or meet with local business owners, insurance companies, clergymen, law enforcement, community leaders and elected officials and get them active right now on this issue.

Educate business owners, insurance company executives, clergymen, etc., letting them know why parity should not be passed. Get them to contact their Senators and Representative and convince them to vote down parity.

Sincerely,

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington