Altmire continues to promote improvements in Health Care

Altmire: Mental Health Parity Is Long Overdue
Education and Labor Committee Approves Wellstone Act
(Washington, D.C.)-U.S. Representative Jason Altmire (PA-4), a member of theHouse Education and Labor Committee, commended the Committee's approval of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act (H.R. 1424). H.R.1424 would require health insurers to cover mental illness at the same levelas physical illness. The legislation passed on a bipartisan 33 to 9 voteand now moves to the House floor for consideration.
"Unfortunately, there is still a strong stigma associated with mental healthand addiction disorders," said Congressman Altmire, a cosponsor of the PaulWellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act. "Americans with mentalillness can be productive members of our community and workforce if they areprovided with equal and adequate access to health care services."
"The high cost of treatment and insurance barriers keep millions ofAmericans who suffer from clearly diagnosable mental or substance abusedisorders from getting help," added Congressman Altmire. "This bill breaksdown some of those barriers by addressing two of the top reasons why peopledo not seek mental health services by giving mental health coverage paritywith other benefits."
H.R. 1424 would require that the treatment and financial requirements ofmental health coverage offered by group plans be comparable to their medicaland surgical benefits, including frequency of visits, days of coverage, orother similar limits on the scope or duration of treatment. The legislationwould benefit 187 million Americans who are currently insured undernon-self-insured plans, which is approximately 84% of the population.Approximately 54 million Americans are diagnosed each year with mental orsubstance abuse disorders. Mental disorders are the leading cause ofdisability in the United States for people ages 15-44.