I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage action by everyone reading this message on a very important subject, the effective and responsible treatment of mental illness. Before the Congress is a bill sponsored by one of my favorite Members of Congress, Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, that is named after one of my favorite past Members of Congress, the late Senator Paul Wellstone. That bill is the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2005 (H.R. 1402).

As many of you know, Senator Wellstone was a supporter of true parity in the treatment of mental illness by insurance companies and health maintenance organizations. Although Senator Wellstone did have some success before his untimely death, managing to push through legislation that requires the financial limits on insurance payouts for mental illness to be the same as those required for physical illness, more needs to be done. The Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act will close a loophole used by these companies to offer mental health coverage, but still offer separate limits on the number of days allowed for hospitalization for mental illness. These limits are invariably lower than the number of days permitted for physical illness.

For far too long, mental illness has been ignored in our country and those who suffer from these maladies are forced to feel ashamed and treated like second class citizens. It is time to put an end to this. None among us are perfectly healthy. None among us are without illness of one form or another. There is no difference between those who suffer from cancer, AIDS, or heart disease and those who suffer from manic depression, schizophrenia, or bulimia. Every person lost to illness takes something away from our society that cannot be replaced. It is time to do everything we can to prevent these illnesses from continuing to languish in the dark. We must work to bring this problem into the light so that those who suffer will no longer feel ashamed and can get the treatment they need and deserve. We all know someone who has lived with or is currently living with a mental illness of some kind. Now is the time to stand up and fight for them. Write your Representative and demand that he or she sign on as a co-sponsor of this bill and vote for it in the House. Write your Senator and demand that he or she sponsor a companion bill in the Senate. If you don't feel like writing your own letter, please e-mail me at jcram@temple.edu or leave a post here and I will send along a blank letter for your Congressman and for your Senators.
Together we can beat this.