Mental Health Parity Battle Underway
Conferees Yet to Meet: Still Time for Vigorous Advocacy

November 15, 2001

Continued advocacy needed:

Though House and Senate conferees who will decide the fate of mental health parity legislation have been appointed, they will not hold formal meetings until Congress returns after the Thanksgiving week. During this period, Members will likely be in their Districts. With opponents mounting their own campaign, advocates must keep up the pressure.

Momentum growing:

Though efforts to reconcile House and Senate versions of the FY 2002 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill (H.R. 3061) (to include discussion of the mental health parity provision in the Senate-passed bill) are on hold, support for mental health parity is growing in the House of Representatives. House members have not had the opportunity to vote on parity legislation, but they do have vehicles to express their support. Members can still show support for parity by signing a "Dear Conferee" letter being spearheaded by Reps. Marge Roukema (R-NJ), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Robert Ehrlich (R-MD), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Pete Stark (D-CA), and Brian Baird (D-WA) urging the inclusion of the Senate-passed mental health parity provision in the final agreement on the Labor-HHS-Education funding bill. The number of cosponsors of H.R. 162 has leaped to 192. We need to get those cosponsors and other Members to convey their support by signing this "Dear Conferee" letter.

Re-engage Members:

In addition to the list of targets Members cited in our Legislative Alert of November 5, MHA's can re-engage and energize their own Congressman to: (1) express support for mental health parity by signing the letter to Conferees which urges inclusion of the Domenici-Wellstone parity provision in the final Labor-HHS conference agreement if they have not already done so; and (2) urge their colleagues to take such action.

With Members likely to be home in their Districts through November 26th, this is an opportunity to schedule a meeting with your Representative and directly reinforce both the parity message and the broad-based support it has. Some Members of Congress may not be aware how widespread the support
for parity is, with more than 150 national organizations having endorsed the Domenici-Wellstone legislation.

Write or call the Chairman:

We need to persuade the Chairman of the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations Subcommittee, who heads the House conferees, of the need for parity legislation. Please call AND direct letters* to:

The Honorable Ralph Regula
2306 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(FAX: 202-225-3059)

CALL 202-224-3121 (Capitol Operator)

1. Ask to be connected to Mr. Regula's office
2. Ask to speak with Lori Rowley.

The Media as Allies:

MHAs can also take our message on parity to the media. A well-placed editorial, op-ed, or even letter to the editor can get a Congressman's attention, even if you can't succeed directly.

Tools are available:

NMHA has prepared fact sheets and sample letters to lawmakers to assist affiliates in our collective efforts to spur Congress to pass mental health parity legislation and end discrimination against people with mental illness. Those materials as well as a list of the 154 national organizations supporting parity can be found on the NMHA website, www.nmha.org.

*Because of the anthrax scare which has both halted the flow of mail to congressional offices in Washington, D.C., we urge you to send mail to your Members' District offices, but also to fax letters to their Washington office.

If you have any questions about parity, please contact Ralph Ibson at ribson@nmha.org or 202-675-8388.