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As the nation's oldest mental health advocacy organization, the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) believes the time has come to end health insurance discrimination against the millions of Americans with mental disorders. NMHA enthusiastically supports the Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2001 and the bipartisan leadership of Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) for proposing this critical legislation. Along with its 340 affiliates, NMHA will actively campaign for the Act's passage.

The bill will prohibit group health plans from providing mental health benefits that are not on par with medical and surgical benefits. It will go a long way toward finally ending the disgraceful, discriminatory practice of limiting mental health care coverage and denying people access to needed mental health treatments. People with mental illness should be treated no differently than people with heart disease or cancer.

Mental illnesses are real, common and treatable. One in every five children, adolescents and adults has a mental health problem that can be identified and treated; half of them have serious disorders that significantly impair functioning. An NMHA public opinion poll released in June 1999 revealed that ninety percent of Americans feel health insurance companies should provide coverage for mental illness that is equitable to coverage for physical illness and injury.

Treatment efficacy for mental disorders is easily comparable to the treatment efficacy for other chronic illnesses. For example, treatments for depression have a success rate of nearly 80 percent, whereas the treatment success rate for heart disease ranges from only 41 to 52 percent.

The goal of mental health parity is social justice. Denying coverage for any illness is wrong. We know that parity is affordable and effective. Now, we need to act on that knowledge by establishing comprehensive mental health parity across the country.

Comprehensive parity has proven cost-effective in states such as Vermont, Maryland and Minnesota, where health insurance costs increased less than one percent after implementation. An April 1997 report to Congress from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)¾Parity in Coverage of Mental Health Services in an Era of Managed Care¾found health costs increased one percent or less for businesses and states that adopted parity.

According to a 2000 report to Congress by the General Accounting Office, only three percent of all U.S. businesses reported that their costs had increased at all in response to the parity law enacted in 1996, which required insurers to equalize annual limits on costs for mental and physical health treatments.

Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, released in late 1999, unequivocally states that mental health is central to our nation's well being, and belongs on the frontlines of healthcare and public policy, in part because two-thirds of all Americans with mental health disorders do not receive treatment.

This legislation is a huge step towards ensuring affordable and accessible treatment for adults and children with mental disorders. It is simply the right thing to do.

The National Mental Health Association is the country's oldest and largest nonprofit organization addressing all aspects of mental health and mental illness. With more than 340 affiliates nationwide, NMHA works to improve the mental health of all Americans through advocacy, education, research and service.