NASW Supports Senate MH Parity Bill S.558

February 16, 2007

The Honorable Pete V. Domenici
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Michael B. Enzi
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators:

On behalf of our nearly 150,000 professional social work members, and the millions of Americans with mental illness and substance use disorders, the National Association of Social Workers wishes to commend your tireless efforts on behalf of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 (S.558).   We support passage of your legislation in the full Senate and will work with you to win final passage.  

We recognize and appreciate your sustained efforts to develop a strong parity bill that will close the wide gaps in current law and gain the support of a diverse coalition of consumers, providers, businesses and payers.  Most importantly, this legislation would substantially end discriminatory practices that deny millions of Americans access to needed behavioral health care.  The bill will achieve this goal in a manner that respects and maintains the enforceability of key insurance protections established by states across the country, including important protections to ensure access to care such as social worker vendorship laws.   However, this legislation also reflects some compromises that social workers would like to see improved upon during congressional deliberations for the bill. NASW supports strengthening amendments in the Congress that improve the mandatory minimum mental health benefit for all covered persons and those that ensure all beneficiaries have access to professional social work services whatever plan they choose.  

We cannot overstate the importance of enacting legislation to achieve insurance equity.  The discriminatory insurance practices this bill would outlaw have had profound effects on individuals and on the nation.  Enacting this legislation is a critical step toward improved access to care, but it is also a step toward realizing a broader principle, namely that we as a nation must address all aspects of mental illness with the same urgency and priority as we attach to other chronic illnesses.  Thank you for advancing that principle in this critical legislation.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH
Executive Director