For Immediate Release December 13, 1999

Contact: Andy McDonald (202) 224-8440 Sarah Echols/ Domenici (202)224-7098

Senators Paul Wellstone (D-MN) and Pete Domenici (R-NM) applauded the release of the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health today and called for passage of their Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act, legislation that would take great strides toward improving and expanding mental health coverage in this country.

"The Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health is a valuable contribution to our ongoing legislative efforts to improve services and research on mental illness in our country," said Wellstone. "For too long, we have stigmatized those with mental illness. Today, many people with mental illness are faced with discrimination in their health care coverage. Our Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act would take great strides toward improving and expanding coverage for mental health as prescribed in the report. This report is a solid affirmation of our legislative efforts and will hopefully help boost the momentum of efforts to pass strong legislation in this area."

"The content of the Surgeon General's report is very appropriate as we near the conclusion of the 'Decade of the Brain'," Domenici said. "But while I am pleased with the strides we've made to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, I am disheartened by the report's finding that the stigma associated with mental illness is still a major barrier to treatment."

"What if thirty years ago our nation had decided to exclude heart disease from health insurance coverage? Think about some of the wonderful things we are doing today like angioplasty, bypasses, and valve replacements and the millions of people helped because insurance covers these procedures," Domenici said. "We will continue to push for passage of major mental health parity legislation next year, in hopes that the new century will see the end of discrimination against disorders of the brain."

The Surgeon General's report is a comprehensive presentation of the state of mental health research and services today and it contains directions for the future The report was commissioned by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala, and was developed through a collaboration of the National Institute of Mental Health and the Substance Abuse Services and Mental Health Services Agency, under the guidance of the Surgeon General. The information in the report focused on the connection between mental health and physical health, barriers to receiving mental health treatment in both the private and public health care systems, and the specific mental health issues of children, adults, and the elderly.

The Domenici/Wellstone bill (S. 796) has a bipartisan group of 24 Senate co-sponsors and is scheduled to receive a hearing this spring in the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

"I am pleased that our bill has garnered strong bipartisan support, and that the Administration today spoke out so strongly in favor of mental health parity. If we can all work together to enact our bill into law, it would be a major step forward toward ending the suffering of those with mental illness who have been unfairly discriminated against in their health care coverage. We must make treatment for this illness as available and as routine as treatment for any other disease," said Wellstone.