House passes the Paul Wellstone's Mental Health Equity Bill: Wingnuts cry foul
By John Amato Thursday Mar 06, 2008 4:01pm
Congratulations to The House for the passing of this bill.
The House has just passed H.R. 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act by a vote of 268-148. This bipartisan legislation will end discrimination against patients seeking treatment for mental illnesses by prohibiting insurers and group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations when they offer mental health benefits that are more restrictive from those applied to medical and surgical services.
Pelosi: "This legislation will be especially relevant for our returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who later become employed in the private sector. This will be potentially lifesaving for those brave men and women who served in the National Guard and Reserves, but who don’t receive VA care for their entire lives.”
It seems like the people that might need this assistance the most are against it.
Although FRC doesn't fully support the Senate bill, it does not mandate (as the House version does) that employers offer coverage to people who need therapy because of their extreme sexual lifestyle. We will continue to fight for the inclusion of a conscience clause, which would exempt businesses who find the long list of mental "illnesses" morally objectionable. Without an exemption, there's a real danger that mental health treatment could be used as a loophole to provide coverage for abortion. For these reasons, FRC encourages you to contact your leaders and urge them to protect employers' rights.
You know once they push for exemptions, a lot of people will get excluded. Why--oh--why do they hate the troops so?
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Frist!
This bill sets the Federal Standard and forces lower standards for states with stricter laws, such as California.
Low blood sugar must be making me foggy; for the longest time I couldn't figure out that FRC was Family Research Council and that their moral objection would have something to do with abortion. *headslap*
Excuse me; gotta go make a sammich.
Leave it to these idiots to bring it all back to 1) sex and 2) abortions.
What a lot of unmitigated, shameless, dipstick busybodies.
Bushie @ 2:
Why wouldn't it simply establish a 'minimum standard'?
Gawd, you Merkins do things backwards!
bravo
From the link: "The bill applies only to insurers and group health plans that provide mental health benefits. It also exempts businesses of 50 or fewer employees; and businesses that experience an overall premium increase of 2 percent or more in the first year and 1 percent in subsequent years."
The first thing I wondered about was whether this would cause plans to drop mental health provisions altogether.
Just heard today that they estimate one quarter of all the troops returning from Iraq will suffer some sort of mental illness.
Will they just give the hell up on fighting abortions? If abortions were banned, what the hell would they have to bitch about?
Tony Perkins needs a good swift kick in the nads!
And we all know that conservatives are looking for new and innovative ways for to use psychiatry as an agency of coercive "reeducation" among especially the "chronically and habitually" welfare dependent "showing an unhealthy interest in politics."
(The item is headlined with the Afrikaans for "we are the people your parents warned us about.")
The Chimpinator will only veto the bill anyway, so no one will get ANYTHING.
I'm curious, does this bill mean that caps will be removed from health plans? For instance, I know someone who has been battling depression and sees a therapist, but his plan only allows him 30 sessions (basically, he can only see his therapist once every two weeks or so). Does this mean that such restrictions will be lifted, and he can move to weekly sessions?
While I haven't read the bill, this seems like a loophole big enough to drive an insurance company through: Exempting "businesses that experience an overall premium increase of 2 percent or more in the first year and 1 percent in subsequent years."
But I'm sure there no possible way that insurance companies would manipulate premiums to effectively deny coverage. Nah, wouldn't happen.
How ridiculous. Extreme sexual lifestyle?!?! They think people (women) are just going out and f*cking all night long and they just figure they'll have an abortion the next week? They think an abortion is an easy decision? What a bunch of idiots. What if a women has serious depression and sleeps with a guy to feel better and get therapy to help her? What if the LAST thing she needs is another kid, but her depression inhibited her thought process? Sounds like it could happen to me, and I'm sure it does happen. They would tell her to just stick it out?
This is such a no-brainer -- and long, long, long overdue.
*
Leave it to Republicans to be so full of hate that they would work to deny help for mental illnesses to ALL PEOPLE.
"Well, if a few gays might get help - I don't want ANYONE to get help!"
Nice.
It's exactly what Jesus would do.
Have not seen the specific language of either the Senate or House version of this Bill.
On the surface, it sounds good, however, if the passage of such would, as the Family
Research Council implies, cover such "mental illnesses as "Pedophilia, cross dressing
and gender identity confusion", I can see why the insurance industry might be opposed
to passage. I assumed such a piece of legislation would be introduced and necessary
in order to assure that our fine military personnal returning from Iraq would have coverage
for conditions related to their service, but seems that the House version might very well
contain some "illnesses" not even covered by the very best group coveages.
Muddy @ 13:
we had a 40% increase in our (small company) health insurance premiums last fall.
"Extreme sexual lifestyle" !
It's truly amazing to see right-wingers inadverdently reveal their repressed fantasies. Their rather sick ideas of what all those sinners are up to is always extreme and dirty, far beyond reality. Amazing.
Long, long overdue. I needed a bit of good news, and that it's Wellstone-related makes it all the better.
ferrofluid @ 18:
What is the number of employees in your "small business"? It is NOT applicable to
groups having 50 or less employees.
Screw the FRC. If I wanted to hear mindless, annoying yapping about made-up crap, I'd call my family.
So, some of the mental health advocacy groups supported the Senate version and are afraid that this will cause insurance companies to drop mental health services altogether. I've also heard that the Senate plan would overide stricter law at the state level (not sure about the house).
Another Republican Yahoo had this to say:
Yeah, god forbid, an employer would allow an employee a day off to get over jet lag, or would pay for someone to see a psychiatrist about a sexual disfunction. Who would want to work for a place like that?
Interestingly, Ted Kennedy sponsored the Senate version and Patrick Kennedy (Ted's son) sponsored the House version, so the conference should be interesting.
All this is going to do is have every dumb ass worker who feels bad get on some sort of anti depressant on my dime...
Put something in it about bombing children and, Field Marshall Cluster Bomb Clintonberman, will vote for it.
It’s truly amazing to see right-wingers inadverdently reveal their repressed fantasies. Their rather sick ideas of what all those sinners are up to is always extreme and dirty, far beyond reality. Amazing.
No kidding. Get your minds out of the gutter, Repubs, judging from all the outed congressmen lately, you're up to far more than I am.
(I gotta wonder what kinda voluntary sex gives you mental illness, anyway. What the hell do they think is going on?)
chris @ 23:
Yeah how fucked up.And when You need a heart operation from overeating it'll be on My Dime. Stupid fat ass.
Arun @ 19:
"So, was it a lingerie thing or something..." - Bill O'Reilly
Too bad they didnt address the disgusting practice of warehousing mental patients in prisons due to institution closings. Was subject of a PBS Frontline a few years ago.
It was shot in Ohio but i hope it isnt countrywide practice. Poor poor wingnuts. A couple of bucks not going to feed the illegal war and no bid buddys. Fuck them anyways.
David Hawes @ 26:
Excuse me but I don't think this kind of language and tone move the dialog forward. individual's are responsible for their own mental health, I should not have to pay because you got married...
Doggiebobo @ 21:
less than 30
chris @ 23:
That statement is so ignorant. I'm sure you have no idea the difficulty someone faces when trying to overcome depression. No sane person would ever try to work with a psychiatrist over a problem that doesn't exist. And even if it were just a question of getting an anti-depressant, you think someone should be able to get lipitor but not welbutrin? What's the difference, Einstein?
What if I find cancer morally objectionable, should it not be treated because of my sensitivities?
What a bunch of fucking clowns. Glad to see this bill made it.
Loonie @ 32:
Of course, you would be happy, Loonie.
They should change the name. Anyone who doesn't know who he was, will think Wellstone was crazy.
Old Billy @ 31:
Well buddy I don't give a shit what meds you get but you cannot expect someone else to pay for em........
chris @ 29:
Excuse Me,but I need medication for panic attacks that have Nothing to do with how I live My life . It's a medical condition thst causes mental health problems. So stick your sanctimonious tone. Get some education about mental health. ...Fat ass.
chris @ 35:
So,I guess you say medical insurance should not be a employee benifit for anyone?
Canuknotusa @ 5:
In case you're wondering what a Merkin is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin
David Hawes @ 36:
If your having some sort of insecurity about your body I suggest you change your diet and go start to work out regularly, this will help with your mental problems. Calling me a "fat a--" is helping your problem.
PS. I'm not fat so.......
chris @ 35:
I'm sorry, I guess I don't understand where you are coming from. Are you saying that I shouldn't expect my health insurance to pay for my health care? Why would I have health insurance?
Maybe you're just a contrarian.
pissed off patricia @ 8:
Gay marriage. Larry Craig and Ted Haggard could spend ALL of their energy fighting gay marriage.
Bushie @ 2:
http://www.speaker.gov/legislation?id=0163
[Deleted. Please keep it civil. Site Monitor]
seth @ 38:
Wow. I had no idea. I have to get me one of those - male-pattern baldness and all...
chris @ 35:
Chris you ignorant savage....
The brain is an organ, just like the heart. Why is it that when an organ like the heart malfunctions everyone is all for helping them but when the brain (the most important organ!) malfunctions in a way that affects a persons thoughts, feelings, and behavior a different standard is applied? I'll tell you why. An age old stigma that had its place when didn't understand anything, and we just knew it was better to stay away people behaving strangely, for our own sake. The Chris, something called the renaissance happened and something else called the enlightenment. Chris, please examine why you think and believe what you do.
Further, "Bushie,":
Last post was filled with typos due to anger. My apologies.
Old Billy Hussein @ 44:
Get a pompadour, like me :)
Canuknotusa @ 5:
If you keep jerking your knee that hard, you will bang your forehead.
seth @ 45:
I guess you want me to pay for restless leg syndrome to huh?
[Deleted. Please keep it civil. Site Monitor]
chris @ 50:
Guess what, my mother has restless leg syndrome, and it really bother her. You have a black heart my friend. I bet you claim some religious affiliation as well.
"It seems like the people that might need this assistance the most are against it."
Please don't use the stigma value of mental illness as an insult against people you disagree with. Would you say that legislators who oppose legislation to help people with mental retardation are the ones who need it most?
NoBuddy @ 7:
Any form of regulation stands that risk. The companies that currently offer mental health coverage do so because their clients demand it. The basis of that demand should not go down because the required benefit goes up. There are cost controls in the bill that should prevent a deal-breaking premium rise.
How the hell do you get from parity for mental health coverage to abortion? It's a complete non-sequiter.
seth @ 52:
There are several therapies, primary of which are exercise and calcium/magnesium supplementation (in a bioaccessible form, such as calcium citrate).
A good simple therapy to try is Emergen-C©, a vitamin-C and electrolyte rich fizzy drink made with water from a foil packet and consumed immediately.
There are other therapies, including chiropractic, which should be explored.
Thanks Paul. I know she already takes citracal. I'll mention the others to her.
chris @ 50:
Chris, you ignorant slut, is it your habit to ridicule anyone with a medical condition? You must be a lot of fun at parties.
Although "restless leg syndrome" or "Prader-Willi syndrome" or "Asperger syndrome" might sound funny to you, they are not funny to those afflicted. And do you expect me to pay money for your roads or your air traffic safety or your cell phone? Get your head out of your ass.
momly @ 3:
A piece of candy will help - it keeps you conscious while you are making your sammich.
Filthy Harry @ 34:
"Paul Wellstone Mental Health" sounds more like he was the standard of mental health.
Next thing you'll say that the government should pay for my next haircut.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1037/974129605_cd4b79165c.jpg
seth @ 57:
If she is ambulatory, does she go to a senior center? If so, she might look for a taijiquan class. Much of this illness is due to nerve blockage (why chiropractic is useful), and taijiquan has proven benefits of both less RLS and also fewer traumatic falls.
chris @ 61:
They'll pay for your last one. Join the Marines.
She's in her 50's and moves around a lot (chasing 5 dogs, a grandkid, and picking up after my dad). She thinks it's because she drank too much caffeine in the past.
Paul in LA @ 63:
Actually you still have to pay for your hair cuts in the marines......
seth @ 64:
[Deleted. Civility. Site Monitor]-This legislation isn't a government benifit.
If that's the case, you should be allowed to get a pompadour.
David Hawes @ 66:
OOOPS That was ment for Chris. Mea culpa and many sorries.
David Hawes @ 64:
Were you trying to quote me here? If so, don't understand it.
no prob :)
seth @ 68:
Whew. Thanx
I don't mean to nit-pick but mental health generally refers to something involving the brain, mind or at the very least an issue above the neck. Abortions, or any other reproductive or gynocological topic for that matter, are generally located in the vaginal area. How exactly does the FRC think that mental health could refer to the vaginal area?
I sometimes wonder if these people even know where the crotch area is located. Penis they know, but the vaginal area seems to cause mass confusion. I am quite sure that regardless of the topic, no one was going to be confused and wind-up at a OBGYN's office under the guise or confusion that they were going to receive mental health treatment of advice. Should they be confused, hopefully the stirups would be a give away.
seth @ 64:
That's entirely possible, and suggests chronic electrolyte deficiency. And if she has nightsweats or overheating sensations, there are other (hormonal) issues.
It isn't the movement so much as the slow transfer of weight from one leg to the other (in taijiquan) which resolves RLS. It's a whole different thing, to put your weight all the way down and rest it on EITHER leg, as in that art (which common movement almost never does).
I bet they are spinning it like this.
A women who is a sex addict or a prostitute because of addiction to drugs will want an abortion because it is somehow related to their mental issue.
chris @ 61:
Honey, I am just hoping that they pay for your education or at least request a refund.
Paul in LA @ 73:
She lives in a really small town. Probably no classes for tijiquan. Would anything else help? I'm think yoga or along those lines.
David Hawes @ 68:
So much for civil discourse, I hope we can avoid this language during election season........
seth @ 74:
Nawww. It's because the only mental health problems they recognise are in thier inbred cousins and sisters(wives).
ashton @ 72:
Did you see the Bill Maher stand-up where he discuss this? Basically some bushie (maybe the surgeon general, an obgyn I think) was anally raping his wife at night while she was sleeping. The perp claimed he just missed her vagina. Maher says how typical this is of a bushie, an obgyn that can't find a vagina.
[That is enough! Keep it civil. Disengage from this flame war immediately or I'll give you a time out! Got it? Site Monitor]
seth @ 79:
I remember the story. He was Bush's appointee to be on the FDA's advisory committee for reproductive health.
This bill also establishes important protections against GENETIC information collection leading to state-mandated 'treatments.'
seth @ 38:
From the link you provided:
"On certain Usenet groups, "merkin" or 'merkin can be used to refer to Americans in general, especially those who exhibit "ugly American" tendencies. The term is derived from a phonetic rendering of "American." This usage is fully aware of the standard definition."
seth @ 76:
Anything which works by crossing the sides of the body might help. However, improperly taught yoga can certainly lead to injury.
Absent a taijiquan class, a chiropractor, IMO, is the best option. It's not all joint cracking -- a good chiropractor can use blocks (triangular pads) to raise one side of the pelvis from the other (over a period of say ten minutes laying on them), and this itself can be immensely relieving in this syndrome.
There is one more factor to mention in a serious coffee drinker: adequate water intake. Suggest to your mother that coffee habituation damages the thirst, and she is probably thirsty even if she doesn't feel thirsty. Dehydration is to be expected especially if she has dry, patchy, often itchy skin, and/or stomach aches.
(should have said, thirst is commonly damaged long after the habituation itself is 'relieved').
Just a recap of a few facts about the bill:
It mandates against unequal coverage of mental health treatment- for example, many insurance plans have a $10 copay for a medical visit, versus $50 to see a psychologist or psychiatrist. They also have yearly caps on visits and costs that make treatment of ongoing mental health issues impossible. The bill requires that both physical and medical conditions be covered equally. (i.e they could cap visits to ANY type of doctor, or for any given condition in a year, at a fixed number, but the number would have to be the same for both.)
Projections of cost are from 1/2 to 2% premium increases per year. A large body of research has shown that coverage for mental health care actually lowers TOTAL medical costs- you can spend a lot of $ medically working up someone who is depressed. Untreated depression cause more lost time than colds! Think of the cost of smoking cessation or drug/alcohol treatment versus the cost of cancer or liver transplant...
The Tony Perkins stuff is, in my professional opinion ( and I am a psychologist, though I don't play one on TV) WACKO! Those folks see abortion and deviant sex everywhere! The technical term is projection- when you have a feeling or impulse you can't accept, you scan for it in others and are negative/condemning of them for it. Think Ted Haggard...
My $0.02 worth YMMV...
drdave
Insurance companies still can refuse to pay treatment if they feel it isn't medically necessary (they do this now all the time BTW)
Hey Paul in LA...This thread has been on-going for just over two(2) hours and no
one has yet to blast Nancy P....and blame her for this proposed piece of leg. What
a pleasant surprise.
"You know once they push for exemptions, a lot of people will get excluded. Why–oh–why do they hate the troops so?" John Amato
Any Iraqi War Veteran with PTSD who's mental illness causes severe bouts of masturbation, incest, MILF hunting, bestiality, BBW lust, inter-racial sex, gay sex, bondage, transvestitism, fetishes of all sorts especially, those involving snuff films or any intercourse with fruits, vegetables or household appliances that lead to an unwanted pregnancy and abortion should be denied insurance coverage.
"by prohibiting insurers and group health plans from imposing treatment or financial limitations when they offer mental health benefits that are more restrictive from those applied to medical and surgical services."
The key words are "that are more restrictive". PUHLEEZE! Insurance companies already find every way possible to disqualify treatment for patients...including the ever criminal "pre existing condition" clause. So, gosh, I hope you've never been depressed before because if you have then NO COVERAGE.
The Dems are just being slightly less the corporate shills than the Repigs. Socialized non-profit health care is the only way to go. When pigs get wings.
Doggiebobo @ 88:
In the extra time it has granted me, I have made a ship in a bottle.
(Of course, it's a very small ship, and tomorrow is another day. Since the Speaker has now repositioned herself on FISA -- making her top priority the continued FISA umbrella over the entire intel gathering activity, rather than a series of licences though statutory authority), it is clear that we are going to lose, again. It is just now a question of the bill floating through when "no one" is noticing -- I would suggest the day before or after the Easter weekend/break? is likely).
c. atrox @ 90:
The pigs being the corporations on one side, and the lazy blamers who can simply point at the failure of gold to fall from the sky as a good reason to avoid raking the yard.
chris @ 23:
Gee, I didn't realize you paid all our health insurance premiums! Thanks! But can i have a refund on all those premiums I've paid in the last three decades? Oh, and the co-pays, as well.
The FRC is fighting for 'exclusions' to a bill designed to help vets back from the war deal with understandable mental health issues... Boy that's really supportin the troops ain't it?..... Way to go patriots... Support From bootcamp on thru the battlefield and right on into the grave.... Yep, makes one proud don't it.. But, (always an infamous but), on supportin the troops if they manage to escape that hellhole and somehow get back in one piece physically but with... ah, mental health issues? Ehhh not so much.. Thanks FRC, thanks republican shills, thanks democrat turncoats, (No Paul, that ain't no backhanded slap at Nancy....) I know FISA without immunity has already crashed and burned... Knew it days ago... No use bitching about that fait accompli now guy..... We're all just screwed for the moment on privacy rights.... I am just sorry that the vets coming home after being screwed for years are targets to get screwed again after all they've been thru... That's all I'm saying with a bit of snark thrown in... They say if you can laugh at something, you can live with it... Not so sure about that anymore......JD
Bajasteve @ 93:
I'm afraid chris is one of those "if I haven't experienced it, then it isn't valid" people. Mental health issues have been proven to be a physical condition just like any other physical condition. Hopefully they'll come up with a cure for narcissistic personality disorder so people like chris can benefit.
Because they can. Because they compete for resources. Because they breathe.
You ask that question as if the wingnuts process information like rational people and make decisions based on it. Hate is what they have instead of the capicity to reason. They run solely on instinct and attack everything that blunders into their field of vision.
Depression is probably a leading cause of excessive doctor visits in many many people. I used to work in a neurologist's office and depressed people are like hypochondriacs. Their head hurts, their arm hurts, their stomach hurts... and their depression is overlooked or there are no resources for cognitive behavioral therapy because psychologists don't get paid shit.
This is a good bill. But of course, the insurance companies will now say they have to raise our premiums again.
We need somebody to put the reins on the insurance companies. They are out of control. But don't get me started.
Wow, the Democrats passed a bill that does not allow for telecom immunity, war authorization, or Medicar Part-D... It's a good day, I suppose.
David Hawes @ 26:
and if you need firefighters cause your house is burning, why should I pay for that cause you fail to do fire inspections?
and why should I pay for local police, guard your own damn home.
Republican type arguments are retarded.
MoxieGrrrl @ 12:
probably not
talk therapy is still seen as bs my most health plans
but drugs and inpatient is a panacea
ashton @ 72:
And if they DID think that, it's a pretty good indication that they need the mental health care, right?
seth @ 76:
Something that helped me was getting and using a CPAP (Constant Positive Air Pressure) machine. Does she have sleep issues, such as apnea, or anything similar?
Bajasteve @ 102:
Conservatives and conservatism is a threat to America and humanity.
Witness as they attempt to push thier warped ideology on every living creature.
Bonkers @ 4:
The right wing is mentally sick. They need this legistlation more than anyone else!
chris @ 23:
Typical ignorant, selfish, simpleton right winger response.
chris @ 23:
Well you're driving the roads on my dime. Quit it.
John. Sorry, but you do this ALL the time:
The sentence "It seems like the people that might need this assistance...."
should read "It seems like the people WHO might need this assistance..."
Why? Because they are people, not things.
Republican 2008 slogan: "Trillions for our rich corporate cronies, but not a penny for the common good!"
Wingnuts cry foul
They called for some Col. Sanders takeout?
Arun @ 19:
He/She who beats the drum the loudest usually has the most to hide. I take an order of hot wingnuts to go!
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