Jon S. Corzine: “I rise to talk specifically about how important the Patients' Bill of Rights is to improving the mental health care…”

“I rise to talk specifically about how important the Patients' Bill of Rights is to improving the mental health care Americans receive. For far too long, mental health consumers have been discriminated against in the health care system--subjected to discriminatory cost-sharing, limited access to specialists, and other barriers to needed services. This is particularly true of the mental health care that children receive. More children suffer from psychiatric illness than from Leukemia, AIDS and diabetes combined. Yet, while we recognize the human costs of these physical illnesses, we often forget the cost of untreated psychiatric illness. For young people, these costs include lost occupational opportunities because of academic failure, increased substance abuse, more physical illness, and, unfortunately, increased likelihood of physical aggression to themselves or others. That is why I am so pleased that McCain-Edwards-Kennedy goes a long way towards addressing the inequities in mental health care and ensuring access to needed mental health care services. For example, the proposal ensures access to critical prescription drugs.”