David Thomas: “In memory of the anniversary over the weekend of the death of our friend Paul Wellstone, I rise to reiterate my support…”

“In memory of the anniversary over the weekend of the death of our friend Paul Wellstone, I rise to reiterate my support for the mental health parity legislation on which he worked tirelessly. I am a proud original cosponsor of S. 486. The Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2003, which was reintroduced this year by Senators Domenici and Kennedy in honor of Senator Paul Wellstone. This important legislation will provide people with a mental illness more access to treatment. Specifically, S. 846 prohibits a group health plan that offers mental health benefits from placing discriminatory caps, access limitations, financial requirements or other restrictions on treatment that are different from other medical and surgical benefits. In other words, S. 486 treats physical and mental health equally. This bill is modeled after the mental health benefits provided through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan, but provides a special exemption for small employers from such requirements. I have long advocated on behalf of our Nation's rural health care delivery system and mental health parity is a key step to increasing access to mental health services in rural areas. The Domenici-Kennedy bill is crucial to rural America because suicide rates among rural residents are twice the rate of urban areas, and 75 percent of the 518 nationally designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas are located in rural areas.”