Patrick Kennedy: “the danger in our society now is basing policy on old stereotypes that somehow mental health and mental science is not…”

“the danger in our society now is basing policy on old stereotypes that somehow mental health and mental science is not real science. I have here a board that shows that there is a different metabolizing in people's brains for those who have mental illness versus those who do not. We have the tools today with PET scans and MRIs to be able to diagnose brain disorders and mental illnesses, and these things are backed up by science. The notion in this amendment that somehow mental illness is not a real illness, that mental health is not real health, and that is why in this country we continue to discriminate against these illnesses by having them pay higher copays, higher premiums, and higher deductibles than other health care costs. What is the difference between treating an organ in the brain and diabetes and kidneys? What is the difference between treating an organ in the brain or the lungs or the heart? Nothing is different. The fact of the matter is in our schools we ought to be looking at this. We have more people committing suicide, 10 young people a day. More youth die from suicide each year than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined. All of them combined do not rank as high as the cost of suicide to our young people. Mr. Chairman, in the next year we are going to lose 1,400 young people in our colleges and universities because of suicide.…”