[Timothy's Team] Timothy's Team Update - Calls to Governor Pataki Urgently Needed!!

[Michael Seereiter]

The phones are busy at the Governor's office but we still have no indication
of whether he will sign Timothy's Law so we need to keep the pressure
building.  The Timothy's Law Campaign needs everyone to:
 

*	Call the Governor (if you already called, call again and every day
until the bill is signed) 

*	Reach out personally to three other people and ask them to call the
Governor 

*	Ask those three people to enlist three more people to call the
Governor (and so on)

Here's the number to call: 518-474-1041

 
  Also, you can email and fax letters to the Governor: 

*	

	Emailing: Go to  <BLOCKED::http://www.timothyslaw.org/>
www.timothyslaw.org, click on the "Get Involved" tab and follow the
instructions from there
*	Faxing: 518-474-8099

(Letters should be addressed to Governor George E. Pataki, State Capitol,
Albany, NY 12224)

 
 
 
IN THE NEWS:
 
The Assembly fulfills a spring promise, backs Timothy's Law

The Journal News Editorial                  December 15, 2006 

 

The good news from the Legislature's special session is that the lawmakers
could not agree upon who was extorting from whom and, therefore, failed to
vote themselves a legislative pay raise. The bad news is, even at their
current and inflated wage, the lawmakers could barely manage a lick of work.

There was no agreement on civil confinement - a last-ditch effort under Gov.
Pataki to confine still-dangerous sex offenders in psychiatric hospitals
after they have completed their prison sentences; Pataki had enacted a
confinement program by fiat, a move recently rejected by New York's highest
court. The Assembly and the Senate have been unable to agree on enabling
legislation that is true both to their rhetoric and due process.

There also was no agreement on charter schools either; in 1998, Pataki used
a legislative salary hike as the carrot to induce - "extort" works just as
well - lawmakers' support for charters. The thinking this time around was
that the same quid pro quo could re-emerge. No deal. "Our members expressed
that they wouldn't be extorted," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,
D-Manhattan.

That would reflect a change in policy; Pataki pointed the finger at Silver,
accusing him of demanding approval of a permanent mechanism for raising
lawmaker pay, based upon the cost of living. We can assume the topic is not
dead. There has been talk of raising legislators' base pay from $79,000 to
more than $90,000.

The Wednesday session wasn't all bickering. Fulfilling a spring promise, the
Assembly gave final legislative approval to a version of the long-debated
Timothy's Law, which mandates more insurance coverage for mental-health
treatment. Under the measure, insurers have to provide coverage for a host
of mental-health conditions, and allow a minimum of 20 outpatient visits and
30 inpatient treatment days a year. Copayments and deductibles would have to
be comparable to those for physical aliments.

The state would pay the extra cost for premiums - estimates have varied -
for employers with fewer than 50 workers, lessening the blow to business.
The legislation is named in honor of the late Timothy O'Clair of
Schenectady, who committed suicide in 2001 as his family struggled to
provide him mental-health treatment. He was 12. His namesake bill is far
from perfect, even after years of wrangling. But it would move New York
closer to the health mainstream, as some three-dozen states already have
such mental-health "parity" laws. Pataki should see to it that New York
makes the leap.

 

 

Group warns cost of 'Timothy's Law' unknown as bill passes Assembly

The Business Review (Albany)                         December 14, 2006

 

Gov. George Pataki is being urged to veto a bill that would add another
mandate to health insurance policies written in New York state. 

The state Assembly gave final approval to the bill, dubbed by supporters as
"Timothy's Law," during an otherwise unproductive special session held by
lawmakers on Wednesday. Pataki blasted the Democrat-dominated Assembly
Thursday for failing to vote on a bill that would allow civil commitment of
sex offenders considered at high risk of committing other sex crimes when
their criminal sentences have been served. 

SSA, a small-business membership group in Schoharie, said it is still
unclear what the Mental Health Parity bill will cost businesses which
provide health insurance for their employees. 

"Lawmakers have failed to tell us what this mandate will cost, proving that
we truly need a mandate review commission to make sure that they're not
passing mandates that will ultimately make health insurance too costly for
those who can least afford it," said Chris Koetzle, SSA's vice president of
membership and marketing. 

The legislation requires coverage for treatment of mental illness, including
eating disorders. Under a compromise that helped earn the legislation
passage earlier this year in the state Senate, coverage for substance abuse
treatments were taken out of the bill. 

The measure says businesses with 50 or fewer employees would be given relief
by the state under a method to be determined by the state's insurance
superintendent. 

 

 

Sign Timothy's Law 

The Assembly follows up on Senate approval of mental health parity
legislation 

Albany Times Union Editorial              December 15, 2006 

 

While Wednesday's one-day legislative session was generally unproductive,
one key measure was addressed when the Assembly passed Timothy's Law. The
vote followed Senate approval in early September, and sent the measure to
Gov. Pataki, who has 10 days to sign it into law.

He shouldn't wait. He should sign it now.

Timothy's Law is named after Timothy O'Clair, the Schenectady County
12-year-old who committed suicide in 2001 after his parents' health
insurance coverage for his mental illness had run out and they had
relinquished custody so he might continue to receive treatment.

Timothy's tragic death sparked a statewide debate over health insurance
coverage in general, but in particular the imbalance between coverage for
physical and mental illnesses. Supporters of Timothy's Law argued that
disorders of the brain should not be considered any different than physical
illnesses, such as heart or kidney disease, that often take years to heal
and require expensive care.

Opponents, however, insisted that requiring mental health parity would be a
burden for many employers, particularly small businesses, and that more
workers would be left without coverage. At the same time, supporters
contended that premiums would rise only 1 percent to 2 percent.

In truth, the opponents' fears are unfounded. That has been proven by the
experiences in other states with mental health parity laws. In California,
which adopted parity in 2000, there has been no sharp increase in costs, and
the San Jose Mercury News, analyzing the impact of the law, found that
premiums rose by only 1 percent. California's experience is similar to that
in the 35 other states with parity laws.

It's also similar to the experience on the federal level. In 1998, President
Clinton issued a directive providing parity coverage for 9 million federal
workers. Yet government health care costs have yet to rise dramatically as a
result.

President Bush also supports mental health parity, in no small part because
he had witnessed his own mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, suffer from
depression after her 3-year-old daughter died of leukemia.

It's time, well past time, New York embraced parity as well.

 

 

If Pataki signs bill, mentally ill will get long-awaited relief

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle OP-ED               December 15, 2006

By Dr. John S. McIntrye and Pat Sine

 

According to the Dec. 6 issue of The Journal of the American Medical
Association, a large European study demonstrated that the significant risk
of postpartum mental disorders for first-time mothers remains high for up to
nine months after the baby's birth. 

A study last year found that in the United States, one of seven new mothers
experiences depression that impairs her ability to mother. Fortunately,
these depressions are very treatable. Unfortunately, at times tragically,
many of these women do not receive treatment. One of the barriers to care
that these young mothers experience is discriminatory insurance coverage for
their mental illness. 

Over the past two decades, 39 states have enacted some form of
nondiscriminatory, (commonly called "parity") insurance coverage for the
treatment of mental illness and substance use disorders - but shamefully New
York has not. 

However, on Wednesday, the Assembly passed the nondiscriminatory bill,
Timothy's Law, named after Timothy O'Clair, a 12-year-old Schenectady boy
whose suicide in 2001 was attributed in part to discriminatory mental health
coverage. 

Although this year's version of Timothy's Law is not perfect - substance use
disorders are not included - its enactment would be a major step forward for
patients with mental illnesses and their families. Timothy's Law mandates
that insurance providers covering any health care services must also provide
coverage for mental health and substance abuse services, and that coverage
and cost must be "on par" with all other health care services covered under
such policy. 

The Senate has already passed this bill. Now Gov. Pataki should sign it. As
the former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher noted, "There is no health
without mental health." Treatment for mental illnesses and substance use
disorders should be covered by insurance just as any other illness. 

Reasons for doing so are clear and convincing. The 1999 surgeon general's
report on mental health concluded that mental illnesses are largely
biologically based. The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
(2003) reported that mental illnesses constitute the leading cause of
disability in the United States and other major industrialized countries.
Unfortunately, the commission also noted that half of those who need mental
health treatment in this country do not receive it. 

Mental illnesses and substance use disorders can be reliably diagnosed, and
specific treatments that are evidence-based and effective are available. The
National Institute of Mental Health reports that efficacy rates for the
treatment of severe mental disorders ranged from 60 percent to 80 percent,
exceeding the efficacy rates for many treatments in the rest of medicine.
Over the past decade, the American Psychiatric Association has published 14
evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of major mental disorders
(including substance use) and these are regularly revised. 

The high costs to society of untreated and undertreated mental illnesses are
well-documented. Researchers at Harvard Medical School have found that
workers with depression have between 1.5 and 3.2 more short-term
work-disability days in a 30-day period than other workers. The 1999 surgeon
general's report estimated direct business costs (lost productivity and
increased use of sick leave) resulting from a lack of nondiscriminatory
coverage to exceed $70 billion per year. 

Nondiscriminatory coverage for the treatment of mental illnesses is not only
affordable, it may save money. Perhaps the only advantage of having 39
states precede New York in enacting parity legislation is that the economic
impact in these states is becoming apparent. In state after state, it has
become clear that the cost of parity legislation is minimal or there have
actually been savings. This has been true in large states such as
California, Illinois, Texas and Massachusetts, as well as many small states.
A survey of insurance carriers and health plans in New Hampshire found no
indication of any change in premiums due to a parity law passed three years
earlier. Four years after a parity law for state employees was implemented
in North Carolina, mental health payments as a portion of total health
payments decreased from 6.4 percent to 3.4 percent per year. More than a
decade ago in a report to Congress, the National Mental Health Advisory
Council concluded that parity coverage for severe mental illnesses would
result in a net savings of $2.2 billion a year. And an independent actuarial
analysis of Timothy's Law concluded that the expected employer health care
costs for this nondiscriminatory coverage would rise about .8 percent. 

Most importantly, eliminating discriminatory insurance policies is not only
scientifically and fiscally sound, it is the right thing to do. Timothy's
Law should be signed by the governor. Let's get it done and end New York's
shame. 

 

McIntyre is past president, American Psychiatric Association. E-mail him at
<mailto:jmcintyre at unityhealth.org> jmcintyre at unityhealth.org. Sine is
director, National Alliance on Mental Illness Rochester. E-mail her at
<mailto:nami at eznet.net> nami at eznet.net. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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