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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2><FONT color=#000000 size=3> </FONT></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 36pt; mso-no-proof: yes"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><IMG height=354 hspace=12
src="file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Michael/LOCALS~1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image002.jpg"
width=242 align=left v:shapes="_x0000_s1026"></o:p></SPAN></o:p></SPAN>TAKE 5
FOR TIMOTHY!<BR></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></SPAN><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt">Please Take 5
Minutes to Call Your Senator and Assemblymember Each Day Between Now and the End
of Session Next Week to Urge them to Negotiate a Version of Parity Legislation
Tom O’Clair Would be Proud to Call Timothy’s Law<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Senate Switchboard
518-455-2800<BR>Assembly Switchboard 518-455-4100</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><BR></SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Ask for Your Representative.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Don’t know?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Go to <A
href="http://map01.elections.state.ny.us/boe/main.asp">http://map01.elections.state.ny.us/boe/main.asp</A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=center><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Tell
them:</SPAN></STRONG><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<BR><U>“Don’t leave <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Albany</st1:place></st1:City> without having negotiated and enacted a
version of parity legislation Tom O’Clair would be proud to call Timothy’s
Law!”</U></SPAN></STRONG></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN
class=903423618-17062005><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000
size=3></FONT></SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN
class=903423618-17062005><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000
size=3><EM>And to illustrate that support for Timothy's Law remains strong,
following is the most recent newspaper editorial in support of our efforts to
enact mental health and addiction parity
legislation.</EM></FONT></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN class=903423618-17062005></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT color=#000000 size=3>Mental illness needs
insurance</FONT><BR></STRONG><FONT color=#000000 size=3><EM>Poughkeepsie
Journal</EM> Editorial June 12, 2005 </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>A
compromise plan on mental health insurance should be thoroughly reviewed by the
Legislature before it adjourns for summer break. New Yorkers deserve no
less.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>Mental
illness is a disease with huge fiscal and emotional impacts. Providing adequate
treatment is not only morally responsible but it is also fiscally
beneficial</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>Unlike
36 other states, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">New
York</st1:State></st1:place> does not require insurance carriers to provide
mental health coverage. Deep differences have divided Assembly and Senate
versions of a bill to require insurance carriers to treat mental illness in the
same way it treats physical illnesses. The Assembly has resoundly supported the
effort for the past two years, while the Senate continues to have concerns about
its effect on the business community, particularly small companies.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>The
compromise plan unveiled last week allows companies with fewer than 50 employees
to opt into the plan, rather than require mandatory participation. That is a
fair approach that would at least allow the majority of insured New Yorkers to
receive the coverage they need when it comes to mental illness.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000
size=3>Currently, most insurance plans limit mental health coverage to a maximum
stay, and set number of doctor visits, regardless of the diagnoses. That's not
how any illness should be treated. Imagine limiting the number of chemotherapy
treatments for a cancer patient.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>These
limits leave patients and their families struggling to afford needed care. The
Assembly bill, Timothy's Law, is named for Timothy O'Clair of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Schenectady</st1:City></st1:place>, who hanged
himself just shy of his 13th birthday. Since he was 8 years old, his family had
been dealing with his mental illness. Insurance limitations made consistent care
impossible and attempts to pay privately simply couldn't continue.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000
size=3>Finally, like 3,500 other families in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State>, the O'Clairs signed their child over
to the state so he could receive comprehensive medical care under Medicaid.
Progress was made, and after months in an inpatient facility, he came home. But
the disease again took over. The anger and rage returned. And one night, after a
fight about taking his medications, he went to his room and the troubled child
found permanent refuge by hanging himself from the clothes bar in his closet.
His mother discovered him, dead, a few hours later.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>The
family insists if medical coverage had been available, their son would have been
helped instead of committing suicide.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>A study
by PricewaterhouseCoopers says parity, having insurance coverage that treats
mental illness the same as a physical illness, will cost an additional 1.6
percent, or $15 a year per person. Insurance industry experts says it could
increase premiums 3.5 percent although states with parity, have discovered no
discernible impact on businesses.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>If a
society is judged on how it cares for its most vulnerable citizens, <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State> has lots of room
for improvements, starting with the medical coverage it provides for the
mentally ill. The Legislature needs to address this
disparity.</FONT></P></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></BODY></HTML>