Monday, June 14, 2004

Health lobby blocks mental health parity
CNN story - "Aided by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, insurance companies successfully have blocked legislation to make them provide equal coverage for mental and physical illnesses if their policies include both. President Bush endorsed the concept two years ago. Today, supporters of the bill are willing to settle for a scaled-back version they hope Congress will pass in 2004. The original legislation has 69 sponsors in the Senate and 246 sponsors in the House, clear majorities in both chambers. It was named for late Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat who championed the issue for years. Hastert, however, has declined to schedule a House vote. In the Senate, Republicans blocked an attempt to win passage last fall, on the one-year anniversary of Wellstone's death in a plane crash..."