San Francisco & Washington D.C., October 6, 2008 - More than one-third of all Americans are going to receive better insurance coverage for mental health treatments because of a new law that requires equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses.

The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (introduced as H.R. 6983) was included in the economic bailout bill that President Bush signed on Friday, is the result of 12 years of passionate advocacy by friends and relatives of people with mental illness and addiction disorders. Since NIO's founding, NIO has been an active supporter of this legislation in our meetings on Capitol Hill.

NIO applauds the lead sponsors of the parity bill, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN), for their leadership. In his floor statement, Rep. Kennedy celebrated passage of the parity bill and called on observers to remember the incredible life and contributions of the late Paul Wellstone, who was killed in a plane crash in 2002.  Mr. Wellstone had a brother with severe mental illness. Leaders also recognized the tireless work of Senator Domenici (R-NM), who has been a long time Senate champion for mental illness and who is retiring from public service this year, as well as Senator Kennedy (D-MA), another champion in the Senate, who is battling brain cancer.

Federal officials said the law would improve coverage for 113 million people, including 82 million in employer-sponsored plans that are not subject to state regulation. The effective date, for most health plans, will be Jan. 1, 2010.

In September, NIO met with many of the same Congressional leaders who helped pass the Mental Health Parity legislation to expand support for the passage of the National Neurotechnology Initiative legislation which was introduced into Congress on May 7. Many of the advocacy groups who lobbied for mental health parity are now actively coming on board in support of the National Neurotechnology Initiative with the goal of accelerating the development of treatments for the brain and nervous system.