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NAMI PA Activities on Mental Health Parity,
Wellstone-Domenici Amendment
107th U.S. Congress

A mental health parity law which ends discrimination by insurance companies and large employers is crucial to providing equivalent access and services to the mentally ill as compared to other physical diseases.  The U.S. Congress enacted a parity law in 1996 which only partially addressed this disparity.  In October 2001 the U.S. Senate, with overwhelming support, passed the Wellstone-Domenici parity bill.

The bill was then sent to the U.S. House, was subsequently referred to conference committee.

During the course of the battle for passage of this parity bill, NAMI Pennsylvania took a very active role advocating passage.  Below is a summary of those efforts.

October 2001:

Activity:  NAMI PA monitored progress of the bill through the Senate, until it passed on the 30^th.  Attention then shifted to the House, where the bill was attached as an amendment to an unrelated appropriations bill (a common occurrence).

November 2001:

Activity:  The amendment was referred to a joint House/Senate Conference Committee for resolution of differences.  NAMI National begain an effort to urge passage.  Three conference committee members were from Pennsylvania, Representative Peterson (R 5^th District), Representative Sherwood (R 10^th District), and Senator Specter (R).

Actions:  State Office and various Affiliates initiated a lobbying effort targeting the full PA congressional delegation, particularly members on the committee.

November 1-9: State Office developed a four-stage strategy.

·        Letters from our Executive Director to each committee member, and to our full delegation.

·        Editorials from our Executive Director to key newspapers in each committee members district.

·        Sent an Action Alert to all affiliates to initiate a letter writing campaign, face to face meetings, and/or phone conferences.

·        Enlisted our lobbyist to rally support in our state legislature.

Results:  The level of pressure the affiliates, lobbyist and state office were able to apply helped to keep the amendment alive.  Several affiliates were able to secure meetings with representatives both on and off the committee.

November 9-30: House leadership made it clear that they did not support this version of parity, ostensibly based on two criteria: inappropriate procedure in attaching the rider to an unrelated appropriations bill, and difficulty with the merits of the amendment due to the scope of the language.

In response, on November 26, NAMI National decided to coordinate and implement press conferences nationwide to place additional pressure on conference committee members.  Each state with members on the conference committee was to hold the press conferences simultaneously in those congressional districts.

NAMI PA implemented a plan to hold two press conferences, one in Peterson’s district in State College, and one in Sherwood’s district in Scranton.  The plan included:

·         Determine lead and resource persons to hold press conferences.

·        Contact all affiliates in Representatives Sherwoods and Petersons districts to drum up support.

·        Determine locations for the press conferences.

·        Invite all media outlets in those districts to attend.

·        Provide press packets to media, with follow up press releases.

·        In addition, NAMI PA contacted and placed radio spots with key radio stations across the state urging passage.

Results: On Friday, November 30^th, both press conferences were held successfully.

·        The Scranton Times Newspaper came out in favor of parity, including a feature article, and an editorial.

·        Several other newspapers and television stations, including ABC23/Fox8 in Centre County provided coverage.

·        Notice was taken by both Sherwood and Peterson resulting in a new found willingness to engage with NAMI PA on this and future issues.

December 2001:

Activity:  Despite the above efforts, the Wellstone-Domenici Parity Amendment was killed in committee for this session of congress in a vote along straight party lines with 10 Republicans voting against, and 7 Democrats in favor.

However, enough awareness of the issue, and education on it by NAMI has been generated in Congress and the White House for it to be re-introduced after the holiday break.

The efforts of our membership and affiliates was so effective on this issue, that we feel confident NAMI PA will carry off ever more effective lobbying on national and state issues in the future.

January to May 2002: no activity

May & June 2002:

Activity:  President Bush, while visiting New Mexico, home state for Senator Domenici, came out in favor of Mental Health Parity, and promised action on the legislation this session. In response NAMI National initiated a 12 state Parity Bus Rally at the U.S. Capitol on June 6th.

Pennsylvania participated fully, providing over 500 participants. For further details, please see the Parity Rally section of our website.

The efforts of our membership and affiliates was so effective on this issue, that we feel confident NAMI PA will carry off ever more effective lobbying on national and state issues in the future.