2/23/07 Vol. 4 No. 4

FLOOR VOTES – SENATE AND HOUSE!

Good News! Both the Senate and House health care committees passed our mental health parity bill out of committee by strong, bipartisan majorities – 7 to 2 in the Senate and 10 to 3 in the House. Full floor votes in both the Senate and House are expected as early as next week.

Contacting Legislators! As soon as possible,please email or telephone your state Senator and two Representatives, and as many of the other legislators you feel comfortable contacting, to urge them to vote “yes” on the mental health parity bill on the floor. (See below for our proposed message.) Small business owners’ contacts with state legislators will be especially crucial. If you are a small business owner, please do your best to contact all three of your legislators by early next week.

Suggested Message:

I respectfully urge you to vote “yes” on Senate Bill 5446 and/or House Bill 1460, the mental health parity bill. Both the Senate and the House health care committees passed mental health parity to the floor with strong, bipartisan majorities.

It is time to end insurance discrimination against people living with a mental illness! Mental health parity will result in only minimal increases to insurance premiums in the small group and individual insurance markets. These small increases in premiums are more than outweighed by the benefits to small businesses and individuals in terms of reductions in other health care costs, increased productivity, less absenteeism, and fewer claims for disability and unemployment insurance. Please vote “yes” on the mental health parity bill.

Legislative Finder. If you do not know who your legislators are or what district you reside in, please go to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ . You may also call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 to encourage your legislators to vote for parity, but telephoning the Senators’ and Representatives’ offices directly is more effective.

Please be sure to transmit this Action Alert! to everyone in your email network. If you have any questions about the coalition or the parity bill, please contact Chelene Alkire at (206) 216-2545 or by email at chelenea@wsha.org or me at randyr@wsha.org. Please reply to this email and let Chelene know you have forwarded our message to your email contacts! Thank you for your continuing support! With your help, we will end insurance discrimination against people living with a mental illness in Washington State!

Randy Revelle, Chairman