Action Alert on Ohio Autism Taskforce Recommendations - Mental Health Parity

[Guest guest]

April 29, 2005

Dear Friend of ASO:

The action alert following my signature was sent to me by the Coalition for Healthy Communities. It eloquently states the action required to make Mental Health Parity a reality in Ohio. This is one of the 43 recommendations of the Ohio Autism Taskforce, and important for our population, as many suffer from co-morbid disorders such as OCD, depression, etc. - especially in our adolescent and adult populations.

Please read the action alert and contact your senators. For complete information on both the House and Senate versions of the bill, visit http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/search.cfm and enter in the specific bill numbers. You can check the status of the bill, which legislators are co-sponsors and the exact wording of each bill.

It is important to make your voices heard! Please join ASO in our efforts to make all 43 of the recommendations of the Ohio Autism Taskforce a reality! To quote the action alert, "if we do nothing – that is what we are likely to get."

Sincerely,

Barbara C. YavorcikPresidentAutism Society of Ohio701 S. Main St.Akron, OH 44311(330) 376-0211fax: (330) 376-1226email: askASO@...home: byavorcik@...web: www.autismohio.org2005 ASO Bi-Annual Conference"Reaching Beyond the Horizon - Challenging the Autism Spectrum"Friday and Saturday, October 14-15, 2005 Kingsgate Marriott in Cincinnati, Ohio

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It was announced yesterday afternoon that the Senate Insurance Committee would be hearing Sponsor Testimony on S.B. 116 Mental Health Parity beginning next Tuesday, May 3rd at 9 AM. Senator Bob Spada is scheduled to offer this legislation and testify as the sponsor of MH Parity in the Senate. S.B. 116 and its companion in the Ohio House, H.B. 180 - sponsored by Representative Jon - are both exact copies of former Representative Lynn Olman’s bill from last year. As you know, Representative Olman worked many years on this issue, and saw his bill pass in the House in February 2004 by a significant margin only to die in the Senate in spite of an overwhelming majority of Senators in support of it.

Senator Spada’s bill, S.B. 116 and Representative ’s bill H.B. 180 both retain the 1% cost increase cap that was inserted into last year’s proposal at the insistence of parity opponents from the business and insurance lobbies. This cap language ensures that the cost of this bill will not be burdensome in any way to small businesses and Ohio employers. Along with other previously agreed upon compromises, this important cost increase cap allowed 2/3 majorities in both the Senate and the House to support Olman’s parity bill in 2004.

As advocates, our challenge is to make sure that our elected officials hear from us loudly and clearly on the need to end this onerous discrimination in the state of Ohio. While 35 other states have parity laws on the books (Iowa will become the 36th state on Monday when the Governor has announce that he will sign their mental health parity bill), Ohio remains as one of only a few that still allow insurance coverage to discriminate against families coping with a serious mental illness.

Let your Ohio Senator know today what you believe should be done. If our elected officials do not hear from us, it is unlikely that they will do the right thing. Our silence will allow the business and insurance lobbyists to control this debate and our representatives in the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House will vote accordingly.

Write your Ohio Senator and urge them to vote to support the end of this discrimination by voting YES on S.B. 116. In your call or letter, you can make the following points:

· Ohio is one of only a few states to allow families with serious mental illness to be discriminated against in insurance coverage

· This legislation contains language that would cap cost increases at 1%, thus saving jobs and reducing the cost of this important coverage

· Several reports by independent research teams all conclude the same thing; mental health parity legislation, when enacted, will have a positive impact on Ohio’s families, employers and their communities.

· In states that have enacted parity legislation, such as Vermont, studies show that, “Spending on mental health services by insurers did not increase after parity – in fact, may have decreased.â€

· All the experts agree- denying access to needed medical services does not save money. It costs more money in lost productivity and increased usage of emergency and primary medical care.

Please call or write your Ohio Senator today and urge them to support S.B. 116, mental health parity. If you do not know who your Senator is or if you need contact information, visit www.senate.state.oh.us , click on “Your Senators†and enter your zipcode.

If we expect our elected officials to do what we want on this important issue, we must speak up now and be clear with our message. Support Mental Health Parity. If we do nothing – that is what we are likely to get.