Leahy, Sanders want change in mental health bill
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By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau - Published: July 18, 2007
The state's two U.S. senators have asked two colleagues to change the wording of their proposed new federal mental health parity law that some advocates worry would preempt stronger state laws, including the one in Vermont.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, and Sen. Bernard Sanders, an independent, asked the sponsors of the bill to clarify and change language in the proposal to make it clear that the bill would not undercut progress made in many states, in a letter sent earlier this month.
"We understand that the intention of your bill is to expand coverage to individuals who currently have no protection while at the same time preserving strong state parity laws," the one-page letter, dated July 5, reads. "However, there are some who believe the bill will undermine existing state coverage."
At issue is a bill offered earlier this year by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Peter Domenici, R-New Mexico, that would increase coverage for mental health issues by insurance providers across the country.
But Vermont has been a leader on the issue, and the state's landmark 1997 law goes even further in requiring insurance companies to match mental health coverage to physical health coverage.
"We believe it is necessary for further work to clarify the language in the bill and to accommodate Vermont's interests," the senators wrote in the letter.
Analysis of Kennedy's Senate bill on the preemptive issue is mixed, although many Vermont health officials and advocates believe the language now in the bill is still too vague as to determine how it would interact with state laws.
A review of the bill last month by Herbert Olson, general counsel for the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration, found that "while the current draft … is an improvement over prior drafts, it still has the potential to preempt important provisions of Vermont's mental health coverage and mental health parity law," according to a June 16 letter.
Meanwhile, a review of the bill by Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health care sciences at George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services, found it would preserve the stronger state laws.
"I believe that its enactment would cure one of the most serious unaddressed issues in civil rights policy for persons with disabilities, while preserving the ultimate power of the states to determine the reach of these federal protections …," her June 27 letter reads in part.
That's also the position of Kennedy and his staff, who have denied over the past several months that the proposed legislation would preempt state laws. Requests for a comment sent to Kennedy's staff late last week were not answered.
Still, mental health advocates here in Vermont are not convinced. Ken Libertoff, executive director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, said he was disappointed that despite a recent rewrite of some of the bill's language that the preemption issue was not fully addressed.
"The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same," Libertoff said.
Libertoff and 10 other advocates representing at least eight Vermont organizations wrote to Leahy and Sanders earlier this month expressing serious concern over Kennedy's bill.
Libertoff took that opposition one step further last week. He asked Sanders and Leahy to consider putting a hold — a legislative procedure that senators can use to stop a bill from moving forward — if the language is not changed.
"This bill would be disastrous for Vermont," he said.
Michael Briggs, a spokesperson for Sanders, said the bill is not on the Senate floor yet so a hold could not be used to stop it. David Carle, a spokesperson for Leahy, said last week that a hold may be considered if the legislation proceeds further.
"One of the tools that can and may be used is a hold," Carle said. "This would hopefully be used to prompt further negotiations as the bill moves on the floor."
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@rutlandherald.com.
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