Rogers Memorial Hospital will be joining Lt. Governor Lawton, advocates from all over Wisconsin, and hundreds of people from every walk of life on February 20, 2008 in Madison for Mental Health Parity Action Day. Sign up Now!

Wisconsin is one of only eight states lacking legislation that ensures insurance companies cover mental health the same way they cover physical health.

The good news is that such a bill is making its way through the legislature right now. Wisconsin needs mental health parity, and mental health parity needs your support!

On Feb, 20, the Capitol will spill over with those of us who are determined to put the health and well-being of our citizens and our economy at the top of the agenda. You and your family deserve the same access to the same health benefits guaranteed in 42 other states.

Find out more and sign up now. Visit the Lt. Governor’s Web site at www.ltgov.wisconsin.gov and click on the purple “Mental Health” button.

And we’ll see you on Feb. 20th!

Congratulations to the Wisconsin State Journal for emphasizing Wisconsin’s need for a strong parity bill by publishing a moving column written by the director of public policy for Mental Health America of Wisconsin Shel Gross. The article calls for mental health parity legislation that would ban insurance practices that set arbitrary and unfair caps on mental-health treatment. Gross vividly explains:

Imagine being told that your health plan will pay for only 10 treatment sessions for cancer or that it sets a lifetime limit of 75 outpatient visits for diabetes ‘ care, regardless of a doctor ’s strong advice. Those are the kind of limits facing people with chronic, life-threatening illnesses like depression.

[Link to Original Article as appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal]

Gloss wrote that the state needs a strong federal parity law. “It ’s not just a matter of fairness, it ’s a matter of life and death.”

It is unfortunate that Wisconsin is only one of 13 states that does not have a parity bill. The time is now.